Question about mufflers/catbacks

I'm gonna admit I'm not a car guy, I'm a computer guy; a lot of this stuff I've just never had the inclination to learn until now. My cousin came up from Florida with his '05 Cobalt and he had a new muffler and tip on it, and it seemed like he was getting better performance along with a pretty rough little growl that I really liked. He told me he had 2" pipe run from the catalytic converter back to the muffler, which was an APC, and the tip looked probably 3 1/2" or 4".

I'm not in the position to spend too much money on the car right now (saving up for assorted road trips this summer) but I definitely want to look into at least getting a muffler. What is the difference between the muffler and the entire catback system? I'm assuming catback means everything from the catalytic converter back, there's a garage in town that told me if I supply the muffler and tip, he'll build the pipe and install it for about $90. What am I not getting from that that I'd get in the catback?

I haven't seen any APCs with a 2" inlet though, but I did see a couple Borla mufflers. How do they compare? Do any of you have any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I should mention I have an '06 Cobalt LS.

4 cylinder exhaust systems are hard to judge, IMO only about 5% of 4 cylinder exhaust systems sound good. Your right a catback, is from the converter back. Do some searching around on cobaltss.net for exhaust setups. Im sure you will find what your looking for.

4 cylinder exhaust systems are hard to judge, IMO only about 5% of 4 cylinder exhaust systems sound good. Your right a catback, is from the converter back. Do some searching around on cobaltss.net for exhaust setups. Im sure you will find what your looking for.

Hey, thanks for the response. You seem to be the resident expert, do you have any recommendations for a reasonably priced muffler?

GM sells a catback, not sure of the price, i want to say around 500 bucks but its one of the better sounding exhaust systems.

GM Sells a very nice catback for cheap

Or theres a comapny called Pacesetter that sells a catback for under 200.

Both would work for you, replacing just a muffler won't gain you crap, and universal mufflers won't gain either

Thanks for the answers, I found a website that has most of the options I can go with. What about the DC Sports single canister catback?

EDIT: Not that I'm against saving money, I realize the Pacesetter is about half the price but is it a "get what you pay for" kind of system?

The thing with pacesetter is they don't use stainless steel piping, so theres the chance of rusting.

This can be over come by simply getting KRYLON or RUSTOLEUM paint and painting it once you get it.

Many people find it as a very good exhaust, others don't, its all personal prefernce.

The DC Sports canister exhaust system is made of stainless steel. But I've been told that Pacesetter is the non-carb legal version of DC.