So I have a 99 Camaro ttop with the monsoon system. I have a CPAA-70D double din and kee audios lvl 3 cdt for all 6 speakers. While the audio sounds amazing I have to crank the stereo to around lvl 40 to get it somewhat loud. With the windows down it sounds pretty quiet (factoring in all the outside noises with the windows down). If I go any higher bass distortion becomes a big issue. I’ve had numerous friends tell me that it shouldn’t take that much to get the radio that loud and I’m wondering what it would take to be able to crank the stereo loud without having to almost max out my stereo. I’m looking to get a sub for the trunk to remedy the bass distortion at loud volume, and polarity has been verified correct on all speakers.

 

I'm not positive on this because I've always been a firebird guy ( 89 formula with a stroke 383 and t56 and a 2002 WS6 Transam), but I do remember seeing that the Camaro stereo system had a set up that birds didn't where it would turn up the volume as the car got faster (compensation for road noise I'd assume). I know you changed out pretty much everything about your factory stereo system but that very well could be the issue. Maybe leaving that wire unhooked or having it hooked into the wrong thing is causing your stereo to need to be turned up so high. I hope this helps. Sorry I dont know more about vehicle specific things like the differences in the monsoon stereo between the two cars. I know how it is to install a bunch of stereo systems and never have any problem and then the one you really want to turn put perfect (your own car) is the one that drives you crazy. Check the monsoon FAQ under the stereo forum stickies and that should tell you which wire is actually the speed sensitive volume wire on the Camaro harness. Good luck.

I went back and checked and it was under the "head unit install"

C3 - White 10-pin connector
11 - GRAY - (Convertible) amplifier sensor
12 - not used
13 - not used
14 - DARK BLUE - steering wheel controls input
15 - not used
16 - DARK GREEN w/WHITE - (Camaro) vehicle speed sensor input for automatic volume
17 - LIGHT BLUE - right rear speaker negative
18 - DARK BLUE - right rear speaker positive
19 - YELLOW - left rear speaker negative
20 - BROWN - left rear speaker positive

its talking about two connectors in the back of the factory style head unit. There's a black connector and white connector and for canaros only the white connector's #16 wire is the one you may need to check out. Again, I'm not sure this helps but I hope it does.

 

The first question I have is do you have a setting in the head unit that allows for "volume adjustment". In my head unit it changes how much the volume goes up per "click".

Based off the Kee Audio part you mentioned, am I to assume you're running the stock Monsoon unit? I also see you mentioned 6 speakers, did you put speakers in the sail panels in the back seat area, or subs?

 

I don’t remember seeing the volume adjustment setting but I will double check and I put two speakers in the trunk, two in the backseat, and two in the doors.

 

I think you should read the Monsoon sticky, this excerpt is from there:

However, there are some things to watch out for when shopping for replacement speakers - the sail panel subs get only low-filtered signal from the amp so putting coaxial speakers there will require some rewiring if you want to get anything but bass. This is usually done by disconnecting the hatch speakers and pulling those wires forward to the sail panels. Also, the door speakers are wired as components so you either have to buy component replacements or get coaxial speakers that can be modified to separate the wiring of the tweeters from the mids. A popular solution for the sail panel subs is the Bazooka 6.5" dual voice coil sub. There are several options for the doors (especially in Firebirds) but the CDT coaxial components are possibly the best match for Camaro doors since they have the tweeter mounted in the center of the mid component like the factory speakers.

As you can see, the back seat area (sail panels) only receive LPF, putting a regular speaker in there will cause significant sound quality issues.

 

On top of what I already mentioned, you also want to make sure your speakers aren't "out of phase". This means you could have swapped positive and negative on at least one speaker. But the biggest issue I see thus far, is that you have speakers where subs should be-note that this is if you're using the Monsoon amp and not aftermarket.

 

So I don't have any of the connectors to plug into the speakers like from the factory. Instead I'm running the wires from the monsoon system straight to the speakers (not sure if removing the plugin connectors and going straight wires makes a difference) but I verified rear hatch speakers are wired up correctly, the backseat subs I had wired up backwards so I flipped them around to how the monsoon sticky shows and I lost A TON of bass. The speakers are working but bass almost feels non existent. So I'm either thinking the front door speakers which I have yet to check are wired up backwards which would make sense that the reversed polarity could be cancelling out the bass. Will update when I look. Also my stereo has a "loudness" setting which I have to manually turn on every time I get in the car but then again it doesnt make much of a difference.

SIDE NOTE: Now I know cars in 2022 have much better technology so this might not be a fair comparison but I was driving a c8 and tested out the Bluetooth and with the volume at 50% it was ear piercingly loud and the sound didn't break up. My car with the head unit and all upgraded new speakers at 80% volume is SIGNIFICANTLY quieter than the vette, basically if you're going 60 on the freeway with the windows down you can barely hear the music over the wind noise. Are the monsoon systems this weak or does it sound like something is up with the system?

 

WhiteBird00 is the resident expert at this more in depth stuff. I'll send him a PM and he can probably help you. We should honestly pay the guy royalties for the amount of info he's contributed to the forum.

 

Thanks Tyler for the kind words.

Josh, please clarify for me exactly what you have and how you have them connected. There are eight speakers in a Camaro Monsoon system... door woofers, door tweeters, sail panel subwoofers, and small hatch area full range speakers for rear fill. The Kee Audio level 3 package is a good match for the factory speaker types and should easily outperform the factory speakers. I'm not sure what you mean about running the wires from the Monsoon system straight to the speakers. The wiring should be there... all you should have to do is remove the factory connectors, add standard quick connect connectors on the end of the wires, and plug them onto the speaker terminals. Even better, you can remove the connectors from the factory speakers, solder them to the new speakers' terminals, and you'll have plug-and-play just like the factory setup.

Reverse polarity (out of phase) will cause some noticeable changes in sound output, but certainly not a "ton of bass". Besides, out of phase conditions usually only become noticeable when they affect pairs of speakers which point at each other. In other words, having your subs out of phase with your door speakers will not cause a huge difference in sound. But having the left sub out of phase compared to the right sub will cause a noticeable change.

The Monsoon system is quite capable of producing adult volume levels but not teenage volume levels. The amp produces about 240W RMS total through eight channels...nowhere near window shaking levels. If you want window shaking volume, you're going to have to upgrade to something other than the Monsoon system. If the overall volume is acceptable but you don't get the bass you want then it's quite easy to install a true subwoofer in the back with its own amplifier. The design of the hatch tends to amplify bass so you don't have to go really big to get good bass. You'd be amazed what a 10" sub in a stealth box can do.