Help upgrading Monsoon system in Regal

[jstevanus]

I have a 2000 Buick Regal with the Monsoon system which includes 5-1/4" Comps in the front and 6x9's in the rear powered by a 2-ohm 200watt amplifier in the trunk. I want to upgrade my system for no more than $400 since I can probably get it installed for around $100. I was thinking of getting everything from onlincecarstereo.com since the prices are so low.

I would like your opinions. Should I replace the head unit? Should I just replace the fronts and add a sub? I'm not looking for tons of bass, I'm looking for sound quality. My local ABC Warehouse has the Infinity Reference 7541a 111W RMS x 4 amp for $190 but their best speakers are Polk MOMO which I am not impressed with. Here are are few items I was looking at on onlinecarstereo.com :

Head Unit:

Pioneer Premier

DEH-P480MP $138 http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=15756

Components (5-1/4")

MB Quart RCE-213 $99 http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=13545

Amplifier

Alpine MRP-F250 (4x40w) $148 http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=16413

Then I would either need some 6x9's for the rear with decent bass, or just get some cheap rear fill and add a sub in the trunk. Would it sound good if I

bridged 2 channels of the amp for the sub and just used the head unit power for

the rear fill?

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[IamDeMan 5,000+ posts]

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=264-837&CFID=4096436&CFTOKEN=11391487

 

[frzninvt 10+ year member]

You are going to find out that the stock head unit is going to have to stay in the car and you will have to use a special adapter to use another head unit. The car uses the head unit to store and retrieve information if it is the same as the Monsoon system in the 2001 Grand Am GT that I had.

I had to keep the stock head unit in the trunk wrapped in a cotton cloth, what a pain!

The wiring coming out of the Monsoon amp is a pain since it has active crossovers and feeds the woofers and tweeters indepently. My 2001 Grand Am had like 5.25's in the front and coaxial 6 x 9's in the back. It is doable but it is a pain to set up and the special adapter is not cheap. Hope it works out for you.

 

[jstevanus]

If I keep the factory head unit I can get an adapter to turn the speaker outputs into an RCA level feed for the amp. Does it matter which brand or kind I get? They start around $20 or so and go up from there. Also, should I just get some cheap 6x9's for the rear and use the money on a sub for the trunk instead? Thanks for the replies btw...

 

[M Dot Holla 10+ year member]

i have a 99 regal..special adapter is free with a head unit from sounddomain.com