stan6898

guys,
I have a 2001 Trans Am WS6 with stock Monsoon system. I just purchased an Alpine IDA-X305 head unit, Alpine SPS-600C 6 1/2" speakers for the doors, Alpine SPS-400 speakers for the far rear, and I already have 6 1/2" Bazooka subs replacing the stock sail speakers. I used the stock harness and just transferred the harness from the stock subs onto the Bazooka's for the sail panels. All the other wiring is at the stock setting. The head unit and the remaining speakers have been shipped and are on the way. Also note I do not want to install a separate amp in my car.

My question is this, the installation details for wiring the door speakers state that to install the speakers in the front door, "to get full-range sound from aftermarket speakers, you'll have to cut and splice some wires in order to bypass the factory amplifier." I am not too knowledgeable on how to do this at all. What wires need to be spliced in order to bypass the monsoon amp?? And how is this done? Is this the correct solution to correctly install and get the best sound out of these speakers?

I'm not looking to overhaul my system. I just wanted to improve over the stock sound. I'm satisfied with my bass level I wanted to now improve my mid's and high's. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all!!

stan6898

Also guys,
would a Alpine KTP-445 Head Unit Power Pack, which is the amplifier for Alpine in-dash receivers, help me in my applications in any way? Or does the stock monsoon amp cover what that could have done for me?

jahmes143

so you want to run your door speakers straight off the new HU (headunit) and not through the amp? Why not still use the monsoon amp?

I believe you would need to run new speaker wires from the HU to the door speakers

I see you're new to the forum, look at some of the stickys to understand the Monsoon system...it's a bit of a beast

jahmes143

here are 2 stickys for you

https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...nsoon-faq.html

https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...-speakers.html

pentavolvo

run new wire to the front speakers is really the easiest way to do it.

stan6898

I think I'm going to just rewire the front speakers to bypass the amp, and leave the rest of the wiring as it is. In the future if I was to add an Alpine Type-R 10" sub, how many channels would the amp need to be if I wanted to replace the monsoon amp with that aftermarket amp and use that amp to push all the speakers as well as the 10" sub? Would a decent 4 channel amp do that job?

bmnicolosi

iTrader: (2)

Not on an alpine type r. i would put atleast 500 watts rms to it, and no 4 channel amp is gonna put out 500 watts through 2 channels brideged. atleast budget friendly. i would do the mrpf300 on highs and the mrpm500 on the sub. that way it keeps you all alpine, and sounds good, and is not expensive.

stan6898

after hours of research on here.....I've come to a conclusion after reading this on a thread and some input....

"The factory amp puts out about 240W RMS into eight channels so that averages about 30W per channel but the sail panel subs get two channels (60W) each."

The stock amp therefore doesnt't seem to be too far behind the mrp-m300, so I might as well let my monsoon amp continue to push everything. And when I do go with the 10" sub, the mrp-m500 looks like a good match to that. That way I do stay all Alpine, hopefully have decent highs and a decent sub. Im not looking to bump the neighbors just something that sounds good with the T-tops off and the exhaust rumbling.

I received my package from crutchfield tonight with the head unit, door speakers, and far rear speakers. So i'll be installing them tomorrow. Theoretically it looks like it should be an upgrade in sound quality. Then in a few weeks I'll install the type-R with the new amp. Hopefully my C5 Z06 chrome 18" come in tomorrow or the day after too!

jahmes143

Sounds like you have some good work ahead of you. Good luck!!

Where did you find the info saying the Monsoon amp puts out 240 RMS? To the best of my knowledge, nobody has ever tested the output of the amp. There's some controversy on the forum about that.

Furthermore, there's some controversy about how many watts each channel gets. Ex. the tweeters get less power than the sails.

Can you post a link that you found explaining all of this, it would be an interesting read.

Thanks and good luck with the install!

stan6898

here is the thread where I found that info

https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...e-question.htm

I read in another thread also that the belief is that the subs get the most power, followed by the doors, then the far rears, then of the course tweeters are just off the headunit. I saw the figures that they thought went to each, but I don't recall what I read exactly. The sub channels should be getting more push anyway though even if every channel did have equal power because of the two channels dedicated to each. One channel for each corner, then 2 for each sail for a total of 8.

jahmes143

that post looks correct, but remember that Camaros and TAs are wired a little differently. A lot of folks take info they have learned about the Camaro and think it will automatically apply to the TA, which isnt always true

Post some pice of your progress

pentavolvo

IMO an aftermarket amp will blow the monsoon amp away

BaNDiT-77

Sounds like you got yourself a great setup, Stan. I have a question for you though. What did you think of the bazooka's when you first put them in the sail's as opposed to the stock sail speakers. I know the bazooka's last longer, but how do they sound compared to the stocks. My system is stock and the bazookas will be the only thing aftermarket. You've been there, so what do ya think ? Better Sound ?

Thanks,

-BaNDiT

stan6898

I installed all my equipment last night. I just popped in the new far rear and front door speakers (and tweeters for the doors), using the stock harnesses and leaving them still powered by the stock amp. Then came the head unit. After putting all that in, I noticed a definite immediate improvement in the sound. The bass from the bazooka's seemed to wake up more and the highs are enough to hurt my ears now.

Bandit, the first mod I made was the Bazooka's in for the stock sail panels. So I had everything else stock except for those speakers for about the past month. It was a definite noticeable step-up from the stock speakers. Again, nothing to blow you away but that's not what I was trying to do anyway. For the $110 I spent shipped and all, it was well worth the price to install them. They fit in mine no spacers or anything. Just fit right into the stock area. Had to drill new holes for new screws to mount the bazooka's, but that was no problem and takes 5 minutes. I say go for them, a definite improvement, still has the stock look, and won't cost too much.

So I dumped in $300 for the head unit, $70 for small 4" in rears, $110 for sail 6 1/2" Bazooka subs, and $130 for front door components, all Alpine except for sails. Well worth it to me for the improvements made.

stan6898

An update for you guys......I ended up totally overhauling everything like I said I wasn't going to do! I just wanted some nasty bass and to amplify my mids and highs. I left the Alpine components in the doors. I took out the Bazooka's in the sails and replaced them with a pair of full-range coaxials. Those 4 channels are now amplified with a Jensen Power 760 that I picked up off e-bay. They give more than ample mid and high sounds. They are wired at 75w x 4 channels at 4ohms.

I put an RE SE 10" sub in the trunk in a subthump box, powered by an Infinity Reference 611a. Both the sub and amp purchased off e-bay. The sub is rated at 600 RMS while the amp is at 657 RMS @ 2 ohms (or very near that). It is a D4 and is wired in parallel to run at 2ohms. The combination of the amps, the sub, the components and coaxials, and the headunit are exactly what I was looking for. The sub throws off very deep, loud, bass that I can really feel. When I first heard it I was blown away. More bass than I ever expected out of one 10" sub. I read great reviews on here for the RE SE 10" and read great reviews elsewhere on the Infinity 611a, so I decided to go with that combination and couldn't be better for what I wanted to do.

Thanks for the input guys. Without this site I would have had no idea what parts to use to build the system.