question about system setup, TA with monsoon system
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2010
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question about system setup, TA with monsoon system hey i read the faq and all, but i am not that great with audio systems, so bascally my question is this
i have a TA, 99 w/ the monsoon system. i want to put 4 speakers, and amp and a sub, plus a new headunit. basically i don't like having to run speakers through the door jam for the fronts, for my other cars i just use the stock wire in the back of the head unit. but from what i understand that wire goes into the monsoon amplifier, so is there any way to hook up my system without having to run wire into the front doors?
and are there any other complicatons i should know about before i set this up?
i have a TA, 99 w/ the monsoon system. i want to put 4 speakers, and amp and a sub, plus a new headunit. basically i don't like having to run speakers through the door jam for the fronts, for my other cars i just use the stock wire in the back of the head unit. but from what i understand that wire goes into the monsoon amplifier, so is there any way to hook up my system without having to run wire into the front doors?
and are there any other complicatons i should know about before i set this up?
Launching!
Joined: May 2010
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You should check out the packages from Kee Audio. He has upgraded replacements for the stock speakers, you will not have to run speaker wire. Maybe I'm reading this wrong, are you trying to install a new amp to power all of these speakers?
Ah, you are replacing the head unit as well.
Ah, you are replacing the head unit as well.
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2010
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Assuming your replacement door speakers are components, you will have to run wires through the door channels if you want to use the crossover blocks that came with them.
The alternative would be to sever the speaker output wires at the factory Monsoon amp, but in a firebird there are no lines from the Monsoon amp to the door tweeters. The door tweeters in a firebird take a shorter path directly (more or less) to the HU.
It's a pain, but just bite the bullet and take your doors apart, and run speaker wires through the grommets to the dash area, and put your crossover blocks under there. I just did it this weekend as I'm going to drive everything with external amps. It's a lot of wire, and a lot of time if you do it right, but hopefully the results will be worth it (if I ever finish).
The alternative would be to sever the speaker output wires at the factory Monsoon amp, but in a firebird there are no lines from the Monsoon amp to the door tweeters. The door tweeters in a firebird take a shorter path directly (more or less) to the HU.
It's a pain, but just bite the bullet and take your doors apart, and run speaker wires through the grommets to the dash area, and put your crossover blocks under there. I just did it this weekend as I'm going to drive everything with external amps. It's a lot of wire, and a lot of time if you do it right, but hopefully the results will be worth it (if I ever finish).
Ok so some rules of thumb is dont just wire in 6.5 speakers into the doors,,, unless your replaceing them with components,, and then you can use the stock wireing,, you wont need to use the aftermarket crossovers. But if you want run all new wires to the front speakers and you can use a 2 or 3way speaker or components with crossovers just fine.
As for the sail panels,, they are subs so if you want to run 2 or 3way speakers in there youll need to run new wires from the deck again or steal the stock wires going to the hatch speakers as they work for a full range speaker.
Its up to you,,,, I ordered components for my doors, and full range 2ways for my sails, and im still debating weather to run all new wires or just use the mid bass driver and tweets for the doors and run the 2ways in the sails off the hatch speaker wires.
So monsoon amp or aftermarket deck amp??? that is the question.
As for the sail panels,, they are subs so if you want to run 2 or 3way speakers in there youll need to run new wires from the deck again or steal the stock wires going to the hatch speakers as they work for a full range speaker.
Its up to you,,,, I ordered components for my doors, and full range 2ways for my sails, and im still debating weather to run all new wires or just use the mid bass driver and tweets for the doors and run the 2ways in the sails off the hatch speaker wires.
So monsoon amp or aftermarket deck amp??? that is the question.
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Quite honestly you would be better off keeping the headunit and selling off the rest of the gear. Then get the right speakers for the Monsoon system you already have in there. Trying to use the other gear you have can work but an upgraded Monsoon system is actually pretty good, especially with an aftermarket radio.
The reason I say this is for a couple of reasons. First off you said you want to use regular speakers in the doors and not have to run new speaker wire. By regular I assume you mean coaxials which would be a mistake. The Trans Am is set up for component speakers which generally sound better then coaxials. By putting a coaxial in there to me you are taking a step backward.
Secondly if you use the Monsoon system you have an amp to run the speakers already AND have subwoofer bass in the signal. It is a pretty well rounded system and when fed a clean signal from an aftermarket head unit you can get good sound out of it. Plus this would keep you from having to run speaker wire to anything.
You could do a another option by using components up front and then use your coaxials in the sails IF you pull the signal from the hatch to the sail panel area. Done by a few feet of speaker wire going fro the hatch to the sails. This would be done by using the Monsoon also.
Just food for thought.
The reason I say this is for a couple of reasons. First off you said you want to use regular speakers in the doors and not have to run new speaker wire. By regular I assume you mean coaxials which would be a mistake. The Trans Am is set up for component speakers which generally sound better then coaxials. By putting a coaxial in there to me you are taking a step backward.
Secondly if you use the Monsoon system you have an amp to run the speakers already AND have subwoofer bass in the signal. It is a pretty well rounded system and when fed a clean signal from an aftermarket head unit you can get good sound out of it. Plus this would keep you from having to run speaker wire to anything.
You could do a another option by using components up front and then use your coaxials in the sails IF you pull the signal from the hatch to the sail panel area. Done by a few feet of speaker wire going fro the hatch to the sails. This would be done by using the Monsoon also.
Just food for thought.
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Teching In
Joined: Mar 2010
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thats a ton of help, thanks for all the advice, since you said it would sound great wth an aftermarket radio, is there any issues i would run into puttin ga new radio in there? cause the monsoon HU i have currently is broken, only the radio works. i have an alpine that has radio/usb/pod and stuff, im guessing since the monsoon is wried into an amp the install would be different? i was looking at different posts here and they directed me to your site that has upgrades for the monsoon speakers. i may just head in that direction, new radio and bazooka speakers etc.
What is broken on the Monsoon? Just curious because the speakers and head unit are the only thing that seems to go bad with the head unit generally being a lighting issue.
Using that Alpine unit would be a nice upgrade. A Monsoon amp is extremely cheap to find and replace if needed.
If you must then you could run the speakers off your head unit but you really need to run new speaker wire to do so as you really don't want to start messing with the stock harness IMO. Just leave it alone and start fresh.
The Monsoon system does have it's own amp but it is easy to upgrade the stuff....head unit, speakers, if you know how it works. Replacing the head unit is the same as any other head unit install. Nothing special about it. Just use a GM harness, mount and antenna adapter. The speakers I have put together specifically for the Monsoon in Camaro and Firebird applications will work with that system if you want to go that route. It really does sound better when upgrading those things. I actually had a customer cancel an order for amp and sub after getting a Pioneer head unit (really nice one) and the premium speaker package. Off the Monsoon amp with those upgrades it did very well.
Think about it and see which direction you want to take!
Using that Alpine unit would be a nice upgrade. A Monsoon amp is extremely cheap to find and replace if needed.
If you must then you could run the speakers off your head unit but you really need to run new speaker wire to do so as you really don't want to start messing with the stock harness IMO. Just leave it alone and start fresh.
The Monsoon system does have it's own amp but it is easy to upgrade the stuff....head unit, speakers, if you know how it works. Replacing the head unit is the same as any other head unit install. Nothing special about it. Just use a GM harness, mount and antenna adapter. The speakers I have put together specifically for the Monsoon in Camaro and Firebird applications will work with that system if you want to go that route. It really does sound better when upgrading those things. I actually had a customer cancel an order for amp and sub after getting a Pioneer head unit (really nice one) and the premium speaker package. Off the Monsoon amp with those upgrades it did very well.
Think about it and see which direction you want to take!
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2010
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thanks for the help man, for some reason i thought the head unit change would be different. in my system the two sail subs are broken and the headunit's CD palyer doesnt work or light up. after reading some reviews i thnk im just going to replace the headunit and rear speakers and no redo the entire system, ive heard nothing but good things abbout the bazookas you sell here, but whats your opinion about changing the front speakers? is the difference that dramatic?
oh and in case i didnt mention i got a 99 trans am
oh and in case i didnt mention i got a 99 trans am
monsoon decks suck,,, they dont last long, stop working, sending errors, lights go out, not reading disks,,, heck if yer not running a mp3 deck or usb deck your car is in the dark ages. I vote for looseing the heavy junk deck for a new one and putting full range speakers into the rear sail panel and use the hatch speakers leads ,, swiching it to a aftermarket deck doesnt change anything with the factory amp or speakers,,, they all still work the same as the monsoon system.
