418 Iron Block

I just bought a pair of Polk component db 6501 speakers for my front doors. Should I use the crossover furnished with the speakers or wire them using the factory wiring? If you recommend the crossover...how should they be wired?
Thank you for your advice!

DWake

iTrader: (1)

I believe if you are using the factory amp, you should not use the crossover.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

the MONSOON amp has dedicated tweeter and midrange outputs so in this case you would not use the crossover that comes with them, however if you ever eliminate the monsoon setup (or not have one to begin with) then you would want to use the supplied crossover.

Capricio

The OP didn't state whether it was camaro of firebird. In both cases the Monsoon sends a full range output to the midrange cone. In both cases, the tweeter gets a simple first order HPF to keep it from burning up trying to reproduce low frequencies. In a firebird, the tweeter uses a full range output from the smaller amp inside the HU.

In a firebird, there's no good way to wire in the HU powered tweeter leads into an external crossover pod. So you give up some power if you only use the amp lead. In a camaro, you can't wire in the tweeter leads from the monsoon amp, same result. Additionally, using a more complex filter will always result in a greater loss of efficiency. When you get a more powerful amp, this isn't as significant and the improved filtering is worth the loss in power.

Anyways, DR's advice is correct. If you keep the monsoon amp, keep the simple tweeter filters in place and do not use the external crossover pods. When you get a bigger amp, remove the HPF and use the external crossover modules. Do NOT use the HPFs in line with an external crossover.

bootlife

Get rid of the factory trash n wire them to the deck and enjoy.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Interesting comment - too bad it's not based on reality. Why would anyone want to give up the Monsoon amp to use just the meager head unit power? The Monsoon amp isn't hugely powerful but it is certainly better than HU alone and it provides clean output when given a clean signal (that means replacing the factory HU because it is a distortion machine). Plus, it's already set up to handle eight channel output.

The other comments are quite correct - it's best to stick with the factory filtering when using a Monsoon amp.

418 Iron Block

Thanks for all of info guys! 2 weeks ago I had a Kenwood HU installed. This is what I did yesterday to my 2000 Formula!

I replaced the 4" rear deck speakers with Polk db401 and kept the factory tweeter. I replaced the rear seat speakers with CDT HD-6MDVC from KeeAudio. These 2 speakers sound pretty good. However, when I replaced the front speakers with the db6501 (I used the factory wiring for the door speaker and the tweeter) I am not that impressed... Any thoughts...

By the way, is there a secret to installing the plastic lock switch back on the lock rod in the door???

Have a great Sunday!

Capricio

http://www.firebirdnation.com/pdf/doorpanel.pdf

There shouldn't be any tricks to wiring up the door components. Just double check your polarity and make sure the tweeter leads are going to the tweeters, etc.

418 Iron Block

Thanks for the info!

onspeed

iTrader: (3)

So when replacing stock Firebird monsoon components in the front, its best to ditch the tweeter crossover that's supplied and use the stock capacitor instead? Do you need to use a crossover for the midrange or just give it the full-range signal?

Capricio

The RC first order filter that comes with the Monsoon is just a simple HPF to protect the tweeter from burning up, trying to reproduce low frequencies. Generally, woofers won't be damaged trying to produce high frequencies, but it is considered a waste of power and can recreate frequencies beyond it's range with less than true fidelity when you send a cone a full range signal with frequencies beyond it's operating range so quality can suffer a bit.

Improved filtering from an external crossover offers safety for your tweeters and better separation, but comes at the expense of efficiency. When you're talking about a monsoon system with maybe 30 WRMS trying to overcome a second order filter, it's hard to justify the loss of efficiency, and the loss of an additional amp channel.

So use the stock RC filter on the tweeter until you get a bigger amp. Don't worry about sending a full range signal to mid bass cone of the component set. If you ever get a bigger amp, use the external crossover modules that came with your new components.

onspeed

iTrader: (3)

Noted. Need to pull the door panels off again then. I was thinking that the frequency separation would not be optimal for the aftermarket speakers if I reused the stock HPF. But I guess it's the better of the two options?

If I switch to an aftermarket HU but keep the Monsoon amp, since I'm figuring it's better than any internal HU amplifier, I should keep the stock configuration with tweeters running off HU and etc?

Capricio

If and until you get more power through a single channel to each door, yes. I have 75W RMS going to each door and use the aftermarket crossover pods that came with my speakers.

Remember that in a Pontiac Monsoon system the HU drives your door and hatch tweeters, so they will benefit from your new HU's power increase. Again, I know I'm repeating myself, but it's not just the loss of efficiency with a more complex filter, it's the loss of an an amp channel to each component set. Once you use an external crossover pod/module, you can't feed two amp channels into your component set anymore like the Monsoon does. An external crossover pod can only take ONE amplified channel and split it. So switching to that setup is a major decrease in power when you are still relying on the Monsoon to drive it.