Need Help with Monsoon systems. Please

[Mudvayne25]

ok so I have a 2004 pontiac bonneville gxp. it ha sthe 8speaker monsoon stereo. so far what I have done is take the 2 back speakers out that were the 6x9's for the lows, and I added a line converter and converted them to rca's and added 2 12 inch mmat subs. sounds great. I want to keep my factory deck.

So I figured after that I wanted to change the component set in the front doors, so I bought infinity kappa 6 1/2 inch comps. so I installed them and they worked fine with the factory amp. However here is where my problem comes in. I figure that the crossover that came with the infinity speakers would yeild better sound as they were designed for the set, and not the amp. I need help in trying to wire them correctly.

I have the wiring diagrams for my car and the signals going to the front speakers are split up into 3 different sets of wires. front lows, front midrange, and front tweeters, of course its 3 sets for both left and right. now I figured combining all 3 outputs to the in on the crossover and then splitting the woofer up and the tweeter up from there would work.. but it doesn't... I get crappy sound and it just doesn't work. How can I do this. PLEASE HELP anyone who knows about this.

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[starkfu 10+ year member]

you can't combine three outputs into the crossover input, doesn't work that way, you are backfeeding to the amplifiers and causing a power competition, one will win, two will lose (and fry).

You can never combine amplifier outputs. You are going to have to grab the signal pre amplifiers and input, but it is low level and will not sound good.

You want my advice.... south park said it best "pig and elephant DNA just won't splice".

Don't mix aftermarket and factory amplified systems in the realm of speakers. Either leave it all stock with the subs, or replace them all.

 

[Mudvayne25]

there has got to be a way to wire in my crossover without taking it pre-amp. for starters somehow there is a way that the 3 inputs are being fed to the speaker after the amp. there are 3 sets of wires somehow going to the front speakers and there only connected with 2 wires from the tweeter and 2 wires from the woofer.

I want the stock head unit and I wanna keep the factory amp. its a decent amp for the time being. I know it will work, I really don't feel like nor do I have the money to buy a amp and the factory bypass kit for the monsoon amp.

 

[starkfu 10+ year member]

two problems.

One, the monsoon amp is tuned and setup for the monsoon speakers. Replacing them with what are most likely a higher quality speaker, will not sound good. You will not be able to make any adjustments to the amplifier to tune it to the infinity speakers.

Two, you can wire your crossover, but I can't guarnatee you are going to get the full range of sound. you have to choose one pair of speaker wires. If what you are saying is correct and your monsoon amp has three SEPARATE outputs to the front stage which imply to me that they are crossed over, then you can't just connect them all together and get a full range of sound, it doesn't work that way. However, the possibility does exist that the woofer speaker wire inputs are not crossed over, I would attemp that first, but I doubt it is going to sound very good. I would keep what you have until you can replace it all. Or don't.

 

[Mudvayne25]

I read the diagram wrong, theres only the midrange pair going to the front woffer and the tweeter pair. anyways I left the wiring alone, only changed the speakers and it sounds good low.. however when you turn it up the front speakers get distorted from the bass. I am nots ure why, my guess would be the amp isn't a high quality for the speakers so its sending too much lows to the front. I get what your saying, I really want to go aftermarket but here is my problem.

the first issue I have is I kinda want to keep the stock head unit... for looks wise to keep a stock look. I also have something from PAC which is called the aux box... so I have my ipod hooked up though my stock headunit and it thinks its a cd changer, so I can control it through my steering wheel controls and everything. I love that feature. not to mention my car has the factory built in xm.

and I know what you are saying, you can do all of that with an aftermarket deck, and I know this. however unless you have a touchscreen display, scrolling through the ipod is much more of a hassle than its worth. Plus I would only buy an eclipse deck, which are expensive.

If I add an aftermarket amp for just the speakers, would I still be able to use the stock head unit? I would think the easiest thing to do would be to do what I did with my subs.. add a line converter after its being fed through the factory amp, and then just hook up my own amp to those leads and go from there?

 

[starkfu 10+ year member]

sure, the only enemy then is noise, make sure that your LOC is adjustable and just grab the signal behind the deck, then crank the output of the LOC, if you add after the amp, you are more likely to get a whine through the speakers, but the adjustable LOC and a ground loop isolator on the RCA line may be enough to keep it out.

Definately a step in the right direction!!

 

[Mudvayne25]

Thanks for the help. just 1 more thing. what would be better, before the amp or after? If I do it before the amp, do you think I will still have the vol control up front? I think the vol is controlled in the amp, the only thing the deck sends is line level signal, unless it raises that level.

 

[starkfu 10+ year member]

it will always be raised at the source unit, it's just smaller fluctuations at lower levels.

I would try behind the radio first, if you aren't happy with that, then try after amp.

 

[Mudvayne25]

Thats the ticket. Thanks for the help. its alolt louder and cleaner

I took the inputs before the amp and put in the amp I had my sub hooked up too. now alls I need to do is buy a second amp. I am not sure if I should get another mmats sub amp(the 1 I had blew) and use the 4 channel amp I have now(mtx) for the fronts and maybe rear.

 

[starkfu 10+ year member]

glad to be of assistance!

4 channel plus sub amp is usually the way to go, never had any experience with the mmats amps