Hello guys
I have an 04 GTP with a monsoon sound system that needs new speakers. From what I understand:
rear 6x9's are fed with dedicated wires for low and high freq
front 6x3/4's are the same, that being said...I was told that buying aftermarket speakers will be problematic because I would only be able to hear low rumble distorted bass, or just the tweeters (depending on which wires are connected) this is (as I was told) due to the fact that aftermarket speakers come with only one "input."
Replacing the amp and/or headunit will fix all of this but that is not an option at this current time.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, also if I downright sound like I know nothing about car audio I DONT:th_nervous: the above information was given to me and i'm sure that I made errors in writing it ...so thanks in advance and please feel free to share your thoughts.
Edit--If I were to get a 4 channel aftermarket amp (which is looking like the only option at this point) would it work. is the factory amp 8 channels like i'm assuming? how would it work-if it even does, thanks again.
I tried to replace the rear speakers in my car with Pioneer 4 ways and I was not impressed. The way the rear speakers are wired, there's a single channel that serves as a subwoofer, then you have the separate left and right channels for high. I don't know this for sure, but I suspect the Monsoon amp has crossovers set in it for the factory speakers. Despite the number of speakers in your car, it is a four channel system. I do not have the door tweeters or the center dash speaker integrated with my setup. You can get a component speaker setup if the tweeters are important - and the audio heads will tell you to mount those higher than the factory location, like the "A" pillar trim rather than the doors. I have 3 way speakers in the doors and I'm rather happy with that.
I did what you're contemplating. I had already installed a head unit
(Pioneer AVIC-Z150BH), which has three preamp outputs. I ran 3 pairs of RCA cables to the rear and new 14 gauge speaker wire to the front door speakers. I used a
Pioneer GM-D8604 amplifier for the front and rear channels, and plugged the subwoofer output into a
Bazooka powered bass tube. My system isn't built to simulate an earthquake, I've already destroyed part of my hearing. I was looking for a nice clean sound. Excluding the head unit, I've got maybe $400 invested in the amp, speakers and installation material.
I would not add an amplifier to the factory head unit. There is too much hacking into wiring to make that work, and since you won't have the equalizer and crossover control that you'll have with most any nice head unit, I don't see it being worth the effort.
Doing what I did is not for the faint of heart. If you do not have basic wiring experience, do not try this at home. If you're not comfortable with taking your interior apart, do not try this at home. Once you get it all installed, there is still setting up the amplifier gains and crossovers, as well as the equalizer and possibly crossovers in your head unit. Not knowing where to start with the settings is a vexing experience. You'll also need to deal with integrating your steering wheel controls and if you want, the OnStar to the head unit.
If funding has you contemplating this job in pieces, I would strongly suggest you do the head unit part first, even if that's the most expensive part of the job. There is a dizzying array of double DIN head units out there. Is the amplifier quality most important to you? Do you want iPod integration? Hands free Bluetooth for your phone? Rear camera? Rear seat video outs so the kiddies can watch a video? Nav? All of that is available in today's head units and more. Google will certainly be your friend here. If you think you've zero'd in on a possibility, try to find a users forum and get a feel for what people think of their units. For example, while my unit is quite capable - and when I bought it, it was the most feature packed unit available - there are things it does not do as well as the advertising led me to believe it would.
You've got quite a homework assignment - figuring out what you want with the budget you have to work with. Good luck.
Oh, yeah.
This might be a good place to start if you want to get up to speed as to what's what in car audio. I'd pay a bit less attention to some of the equipment they talk about - some of those guys gotta have more money wrapped up in their audio equipment than they do in the car itself.
