Iknow what you mean about buying something that will just become useless because you aren't satisfied with it. I tried a few of the different cat back systems with no luck either and had the MP headers on it at that time. Yes. I've heard the puny sounds from the V-6's. I can only tell you what I've done to this date and what finally made ME satisfied with the sound. As far as the 2" being ok to get the same results, I can't answer that as I skipped over that size in my case. I've also heard one that had nocats & mufflers only. It sounded BETTER but IMO not quite as deep a rumble as I got from my system.