Let me start by saying I have an 02 Z28 with the Monsoon system.

I read through the stickeys and then I read through the thread on bypassing the Monsoon amp but I still have a few questions. First let me say I just got a pretty good deal on the Infinity Kappa 62.7i speakers. I got 4 new for 120 bucks. So I jumped on it.

I do not want to hack up the current wiring but I have been looking for an adapter that will let me plug into the factory speaker harness and the only one I've found says it will not work with a Monsoon speaker. If I chose my same car but not Monsoon there is a harness I can use. I assume the harness is different and I cannot use that one? Anyone know where I can buy I harness that will plug into the factory speaker harness and just have 2 spade connectors on the end?

The next question I have is do I need to bypass the Monsoon amp to get a full range sound to the 4 new Kappas I'm going to install? Or can I leave the Monsoon amp in place and just wire the tweeters from the direct connections coming from the HU that currently drive the tweeters as I have read?

My intenet down the line is to get the RF 3Sixty.1 and add amps and real subs but I want to start slow so I figured new front and rear speakers would be a good place to start but I'm still a little confused. Many would say the stock Monsoon HU is crap and I should just replace it and all the wiring but I do not like the way aftermarket HU's stick out in my car. I'd rather try and leave the factory HU and work around it to get better sound.

Any ideas would be greatly appriciated.

 

The monsoon system uses 2 ohm speakers in the front doors and sail panell, which would actually work alright well with those speakers, except that the front speakers are bi-amped (amp powers 6.5 speaker, hu powers tweeter), so this may be an issue, i believe i have read ways to wire it like this.. so just search if you want to try that out. To add aftermarket amps to a factory radio you would most likely need line output converters, like this one http://www.soundgate.com/upload/productimages/0572.jpg . This converts the speaker wire outputs to rcas, which most aftermarket amps use as inputs, you would need 2 of these (front and rear). When you use line output converts its not as good of a signal as if you had an aftermarket headunit with rca outputs.

Dont bypass the monsoon amp unless your using an aftermarket headunit or amp, because the monsoon headunit puts out a really weak signal, and is only the higher end for the tweeters up front.

Also, i just got done installing a aftermarket headunit.. and im very happy with the way it looks, it sticks out a little bit from the dash kit, but the dash kit is also recessed from the trim around it. heres a picture incase your interested

Edit: As far as the speaker harnesses, im not sure if the monsoon ones and the non monsoon ones are the same.

 

Thanks for the help. The Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty.1 I was refeering to does the same thing that item you posted does. It takes speaker level signal and tunes out all the eq crap and gives you a bunch of RCA outs to send to your amps. I will order the non monsoon speaker harnesses since you say they are the same. I just hate chopping up cables in my cars. This way I can go back to stock easily if i want to. Your HU looks nice but that extra space and the way it juts out just bothers me. All the 1.5 DIN's stick out as well so I'm sticking with the monsoon HU for now. Thanks thought for your input.

 

ahh i did a major typo, i meant to say im not sure if the monsoon and non monsoon harnesses are the same.. if they are the same im pretty sure u wont have to order the non monsoon ones.. i would search here first to be sure.. they can probubly be purchased from a local best buy or car audio store..

 

Here is what you need to do:

1.) In your setup, you should retain all factory wiring and the use of the monsoon amp. All you need to do is bi-amp your Infinity speakers in the same way the stock speakers are. This is covered in the stickies.

2.) There are four wires going to the front speakers, two for the tweeter, two for the woofer. You just need to hook up your Infinities the same way.

3.) In the back sail panel is different. Only bass is sent to those speakers. If you want them to work as two ways, you should disconnect your rear hatch speakers (which are useless now anyways) and run those wires to the sail panel infinity tweeter. The hatch speakers should definitely be disconnected, and/or taken out altogether. With the infinities in place all the hatch speakers are doing is dragging sq down.

4.) You could run new wires straight from the monsoon head unit to your speakers. The monsoon head unit is just a normal head unit. It does send full range signals out. All of xover/filtering is handled by the monsoon amp and speakers, not the head unit itself. But this is a bad idea because the monsoon amp is MUCH more powerful than the head unit output.

5.) To get the connectors you need, you should cut or pull them from the monsoon speakers and wire them up to your infinities. This way no wiring on the car is cut, and if you leave a little wire on the monsoon speaker you could return it to full stock if need be.

6.) Some head units can be flush mounted, many more can be flush mounted if you are willing to cut the rear support (which is not a big deal). The factory head unit is a very large weak point - it creates more distortion than the monsoon amp and is a huge problem if you like to listen to your music loud. On top of that the reliability is not terribly good and you have no features like MP3 playback. Replacing it is rather important for a truly good system. If you are planning a full system with subs and aftermarket amplification the factory head unit is a terrible, terrible bottleneck, like making CD's from cassetes.

It is possible to retain use of the steering wheel controls with a $30-50 module, which is also in the sticky.

 

Thanks a lot!! Yea, everyone is telling me I need to replace that head unit. I was just trying to do this in phases and I just bought the ipod adapter that lets me connect directly to the Monsooon HU but I guess I can always sell that once I replace the HU. Thanks for all the good information.

 

I completed the installation of the 4 Infinty Kappa's this morning thanks to the help of todddchi. The system sounds MUCH better than it did before. I have also ordered new stealth sub boxes and am searching for a new HU and subs/amps now. It is amazing how much better the factory system sounds once you pull all the crap Bose speakers. Wiring was pretty easy. The hardest part was getting my fat *** into the back seat area. I think once I replace the HU/Amps etc I'm going to pull the entire interior to make it easier to work.

 

Glad to hear it worked out and you are happy with it. There are so many conflicting posts here from people being unhappy doing this type of swap... but if you do the wiring correctly the end result is quite good, as you've found.

I would highly recommend you give a head unit a shot if you are at all unsure about going to an aftermarket amp/subs. Getting rid of that stock head unit is another incremental increase in sound quality with huge functionality benefits. Admittedly the difference is mostly at high volume levels, though.

When I had 4 of the Alpines hooked up to an aftermarket deck and the monsoon bi-wiring... the Alpines were getting driven really well. You might be happy with that arrangement.

 

when you guys installed the kappas up front, did you use the module that came with them and only power it from the two woofer wires, or did you not use that and hook the new woofer straight to the original woofer wires. secondly, if you did not use the module, did you re use the circuit board that is in line with the tweeters?

thanks very much, this held me up last night.