audiophiles recommend putting all your money into the front stage and eliminating the rears altogether.

I am not totally in agreement with you here.

If you had said "...put the great majority of your money into the front stage and greatly reduce the presence of the rears" then we would be in agreement. But a little bit of rear fill is nice for ambience -- it adds a warmth and fullness to the sound that is lacking if 100% of the sound comes from in front of you. Just don't put so much emphasis on the rear that it pulls the apparent location of the sound stage back.

I am totally in agreement with you about the subwoofer, though. If I were enhancing an existing factory speaker, adding a sub would be the very first thing I did. Just keep in mind that the sound will be improved so much by the addition of a subwoofer that it will be like the dope pusher giving away the first sample for free -- you will be "hooked" on the sound and will quickly recognize the shortcomings of the rest of the system. By the time you're done there won't be an original piece left in the car!

tanstaafl.