Glasspacked straight pipes, or a cat-back system?

[MStout]

I have always wondered which of these would be better sound wise, and power wise. Since the straight pipe method is cheaper...that would be the way to go if the power gain was close to or more than the catback would be. Im just wondering if the sound would be really annoying. I was going to get Dynomax catback, but I figured I might as well drop the idea and spend all my money on my system, which I am still doing. A kid at school has a Probe GT with a Cherry Bomb on it, and its a manual so it doesnt sound too bad, but Im thinking that he isnt getting the power he could get with a high flow muffler...then I remember that theres nothing rescricting the flow so its probably better. Im just kinda confused, so give me some input on the ups and downs of each. Thanks.

[Y2kNeon]

Well, here's my 2 cents. A full catback with a larger diameter than your current setup will reduce backpressure nicely, if you can afford it. In addition, there are a lot of "straight thru flow" mufflers on the market that give great performance and a nice tone. I've got a Magnaflow crossover on my Neon, it's got a great deep tone and was good for at least a couple HP (plus, it has a straight thru flow design). As far as the cherry bombs go, my main concern would be the 'raspiness-fartcan' sound that can happen if you fry the packing.

[blachdohcneon]

I have long tube header, no cat, 31" thrush and a fart cannon, all on stock 2.25" pipe. It sounds real good, nice and deep with no rasp. I get alot of complements on the sound.

[Jspec S12]

get a cat-back system cause straight pipes dont sound as nice and the cat-back will give you more power.