I haven't done stereo work in years, so I may sound dated here.

My wife has an '08 GT Premium. She wanted the Shaker 500, but did not want the higher payments and planned to upgrade the stereo later. Now she has some money.

Is the stock deck good enough to just hook up an amp (maybe ~300-500 watts) and a pair of 8-inch subs in the trunk? How many watts can the stock speakers handle, and should they be upgraded as well?

 

stock stereo will make a clean signal

A pair of 8s or 10s in the trunk with an amp to power then will yield better bass.

I highly recommend replacing the door and rear speakers for better sound

What I would do is find a 5 channel amp, replace all 4 speaker amp them, and add a sub(s) amped

 

Do you have subs in the trunk? If so, how much power and what size?

We do not want trunk rattle at all.

 

i say replace all the interior speakers and get a new amp to hook them up with and have your wife pick out a new head unit she likes instead of tryn to get aftermarket speakers to hook up with a stock head unit, will b alot better w performance and sound aswell