Speaker wiring question Help!!!
Speaker wiring question Help!!! I put an aftermarket radio in my car(Kenwood) and just 4 average Kenwood speakers I bought from Crutchfield. It sounds like crap I believe because the Ohms are different 2 to 4 I believe or something like that. I disconnected the Amp and no sounds came out so obviously the speakers next to the rear seats run through there. I don't need an expensive system but I re-did my interior so I put the new radio in. I'd like to remove the amp as well. Is my best bet to just run wires from my radio to speakers direct or what did the rest of you guys do to make it work? There are about 20 wires going to that amp so I wasn't sure if it just controlled the speakers or not.
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,328
Likes: 346
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
Well...the rest of us actually read up on what would be good replacement equipment first - and then bought it and installed it. 
The Monsoon system is set up with a very specific speaker arrangement that includes subs in the sail panels and components in the doors. Putting ordinary coaxial speakers in those locations just doesn't work right. There's lots more information in the Monsoon FAQ sticky at the top of the forum.
At this point you have three options: replace the speakers with ones that work properly with the amp; rewire the coaxial speakers directly to the head unit; or add an aftermarket amp and wire the speakers to it.
The Monsoon system is set up with a very specific speaker arrangement that includes subs in the sail panels and components in the doors. Putting ordinary coaxial speakers in those locations just doesn't work right. There's lots more information in the Monsoon FAQ sticky at the top of the forum.
At this point you have three options: replace the speakers with ones that work properly with the amp; rewire the coaxial speakers directly to the head unit; or add an aftermarket amp and wire the speakers to it.
thanks for the somewhat direct response. My main question is can I grab the wires before they get to the amp to do what I would like to. or do i need to run new wires directly to the head unit? I just thought that may be the same thing if I can get a wiring diagram somewhere. 2 sets of coaxials running off of a decent head unit is loud enough for me I don't need anythign special, but i want to rip out all the extra wiring and amp.
Would stock speakers function the same with or without the amp? or no because its an aftermarket radio running at 4 ohms I believe?
Would stock speakers function the same with or without the amp? or no because its an aftermarket radio running at 4 ohms I believe?
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,328
Likes: 346
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
You can use the speaker-level output wiring either at the head unit or at the input side of the Monsoon amp - it's the same signal. The wire colors and pinout for the amp are in the Monsoon FAQ.
You can remove the amp if you want but I don't recommend taking out the factory wiring for two reasons: the wires are all bundled into harnesses around the car that carry other wiring functions so it would be a lot of work for very little gain; and you might want to put the car back to stock if you sell it someday.
The stock speakers won't really work directly off the head unit - not because of their impedance but because you don't have enough channels or the necessary signal filters. The Monsoon amp has eight channels that are filtered for the particular speakers they connect to (e.g. low pass filter for the sail panel subs). Also the door speakers are components (two channels each) and the sail panels are DVC subs (also two channels each) so the four channels of output from the head unit won't power them very well.
You can remove the amp if you want but I don't recommend taking out the factory wiring for two reasons: the wires are all bundled into harnesses around the car that carry other wiring functions so it would be a lot of work for very little gain; and you might want to put the car back to stock if you sell it someday.
The stock speakers won't really work directly off the head unit - not because of their impedance but because you don't have enough channels or the necessary signal filters. The Monsoon amp has eight channels that are filtered for the particular speakers they connect to (e.g. low pass filter for the sail panel subs). Also the door speakers are components (two channels each) and the sail panels are DVC subs (also two channels each) so the four channels of output from the head unit won't power them very well.
