So my 2001 ls1 f-body vert has the upgraded oem speakers, the monsoon 8 speaker system with the amp.

Does anyone know the damn specs of these things??

I have alpine type r subwoofers and I was wondering if upgrading to alpine type r speakers with another amp would make that much of a difference to the sound. I'm definitely replacing the monsoon receiver with an alpine one, because it has an actual volume limit and can go out to the subs and my EQ.

Anyway, are these monsoon speakers any good or should I trash em and upgrade?

 

I don't think they are bad, but nothing special. I upgraded to Type X components in the front and Type R composites in the back and it sounds great. I have a Type R 12" and it has a lot of bass for me, even with the top down. Then again, I don't like bass as much as most people.

 

Damn, that sounds expensive. I was only going to use type r coaxials in my doors...
Would you say it was worth the money?
I mean, I don't get how much speakers could actually sound, but I've never heard a pair of high performance ones before..

 

I think it was in the $1200 neighborhood after I got finished (this is with a Kenwood BT-901 headunit and Polk monoblock amp)...although I bought everything but speakers from BB (work there) and got them installed there, so YMMV. eBay has some good deals on the speakers and such, way lower than retail. Cool thing to note about my amp is that it has a bass ****, so I can turn it off/all the way up at will.

I'd say it was worth it. There were only a few problems. One is the X components have a bit too high of range (as in a sharp high in an S or a the end of a word, etc - listen to a song from Bad Meets Evil/Eminem or something which is where I hear it mostly), though that could be crappy encoding/recording from the songs because it only happens once in a while. I do have sensitive ears however. The bass is crappy in ways because I bought a ****ty truck box to fit my trunk well. Gotta get that changed...either a custom built or sacrifice the rest of my painfully small trunk space. My composite Rs almost got completely ****ed because my top hit them every time I put it down/up. Found that out the other day...had to get my friend at BB to rewire them and we cleared them of the assembly...didn't realize they were so damn deep...maybe a more "experienced installer" would have recognized it. But we cut the rear speaker holes and mounted them in the back, and they look good. He also custom driller the tweeter holes into the front windshield pillars, and they look good. He is a "newer" guy, got hired the same time I did (about a year ago), but I trusted him and told him to go at it. Really good for not being a "true audio shop". Don't know if I'd trust a regular BB to go at it, but again, YMMV.

Can get a pic of how we mounted the rears if you want, but here are the tweeters for the components:



For the record, I won't tell you I'm an audiophile, but I buy nice equipment because you can notice the sound. For instance, I'm not going to shell out $500 on a pair of earbuds, but my $80 Klipsch S4's sound a **** load better than some crappy $30 Skull Candy headphones, and I notice it. I can easily notice how volume differs from my Zune to my Phone to a Tablet with them for instance, how one is tweaked and the other isn't. My home audio is pretty old school, good sounding, "rare" stuff in some instances. My dad was more of an audiophile than I am, he had (and passed to me) a great stereo setup. I've got a pair of Logitech G930s for my PC, and I think those sound very good as well (wireless 7.1 headphones, but sound great for music in stereo mode).

I guess it just all depends on who you are and what you like, and obviously how much you are willing to spend. From what I read, components in the back were useless, so I decided just to go with composites. The Rs aren't bad at all, but the tweeters sound a hell of a lot clearer with the X's. The bass sounds a bit muddy with the ****ty box I have, but the R 12" sub sounds relatively good IMO. There is some trunk rattle which I still want to get taken care of, as that is one reason I don't like a lot of bass. The other thing is, I bought a $300 or so head unit, and I didn't want to put crappy speakers behind it powering it. I've also gone through and tweaked the system to my liking - my headunit has a lot of options for the sound settings, and it is great and in depth.

 

Guitar, you're not an audiophile, you're an audio freak!

As for the speakers, I don't really care about the ones in the back, I want all my lows to come from the subs.

I would just get the two type rs in the front, if anything, but then they wouldn't match up the with other 6 speakers and I can see that causing problems, somehow..

Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.
This is the receiver I'm looking at.
That 12 disc changer in the back is unusable now because my sub box crams it to where it will not open.

It's cool that you can do most of your tweaking from the HU. I usually use my 7 band EQ (which does not work with the monsoon speakers) for the subs.

I guess I'll just get the headunit, dynamat my trunk and doors and call it a day.

I think my system sounds great and hits really hard.
Sometimes the subs overpower the front speakers because the fronts are so weak, and I don't want to turn my gain or bass on the subs down because they're at the proper setting...
but I guess I can just live with that.


If there's anything I've learned from this though, after spending well over 1k, it's that better is the enemy of good and you should quit while you're ahead and have a good sounding system.

Maybe if I win the lottery in the future I will upgrade all 8 of my speakers.

Thanks for the help guitar.

 

As you can see, I definitely need a new HU.
Can't play CD's.
I'll probably remove the 12 disc player entirely.
I also have to use a cassette adapter to get my ipod to play..

 

Guitar, you work at Best Buy?

If so, same here. I'm my stores Auto Tech.. and yeah... those type R's are the deepest subs around. An L7 or Solo might be close.

 

About the back speakers - I can understand that I suppose. Once again, I'm not a big bass guy, but I like it sometimes. The thing was, I read all this stuff online about rear speakers not being needed and actually sounding worse and all that crap, then I actually turned them down, turned the channels off, etc. Listened to more or less fronts or just rears or just one side, and it sounded hollow to me without everything on. Maybe it is just the way our cars are setup, but it sounded a lot better with the two rear ones. Plus, if I ever have someone in the car (like a parent) driving with me that can't tolerate the boom boom, I can still have some good music while driving with no sub.

The only place mine rattles is where the trunk opens...if I hold it down a bit, the rattle ceases. I'm thinking that I can get just that fixed, but we'll see. My sub can overpower my front speakers (somewhat) if I want it too, but once again I keep it relatively low-medium volume. Headunit looks decent though, and the iPod hookup is real nice. Reason I bought my Kenwood was because it worked with my Zune (and other external media), and I certainly wasn't switching to an iPod just to have music in my car. If I were you, I think I'd at least replace the door speakers. A pair of the Type Rs on eBay goes for just under $100, and that isn't bad at all. But once again, as you said, "better is the enemy of good".

And for the record, my rear speakers:



Yeah, in the computer department. The sub is also pretty damn heavy.

 

Bah, those Type R's look good...

You think I could just do the doors without the other 6 speakers?
That might cause issues if I eq just the door speakers and none of the others.
I'd have to leave all my ***** on my eq at neutral or just not wire the eq to the front speakers.

If I can get the two type r's in the doors without it causing problems then I'll do that to finish up upgrading my system.

But, would I need a new amp for just those two? I think the monsoon one is 500w peak, 200 RMS. Which isn't bad..
But if it's wired to all 8 speakers, they will only get like 25w each RMs which is poo. the alpine type r's can take 100 rms @ 4 ohms.
As for your trunk rattles, you could use the dynamat wedge pak (one 18x32 sheet) on your trunk lid. That's what I did. No more rattles (:

 

Guitar, can I see a pic of your front speakers, are they clean?

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-SPE-6000.html
It says those won't fit 2001 chevy camaro but I'm pretty sure they will