Put in aftermarket radio...

[raroZ28]

So I put in some new sounds in the camaro. Put in my Alpine head unit, JBL 6x9s in the hatch, infinity kappa 6.5's in the backseat, and left stockers up front for now.

The alpine is a 60x4 system. But my system doesn't sound as loud as it did with the stocker. There were two connectors on the back of my radio, I figured one was for the 12 disc, and I still think that's what it's for. But I heard that these cars have an amplifier somewhere. Is this true? Where is it at?

It might just be me, but it sounds a TAD bit quiter. Unless now it's so much clearer. I can adjust every last thing with that radio. I'm going to funk with it more tomorrow.

Anybody wanna buy a 12 disc??

[Christopherrr]

Did Camaros come with an amp/crossover like Pontiac's Monsoon? From what I heard, using an aftermarket HU with stock amps and crossover = poor sound reproduction.

[Joe K. 99 Zeee!!]

This is a '97 car right? Then you have the Monsoon system most likely. The system is a PITA to upgrade. All the stock speakers are 2 ohm resistance. Industry standard is 4 ohm, which is probably just like the speakers you bought. That's why it's a little quieter. Do some searching over at LS1.com or LS1tech.com. One of those pages had a nice writeup on upgrading. It's been almost a year since I read through it, so I can't give you all the details off the top of my head. Some speakers are routed through an "amplifier" and others the signal comes directly through the head unit. For example, the front speakers have a mid and a tweater. The mid is wired through the amp and the tweater is wired through the head unit. The only good way to do it is to pull the whole blame thing out and start from scratch.

I had to upgrade my front speakers, and went with a recommendation from that site, I ended up rewireing and soldering my new speakers to the stock speaker adapter plug and they came out sounding nice. My '98 car and '99 car both had the same issue with front speaker blowouts, now I think I've lost a rear hatch speaker.

I love the stock unit, but dislike the monsoon system overall. The Bose in my '96 was MUCH better. Monsoons have better specs but don't sound as nice and have a tendancy to blow out speakers.

Good luck! Check out those sites!

[Joe K. 99 Zeee!!]

Here's some good background info...

http://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=347399

[raroZ28]

The car is a 97, but does not have the monsoon system. Just the Delco system.

I have Infinity Kappa 62.5i's. I thought they were much better than Monsoon.

And my friend has the Monsoon in his 01 SS, and it didn't sound half as good as the Bose in my moms maxima, I know what you mean. The Bose was much nicer, but everyone that compared them said that Bose was all Bass and no High's or something. I guess the Monsoon has it's good points and the Bose has it's high points. Whatever, I always like the Bose best too

I think those Infinity's are 2ohm. The speakers I pulled were 4 ohm.

I'm going to mess with it some more in a little bit. I'm going to build a sub box to go in the back and throw a ten back there as well. Should be a fun day. Time to break out the table saw...

Thanks for the link Joe!

[raroZ28]

Ok, I figured out why it didn't sound so great, I forgot to set the bass focus. The rear speakers sounded VERY WEAK. I had the bass on all rear's to 0, and 25 in the front. So I left the FR and FL at 25, and set the rears RR and RL to 75. Sounds AWESOME.

And I double checked the speakers I pulled, and they're 2ohm, not 4ohm.

The new speakers sound SO MUCH BETTER. And the sound is so much clearer with how adjustable that Alpine is.

ba da ba ba ba, I'm lovin it.

New problem. I NEED my avenged sevenfold CD out of my 12 disc, but now with no power running to the changer from the stock unit, it will not eject. I don't want to pull my radio if there is another way to get my changer to eject.

Next on the list, build a custom sub box for the rear hatch DS cubby hole.

[thenuge876]

Glad you figured it out man, its pretty amazing what some of these sound systems can do with all of the adjustability, maybe ill get one for my next car...