Grand Am system hook up!

[Ayisha43]

Hello everyone.

I have have just got out of a 2004 Grand Prix lease and purchased a 2001 Grand Am GT Coupe. After subjecting myself to that wack as* factory system, I am excited to upgrade my current monsoon factory system.

I took my car to Circuit City Road shop to see what my options were and they basically tried to take me for $1000. They said that they have to remove my entire system and relocate my radio in order to make any aftermarket products. I turned away quickly and turned to the "NET" for some help. I am looking to install my system myself and don't mind doing a lot of research. I did read about a Metra Kit that will allow me to add to my factory system without relocating my factory head unit.

Now I don't want my music to shatter peoples windows but I do want my bass and my music to be heard comming down the street. I planned on replacing my doors, rear panels, tweeters and adding subwoofers and an additional amplifier to the existing Monsoon amplifier that is there.

First I want to know if this is possible.
Second if it's a good idea.
Third if I can keep my factory radio.
Forth what brand products to use and
Fifth, how much I can expect to spend.

I was considering ordering from Crutchfield. Those Bazooka Tubes were pretty tempting. I have never done this before but I have a lot of patience and I can pick up on things pretty easily. I also purchased "The Car Stereo Cookbook" and I do want to have my system installed by the end of May. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank You in Advance

[birdhouse]

1. Yes, it's possible. The Metra adapter, IIRC, will work with a 2001...

2. Yes, it's def. a good idea. If the monsoon isn't suiting you, then get rid of it, but keep it. If you ever go back stock when you sell, you'll want all that to put back in.

3. Yes, you can keep your factory radio, but I wouldn't recommend it... If you're going to replace EVERYTHING, then you're going to want a nice, powerful headunit with 3 pre-outs, one for front, one for backs, and one for your subs.

4. If you're looking for something like a bazooka tube, then you don't need an external amp. Those come with amps already installed inside the tube. It makes it easier, but it also doesn't thump anywhere near what you can get for the same money. If you're replacing everything in the car, you ARE going to spend near 1000 on it, plain and simple. You can go cheap and not spend that much, but then what's the point? You're just going to upgrade down the line cause the shit is either that, shit, and it's blown or you just need something that can handle more power. I recommend Alpine (Headunits, subs, and speakers, Crossfire (amps and subs), JL (amps and subs), Memphis Audio (they're expensive, but well worth it... subs and amps and speakers), and I can go on and on with more brands...

5. You're going to spend alot for a nice sounding system. If you want something where you're going to be completely satisfied, don't go cheap. Go with nice name brands that I put and whatever everyone else recommends. Stay away from Pioneer speakers and subs, any Sony products, any Aiwa products, I'm not a fan of anything JVC, Kenwood Excelon headunits are nice, but pricey, and their speakers and subs suck.

I hope I helped you out a little bit. If you find out that it's going to be pricey, then just get everything one piece at a time. You can even install everything you get as soon as you get it if you want. Just don't go blowing the new fronts and rears, which you're most likely going to want to amp. Don't keep your monsoon amp, it pushes out nothing. For the fronts and rears, look for a nice 4 channel amp... Anyway, I'm babbling now, so I hope this helps!

[matts]

he said what i would have in a nutshell. it's very easy to spend $1000 on car audio and not even get the best money can buy. you can spend almost that on a set of components if you really wanted to. but if you're money conscience, or like me and just broke right now, there are several ways you can get nice stuff and not cost a fortune.

look for clearance stuff. who cares if it's last year model? i would rather have last years top of the line stereo instead of this years mid line stereo. same goes with speakers, except speakers are even better. noone is going to see them, how are they going to know the difference? also, buy stuff one thing at a time. you dont have to run out and buy it all at once. you see people with $5000 invested in a system and odds are they bought it one component at a time. most people dont have $5G just lying around to drop in a system. if you're gonna build a system you might as well go with stuff that's going to last you a while and sound good doing it.

just the harness for the radio to plug into the factory wiring is $100 by itself.

a good, decent headunit is going to run you about $350. that's not top of the line, but it's not bottom either. i'd take a serious look at Alpine headunits. they're bottom line stuff has alot of the same specs as competitors top end stuff. kenwood excelon isn't that bad either.

speakers......i'd put components in the front and just go back with 6x9s in the back. again, take a good look at alpine. alpine makes a pretty clean sounding speaker. not the best in the world, but certainly not the worst. a 5 1/4" component set will fit in the front doors without a problem. and MOST 6x9s will fit in the back. mounting size is going to be pretty standard, but the DEPTH is where you gotta watch it. you can get them too deep to fit in without modification.

for subs there's so many good/decent names. i like kicker subs. JL, fosgate, memphis, and several others make pretty good subs. also have to take box type into consideration. do you want sealed, ported, or band pass? (other types too, but these are most common) sealed will be tight, punchy bass. ported is a little more sloppy, most people can't tell, and will yield more SPL. and band pass is just boomy sounding. if you're just wanting people to hear you coming then band pass or ported. if you're wanting a SQ system then sealed is the way to go.

amps....same boat as subs. alot of good names out there. kenwood, alpine, crossfire, jl, fosgate, kicker, etc. some people dont like kenwood, but i've never had a problem out of one of their amps. but you'll need one for the sub and at least one more for the components.

you COULD just take one more amp and run all of the interior speakers. either go with a 2 channel and lose your front/rear fade or you could get a 4 channel and keep the front/rear fade.

and on top of all of this you have to take all the extras into consideration. batteries, altenator, wiring, crossover (if you want), etc.

[AznGA]

I am glad to see this thread. My stock HU crapped out on me so I got a Sony HU hooked to my stock Monsoon amp and speakers and the sound isn't as good as when I had the stock HU. I think my rear speakers are blown as well. I really do not have $1000 to spend on audio while my car needs a lot or repairs right now. I decided to go with a used stock 04+ MP3 player and get new stock speakers.

[birdhouse]

You can never go wrong with that, Azn. New stock speakers are going to sound great with the monsoon and that new MP3 deck, but I didn't think that the MP3 decks worked with 02', but I'm most likely wrong, too. :D

[AznGA]

04+ Monsoon deck is pretty much same as 01-03 Monsoon decks. It has MP3 capabilty instead of a tape deck. I will need to have the dealer reprogram it though when I put it in.

[Pte Socks]

Ok, Matt brings up a great point. If you can, get clearance stuff. Im a huge fan of JL and Alpine. If you can, search around for subs like the old W0's, W3's and W6's. You dont need the new stuff and in any case, the older ones will fit whatever application your looking for. Personally ,if you want to be heard from down the block, id recommend, either Alpine Type S or JL W3's. If you get a pair of them, running them to a 500W amp is usually plently. Id also recommend upgrading the front speakers from 4x6's to a nice 5 1/4" single or component speaker for the doors. Besides that, take birdhouse's and matts, advice, they know their car audio.

[matts]

well, the W3s are in the same league as the type S's. while both are pretty good speakers for average listening and cranking it up on the occasional basis i would go for a more stout sub if you're wanting your music loud all the time. like the type r's or W6s would be more on par with loud volumes most of the time.

then that brings another question to the table. what size sub are you wanting? 8,10,12,15,18......etc. 12s are middle of the road when it comes to accuracy and depth. but by the statement "from down the road" im guessing you're wanting more depth, which will rattle everything under the sun, than accuracy. so i'd go for a 12 or 15.

you dont really need a pair of subs. hypothetical: why spend $400 on 2 mediocre subs when you can spend $400 on 1 nice sub? one sub takes up less room, less wiring hassles (especially with DVCs), and can be just as loud as 2 subs if done right. you CAN go with 2 subs, but it's not a necessity

[nineteen88ga]

Originally posted by Ayisha43

I took my car to Circuit City Road shop to see what my options were and they basically tried to take me for $1000.


Considering what it sounds like what you want to achieve from your system, they weren't "taking" anything from you.

When dealing with the factory monsoon setup, you unfortunately just cant replace the 4 speakers and keep the factory headunit or vice versa. The entire system (headunit and all factory speakers need to be replaced and rewired). Adding bass with a Bazooka tube, probably won't give you that much more then the factory monsoon, at least not enough to be heard down the street like what your looking for. Also like it was alre3ady mentioned, don't forget to factor in all you accessories such as wire, connectors, kits etc...

Honestly your best bet is going with a setup like this:
-Headunit
-Front component speakers
-Rear 6x9's
-4 channel amp to run the 4 interior speakers
- 1 or 2 subs (depending on how much bass you want and how much trunk room you want to sacrafice)
- sub amp

Its a pretty basic setup, but its the way your going to have to go already having the Monsoon in your car from the factory.

As for the relocating of the factory headunit, yeah, you could do it that way, but the more common way now is by way of a GM Chime module harness (available at Circuit City part number; MET GMRC01).

edit:
Just went on circuitcity.com and tossed together a typical system(with components I've installed before and know its capable of sounding VERY well), and the total without installation fees, dash kit, wireing harnesses antenna adaptor, came to.... 1,423.91 so...

Amp/sub install ruffly $60
4ch install ruffly $75
cap install ruffly $35
dash kit, antenna adaptor and front speaker plates ruffly $50
chime module harness $70

your looking at approx $1700 when its all said and done, not to meantion if you want to add their extedned service plan to any components.

components I priced up were:
alpine 9827 h.u.
Infinit Reference 5.25 components
infinity Reference 6x9's
2 Infinity reference 12's
Qlogic dual sub enclosure
Audiobahn 8000T sub amp
Audiobahn 4004 4 channel amp
dual amp wire kit (comes with 1.2 farad cap and all connections d-blocks etc)

I'm sure you can pick up these items cheaper elsewhere, but justto give you an idea, for a decent sounding system, I'm not suprised that 2grand is what you'll be getting yourself into.

[Trancer]

Originally posted by matts
you dont really need a pair of subs. hypothetical: why spend $400 on 2 mediocre subs when you can spend $400 on 1 nice sub? one sub takes up less room, less wiring hassles (especially with DVCs), and can be just as loud as 2 subs if done right. you CAN go with 2 subs, but it's not a necessity


Yeah but 2 12's have more cone area than a single 15 or 18. :D

[Ayisha43]

Wow, you guys really know your stuff. But remember, I am new to this.
What is a SQ system?
W0's, W3's, W6'sand Type S

Also I don't want to take up too much space in my trunk and having one larger sub sounds better than having two. What about those Infinity subs with the amp and radiator built in or the Kenwood Woox, will those give me anywhere near what I am trying to achieve?

Perhaps I need to restate how I want my music to sound. I hear guys pull up next to me or behind me with thier bass so loud that It moves my whole car, but unless I know the bassline of the song, I don't have a clue what they are listening to. I don't want my music to sound like that. I want to be able to hear the words as well as the bass. I listen to a lot of hip hop as well as jazz.

Can anyone tell me absolutely what NOT to buy. Keep in mind that I am a female and salesmen always assume that I know nothing. Where can I find the older good quality stuff for sale. Any good online stores? Has anyone ever bought any equipment on E-Bay?:???:

[Trancer]

The Infinity Basslink is a great buy if you want to keep your trunk space and add some "umph" to your stereo. I believe two quality 10's or one 12 would be enough for what you want. I have one 12 and people hear me coming from 2 blocks away. People are constantly turning their heads in their car when I pull up within 4 car lengths of them at a stop light.

And 80% of my stereo equipment has been purchased on ebay. I might be making a purchase tonight actualy

[RocketFast321]

Originally posted by nineteen88ga

components I priced up were:
alpine 9827 h.u.

:cool:
http://img239.exs.cx/img239/4153/dscf18110bf.jpg

[matts]

ABSOLUTELY stay away from sony. anything sony makes when it comes to car audio is crap. avoid it like the plague

and the people rattling your car can actually probably hear the words just fine inside the car. it's just that bass notes carry so well that it sounds like it's drowning everything thing else out. i can turn the bass up in my fiances car and on the outside from about 20 ft you can't even hear the mids/highs. sounds like she dont have any other speakers other than the sub. but sit down in the car and it's clear as can be.

SQ stands for sound quality and SPL stands for sound pressure level. sq deals more with music clarity and accuracy and spl deals more with going deaf :P. not that you can't have a combination of both.

all the Ws are series numbers on JL subs. the higher the number the better the sub. the type S and R are subs from Alpine.

i agree with trancer. if you're just wanting more definition to your low end a bass link isn't a bad option. it would be more simplied wiring and look neater since the amp and sub are all together.

how loud do you listen to your music? do you like traveling with the windows down? are you wanting to rattle windows and set off car alarms? are you wanting tight punchy bass or something thats going to be louder and a little more delay to it?



stay away from sony :P

[Ayisha43]

Originally posted by matts

how loud do you listen to your music? do you like traveling with the windows down? are you wanting to rattle windows and set off car alarms? are you wanting tight punchy bass or something thats going to be louder and a little more delay to it?

stay away from sony :P

In my factory radio it is like 3/4 of the little squares so pretty high.
Yes I do travel with the windows down and the sunroof open in the summer.
I really don't care if anyone alarm goes off.
I think "Tight punchy bass" would be good.
You know how your music sounds when you are cleaning the interior and have all the doors open and the music turned about all the way up? Thats how I want it to sound with all the doors closed and the windows down. Nice and clear but with some "Tight Punchy Bass."

[Trancer]

I suggest the Infinity Basslink like I said earlier. However you did say you wanted to be heard down the block.
If so then your other option would be the other option I posted aswell... Since you want punchy tight bass, I reccomend two quality 10 inch subs in a sealed box. And run around, say 200 watts rms to each sub. It will bump.

What I wanted a long time ago was just some bass, then I wanted more and more and more. With the 2 quality 10 inch subs with a matched amp, you will have room to play with on your volume and gains.

[Ayisha43]

Originally posted by matts

how loud do you listen to your music? do you like traveling with the windows down? are you wanting to rattle windows and set off car alarms? are you wanting tight punchy bass or something thats going to be louder and a little more delay to it?

stay away from sony :P

In my factory radio it is like 3/4 of the little squares so pretty high.
Yes I do travel with the windows down and the sunroof open in the summer.
I really don't care if anyone alarm goes off.
I think "Tight punchy bass" would be good.
You know how your music sounds when you are cleaning the interior and have all the doors open and the music turned about all the way up? Thats how I want it to sound with all the doors closed and the windows down. Nice and clear but with some "Tight Punchy Bass."

[matts]

well if you're not too concerned with being heard and just worried about your own listening pleasure then a basslink might be something you'd look into.

BUT, one thing you have to take into consideration is during the summer when you have your windows open is wind noise. that wind noise will kill your volume, causing you to turn it up louder. you're going to need speakers that will take the extra abuse of being pushed harder.

if you're changing your headunit an aftermarket headunit will have more RMS wattage than your factory stereo. RMS is continous power and MAX is the maximum watts a reciever is going to put out during a brief burst. MAX is worthless and RMS is the number you should pay attention to.

since you're wanting the tight bass you're going to want a sealed box. which will cut down on sub box costs. they're a simple design and very easy to build. if you have a dad or boyfriend or brother, or even yourself that has some basic carpentry skills (like cutting wood and using a cordless screwdriver) you can build one yourself to save even more money

[Trancer]

and stay away from Sony.. haha just had to throw it in there... I agree with staying away from them...

If you are going to add on an aftermarket headunit, then I suggest Pioneer Premier. That is my favorite. Other brands are Alpine, Kenwood, and Clarion.

If you are going to go with the say, the two 10 inch subs, then I also reccommend getting some aftermarket coaxials or if you have the money, a good component set with an amp. You will need the extra mids and highs to over power the subs.

If not you can always get the basslink or just have the gain turned down till you get the money for the fronts.

[nineteen88ga]

Originally posted by Ayisha43
In my factory radio it is like 3/4 of the little squares so pretty high.
Yes I do travel with the windows down and the sunroof open in the summer.
I really don't care if anyone alarm goes off.
I think "Tight punchy bass" would be good.
You know how your music sounds when you are cleaning the interior and have all the doors open and the music turned about all the way up? Thats how I want it to sound with all the doors closed and the windows down. Nice and clear but with some "Tight Punchy Bass."


Sounds like your definately after more of a sound quality (SQ) setup. Something you can just turn up and not have the bass over powering the vocals. Thats the type of system I like. Bass is cool to make heads turn, but if I can clearly hear a song playing from a car driving by vocals, instrumentals, etc. I'd be much more impressed.

I'd still stand by the set up I suggested in my original post, but maybe cut it down to a single 12" sub and an amp to suit it. The 4 new speakers and a 4 channel amp is what will give you the systems clarity and ability to give you good all volume sound quality, I'd personally start off with those components first, then wait to add my bass later on. That way it'll give you the opertunity to judge how much bass you want to add. Plus amping 6x9's often suprise people with the amount of bass you can pick up.

Keep in mind, with the factory Monsson system, its either swap it all out (deck & 4 speakers) or do nothing and keep it stock.

[Ayisha43]

So should the Headunit & Meta adapter be the first piece of equipment I purchase if I am going to do this piece by piece. What order should I go in?

[Trancer]

You should get the headunit first with all of your wiring for the cd player

[Ayisha43]

So once I do that I can hook up the radio to the Monsoon speakers or do I have to wait until I buy speakers and amp before I can use the radio?

[Trancer]

Nah, it will hook up like normal. The wire harness will do it all for you.

[matts]

:agree: start with the headunit, and then if you're just desperate for bass go with the sub and amp, then work on your front speakers

[nineteen88ga]

I've always been under the impressioin that you can't swap out justthe headunit with GM Monsoon systems Headunit and all 4 speakers need to be replaced at the same time and rewired in order to bypass the monsoon amp.

I do know with VW Monsoon you can replace jsut the headunit..... I've done a few jettaa and they sounded real nice with jsut a new headunit

[Trancer]

nah, there isnt anything different with an aftermarket headunit vs. the stock cd player wiring wise. Instead of the wires going straight to the speakers, they make a pitstop at the amp, then the wires goto the speakers.

[Ayisha43]

That's Kinda cool then, My factory speakers should sound as good or better with my new headunit right? OK, I will try it and let you guys know how it turns out.

[matts]

yeah, you should be able to tell a difference for the better with just a new headunit

[AznGA]

So if you want to be heard coming down the street, about how many watts would you need? Because I used to have 2 10" JL W0's and I couldn't hear anything outside the car.

And no matter what, I guess one sub isn't enough to be heard down the street? And also, are subs and amps with higher wattage heavier?

[Dave C]

It's not necessarily wattage that will make it louder, it is also what type of box you have, whether your windows are rolled down, how far down the street you actually want to be heard, whether they are "quality" watts, etc...

If you want loudness, go with a ported box and either have someone who knows what they are doing build it, or else just buy one.

Make sure your amp isn't underpowering/overpowering your speakers.

I say "quality" watts because you get what you pay for, for the most part. Last I knew, a good amp cost about $1/watt.

Better amps/subs are generally heavier because they need more material to support the larger load applied to them.

Get the right sub, and you can be heard from down the street with just one.

[Ayisha43]

Originally posted by nineteen88ga
I've always been under the impressioin that you can't swap out justthe headunit with GM Monsoon systems Headunit and all 4 speakers need to be replaced at the same time and rewired in order to bypass the monsoon amp.



What if I Replaced the headunit and added the Meta adapter, and removed the Monsoon Amp, and then rewired everything directly to the speakers? Will that work or does that theory "Monsoons don't play well with other speakers" kick in?

[AznGA]

If you scrape all Monsoon parts(stock HU, speakers, and amp), and run wires off the new aftermarket HU, it should sound good. I would either keep Monsoon as it is, or scrape the entire system. Right now, I have Sony HU connected to stock Monsoon speakers and amp, and it does not sound as good as when I had stock HU in.

[matts]

Originally posted by AznGA
And no matter what, I guess one sub isn't enough to be heard down the street? And also, are subs and amps with higher wattage heavier?


i beg to differ. i've only got one sub in emily's car and it can definitely be heard from down the street.

and just because you can't hear anything standing 10 ft away from the car dont mean you can't hear it coming. bass carries. turn your car up to what you normally listen to and then go inside your house and see if you can hear it. i used to have 2 subs in a car. inside the car it was loud, just outside the car it wasn't all that impressive, but step inside my house and im rattling pictures on the wall. it was 2 12s and someone actually heard me coming and asked if i had 15s.