Factory Hu + Amp?

[smlzalero]

Can I just get some kind of connector to hook up an amp to my factory HU? I really enjoy the SCV feature, and I hate the way aftermarket HU's look in the dash with the HVAC setup.
Also, my speakers actually sound 100X better than any other car I'v ever been in with a factory system, they really pound for factory, they're just not as clean sounding as I'd like. All i can find is 4 Ohm speakers, where can I get 8 Ohm, like the ones in there already? (I'm assuming 8 Ohms is better, more punch, than 4 Ohms)
I figure if I leave the 4 front speakers hooked to the HU, I can hook the rears and maybe a sub to the amp...does that make sense? :unsure: That way I can get a less expensive amp, and my HU won't die young.

Any and all suggestions are welcomed!

[-Alero-]

actually ohms is a measure of resistance and the less ohms the more current is created. im not sure if its always better but yah.

[smlzalero]

So 8 ohms is worse than 4 ohms...that's why I can't find em anywhere?
That makes sense now, thanks.

[-Alero-]

well thats what the forums are for...........and i hope im right

lol ahh ur partially right, the ohm of a speaker plays a part in a lot of things an 8 ohm speaker is going to get better qound quality than a 4 ohm one, a 4 ohm will pull more power from your amp and thats what most amps are rated at is 4 ohms........8 ohms is not worse than 4 ohms........so dont think that, its just most aftermarket is based on 4 ohm speakers, there are 2 ohm 4 ohm 6 ohm even 8 ohm subwoofers but when it comes to midrange speakers 4 ohms is nominal......

now as far as the set up you want its going to be weird cause your rear speakers are going to be playing a different volume than your front will......the way the fronts are wired up each door only uses one channel, not one for the tweeter and one for the speaker in the door......

and as far as ur equation up there, the more resistance you have the less current your going to have........ I(current)=V(voltage)/R(resistance).......15 volts/1 ohm is 15 amps but 15 volts/2 ohms is 7.5 amps.......you get what im saying.......

[smlzalero]

uh, not really, but now I see a problem with that the whole reason for the amp is I want to keep my SCV, and I'd be destroying that by getting the amp and separating the speakers, wouldn't I?

Holy poop I'm lost... is there'a way I can keep my SCV and get better sound?

Wait a minute, So I can't hook up any 8 ohm speaks I find to a 4 ohm amp??

scv is that chimes?? do you have the amp thats in the trunk behind the carpet?? i dont have that so i dont know too much about it.....

and you can hook an 8 ohm speaker up to an amp, but if the amps rated at 100 watts at 4 ohms, at 8 ohms you may only get 50 watts out of the amp......

[smlzalero]

Speed Compensated Volume, I love it! no, i looked but there's no amp.
So if I hook up all 6 speaks to an amp, I'll only need a 4 channel amp, not a 6?
if i hook up speaks to an amp, will i lose the effects of SCV?
Or will it be unaffected since the HU is still hooked to the tach?
If you hook speaks to an amp is the volume controlled by the HU still or by the amp?

[mike2002]

first off, what year any type of car do you have? GLS? GL?

pull back your trunk carpet on the left when you open your trunk. you should be able to see a black amp that has a red "monsoon" sticker in front of your rear tire well.

this is the way the MONSOON system works

ALL woofers are 2 ohms, front and back ALL tweeters are 6 ohms.

they are all bi-amped. what this means is the crossover is built into the amp. it is most likely a 4 channel amp, but they use a crossover inside the amp to split the high frequencies and low frequencies. so you have 4 wires going to the front left door, 4 for the front right, and 4 for each of the 2 back speakers. This works really nicely because i was able to mount my front components crossover in the trunk and not have to try to find a place in the door (they're large crossovers with adjusting att switches, so its nice to have access)

what you need to do to add a amp, is buy a Line out Convertor. it converts the "speaker wire" (high level input) to a set of "RCA"'s (low level input). these LOC's go on the speaker wires going into the amp from the HU, not the ones comming out going to the speakers, you'll get much better sound quality this way.

if you were to just replace the rear 6x9's with amped 6x9's and a sub, you'll completely ruin the soundstage. in other words, it wont sound so great. when tunning the system the rear speakers should be loud enough to were you can barely hear them, they are only used for rear fill. what you should do is get a nice set of components for up front, 5 1/4 or 6 1/2", even a GOOD 4" set will sound great, i got 4" soundstream exacts and they sound awesome.

i put a 5 channel amp in, its a 4 channel with a monoblock sub amp too. they can be pretty expensive if your brother doesn't own a car audio shop...lol. what you could do, is get a nice 4 channel amp. run new components of 2 channels, and bridge 2 channels into 1 for the sub. make sure you match the impedance correctly though. if a amp says its 2ohm stable, its 2 ohm stereo stable, not mono. meaning its 4 ohm mono stable, and thats how you hook up the sub. so you'd need a 4 ohm sub, or a dual 2 ohm sub.

what i did on mine, is i bought 2 Line out convertors, i put the 4 channel part on 1, the front speaker HU outputs, the sub on the other on 1, the rear HU speaker outputs. so if i use the factory fader, and fade the HU all the way to the front, i only get the 4 interior speakers, the more i fade it back, the louder the sub gets, its like a sub level control on your factory HU.

then for your rear 6x9's you could run them off the HU to just get a little rear fill, the LOC's only tap into the speaker wire, so you can have a LOC's and a speaker on the same wire.

[mike2002]

by the way, for a while i JUST replaced the speakers on my monsoon system, and it sounded pretty good.


the I used soundstream speakers, the ones i got had 3 ohm woofers, 4 ohm tweeters. to my knowledge soundstream is the only company making dual impedance speakers.

so my fronts/rears were 3/4 ohms instead of the factory 2/6 ohms.

the rears were the same, i used soundstream Tarantuala 6x9's, the ONLY dual impedance, BI-ampable 6x9 made. it sounded really good, got good midbass, not the wanna-be floppy sub bass the factory stuff got.

while running off the factory amp, the tweeters were to loud, because i was drawing more power by using 4 ohm tweets instead of 6 ohms, simple fix, turn the treble to -2. the woofers weren't QUITE as loud, as much bass, another simple fix, turn the bass to +2, and i turned the mid to +1.

this setup sounded really good. however, i have soundstream exact 4" components up front, and they're awesome speakers, but you need a amp for them, so they weren't as loud as the rears, so i had to fade it to the front alot to get it to sound right, and i wasn't using the 6x9's full potential. id recommend a set of HIGH sensitivity 5 1/4" components, (91+db) like infinity reference or somthing.

[smlzalero]

It's a 2001 GL, no, there's no amp. My HU doesn't say Monsoon, either. If I get those kinds of speakers, will I be able to use that setup with any amp?

Well, I guess it would be more work wiring, etc. if I get those kinds of speaks, right? Because the ones in there now are not dual amp/ohm whatever.

just to let you know some head units have agc (automatic gain control) which is the same thing you are talking about so if you still wanted it some head units have it, my pioneer does i believe i just dont use it.....

[mike2002]

Originally posted by smlzalero@Dec 5 2004, 01:22 PM
It's a 2001 GL, no, there's no amp. My HU doesn't say Monsoon, either. If I get those kinds of speakers, will I be able to use that setup with any amp?

Well, I guess it would be more work wiring, etc. if I get those kinds of speaks, right? Because the ones in there now are not dual amp/ohm whatever.

no it wouldn't be harder to wire in those types of speakers. the thing that makes them bi-ampable is that they have a external crossover, so you put in the crossover, 2 wires go to the crossover, 4 wires come out of the crossover to the speaker


do you know the impedance of your factory speakers? it should be stamped on the bottom of the magnet, if you pop the trunk you can take a look at your 6x9's.

i still like the soundstream tarantualla 6x9's for the fact that they have 3 ohm woofers, 4 ohm tweeters, that means the woofer will draw more power from the amp (or HU) for better bass. the total system impedance is 3.5, so its not much of a lower load on the HU, and ive never heard of a amp that can do 4 ohms not being able to do 3.5.

soundstream exact components are awesome, but i would definatly NOT recommend them running of a HU. does your car have the seperate tweeters in the corner of the door? my monsoon system had a 4x6 woofer, and a 1/2" tweeter in the corner.

[smlzalero]

Yeah, isn't 8 ohms the impedance? that's the rears, i haven't popped the door apart yet. And yes, the tweets are in the corners at the bottom of the A-pillars.
By getting bi amp speakers, will I have to run additional wires through to each speaker? I'm not sure I want to try and stuff wires, i had to put through the firewall with my underbodys and it was a bitch.

[smlzalero]

Also, what's the diff between an amp and a sub amp? is it just a second amp?

[mike2002]

your not really running more wires, for the rears you just mount the crossover up on the rear deck by the speaker with some 3m double backed tape. take the 2 wires that did go to your factory speaker and put them to the crossover, then the crossover actually has plugs on it, so it just plugs into the new speaker

im not sure if your car has the same setup for mounting as mine, since it uses different rear speakers, most likely does. but the soundstream tarantula's are a little bigger than the stock speakers, so some modification is needed to mount them

i would pick up a 4 channel amp

run 2 channels to a set of nice components in the door, the other 2 channels bridge to a subwoofer.

then if you want, later change out your rear 6x9's to somthing else. but keep them running off the HU, you dont want aggressive rear speakers anyways, save the money. any 6x9's will be fine since you dont have the monsoon system, some 6x9's will fit without modifications

[smlzalero]

okay, but BigD said something about the front being a diff volume than the rear? idon't want that.Would that happen? Should the Components in the doors be 3way or 2way?(the tweet being the first, mid being the second and the sub being the third)

[mike2002]

Originally posted by smlzalero@Dec 5 2004, 08:18 PM
okay, but BigD said something about the front being a diff volume than the rear? idon't want that.Would that happen? Should the Components in the doors be 3way or 2way?(the tweet being the first, mid being the second and the sub being the third)

i think what bigD was saying, is kind of what i was saying, you originally wanted to amp some 6x9's and add a sub. this would totally F*** up the soundstage, and sound wierd. instead, get some 6x9's and leave them running off the HU, and amp your fronts (new components). 3 way components would sound awesome, tweeter in the factory location, a midrange in a kickpanel and a midbass in the door. but the problem is, 1 they are very expensive, 2 you'd have to make some kickpanels. thats why id compermise, get components that are either 5 or 6", they will still give you some midbass if you get a nice set and do them right. make sure to dynamat the door.

the reason i got 4" components is because my brother is a authorized soundstream dealer, and they are closing out there 2003 stuff really really cheap. the 4" exact components are supposed to be somthing like $400msrp, i got em for $45, they only had 4's left, couldn't pass up on that! they still get pretty low for 4's though, lower than alot of 5's.

yea if your only going to be amping the rear speakers and a sub your sound staging will be way off, if anything you wanna amp the front speakers rather than the back cause those are the ones you hear, i personally would not amp either/or alone its better to do all for so everything sounds the same......

take a lil extra time to do it right and it will come out way better.....

[smlzalero]

Okay, i pretty much got it. Thanks for all your help guys! The doods at the stores are total ahoes. I'll post pics when I get it all hooked up so you'll know it if I blow up my car!