meissen

Alright guys, I had the fun of upgrading speakers on Angie's 2002 Firebird with a Monsoon system today, and I wanted to share my findings with everyone else. Typically, what I've heard everyone say is that you either buy the specific speaker that works well with the amp, or you have to rewire from the headunit to the speaker so that you bypass the amp. The local major audio store that's in this area (Mickey Shore) told me to tap into the wires from the headunit so I could use the regular Infinity Reference series 6.5" speakers for the side/sail panel location. Using the wiring diagram found here, I tapped into those wires and then had to run new wire from the headunit to the side panels, which was very time consuming and required removing/unbolting interior panels to tuck wire behind them. When I wired the side speakers straight from the headunit to the speaker, bypassing the amp, the speaker sounded 100x better than the same speaker being powered by the amp (read the Monsoon amp for discussion on why). So, the decision was made to rewire the front door speakers too to effectively bypass the amp. The problem was running wire from the headunit to the speaker, having to go through that grommet that passes through to the inside of the door. Then it hit me,

THE EASY WAY TO BYPASS THE MONSOON AMPLIFIER FOR SPEAKER UPGRADES:
1. The Monsoon amp is located behind the spare wheel on the passenger side rear quarter panel. Remove the spair tire and equipment so you can easilly reach in and disconnect the large connector from the amp.
2. Once you have the connector unplugged, use the following wiring diagram for Camaro or Firebird and find out what wires come from the headunit and what wires go out to the speaker. Because I just did this for my girlfriend's 2002 Firebird, below I'll use an example of what wires to splice together. Basically, the idea is that you're literally taking the wire that was supposed to go from the headunit into the amp and connecting it straight to the wire that was supposed to go from the amp to the speaker -- effectively bypassing the amp, and bypassing any needs for running new wires! My job rewiring and running new wires to the side panel speakers took 7 hours, whereas it only took me 1 hour to rewire the front speakers using the amp bypass approach.



2002 Firebird with Monsoon Amp Wiring Summary:
I only had to bypass the amp for the doorpanel speakers and the side/sail panel speakers. Here is the wiring I used:
E1 - Dark Green - Right Front Input (Negative) CONNECTS TO F6 - Dark Green - Right Front Speaker (Negative)
F1 - Light Green - Right Front Input (Positive) CONNECTS TO F7 - Orange - Right Front Speaker (Positive)
E2 - Grey - Left Front Input (Negative) CONNECTS TO E16 - Light Blue - Left Front Speaker (Negative)
E3 - Tan - Left Front Input (Positive) CONNECTS TO E15 - Dark Blue - Left Front Speaker (Positive)
E4 - Dark Blue - Right Rear Input (Positive) CONNECTS TO F14 - White - Right Rear Speaker (Positive)
E5 - Light Blue - Right Rear Input (Negative) CONNECTS TO F13 - Grey - Right Rear Speaker (Negative)
E6 - Yellow - Left Rear Input (Negative) CONNECTS TO F16 - Purple - Left Rear Speaker (Negative)
E7 - Brown - Left Rear Input (Positive) CONNECTS TO F15 - Red - Left Rear Speaker (Positive)

Just use your wire cutters and cut these wire pairs one at a time, then solder them together. It's a VERY easy job and you will spend more time removing the tire and equipment to get to the monsoon amp than you will actually cutting and splicing the wires together.

Using this idea, you'll have the front door speakers and the side/sail panel speakers bypassing the amp, while the stock tweeters and the stock subwoofer in the rear quarter panels are still powered by the amp. In my case, I just disconnected the crappy sounding "subwoofers" in the rear quarter panels and left it to be just a 4 speaker system with 2 additional tweeters in the front doors.

I hope this helps make life easier for you guys!

blue89vert

very nice right up brian. that should be some respect points or w/e lol

69z-28

mine came all done, i just threw in a sub/amp combo and then had to rewire MB Quarts that are subs from the factory.

adamfreakinhenry

hey i just bought a aftermarket deck and if i do this wiring job then will the speakers sound the same?

98CamaroZ28

can you upgrade from your stock amp using all the stock wiring componets so that my speakers dont blow out?

archemedes

your stock radio has more actual power than the monsoon amp does it won't be a problem

98CamaroZ28

oh really, so it woudl actually be much better to not even run the monsoon amp and just run them through my head unit?

archemedes

pretty much your still under 20 watts though (last test of the monsoon amp was an average of 10 watts and the head units about 15) they are rated if lightning strikes and at an absurd frequency (same way those 1000 watt amps that sell for $100 get the wattage rating)

98CamaroZ28

sweet...I may just have to do this and toss out the amp.

archemedes

sell the amp on ebay some tool will buy it for more than it's worth