car audio advice for total newb

hi. im 16 years old and have only been driving for a little under a year so i basically know nothing about cars. i drive a 1999 cavalier convertible and i want to amp up my totally stock sound system. i dont want anything ridiculous or flashy or anything to hard to do myself. because i know nothing about audio equipment i dont know where to start. i was thinking about replacing my stock speakers with better ones of the same size and getting a better amp. i dont even know if it would be worth it or sound the same or if i should be doing something else. any advice would be helpful

Well if you don't want subs, I would say go with an aftermarket head unit (radio), replace all the speakers in the car, and maybe a small multi-channel (4 channel) amp.

Ya i was the same as u man didn't know anything about audio stuff then got a new JVC cd player replaced the stock 6x9's in the rear deck and then got a 12" MTX sub and amp. put 6.5" speakers in the doors instead of the stock 4x6's it sounds so much better now. all u have to do is make so brackets for them i could send u a link to site that shows u how. But over all my car sounds really good now

for me, i bought a JVC head unit, a 1600watt 2-channel amp (for subwoofers) and 2 sony xplod subs (1100watts each)

sounds freaking AWESOME!!! Akon FTW!!!

thanks for the advice guys. my old cd player was just stolen like a week ago so im getting a new one for sure. im not really all that upset about it because i was planning on getting another one that i can use with my mp3 anyway.. i think im gonna replace that and the 6 x 9's in the back for now. anyone have suggestions what kind of speakers to get? is the brand important or is it more the watts or both?

I would say its a little of both but make sure your speakers peak wattage is higher than what your going to send to them my friend made that mistake LOL