I just spent a total of $375 to replace all speakers, replaced the factory amp and added a 10" powered sub. I kept the stock head unit.
Regardless of the money spent, this is by far one of the best sounding systems I've had in any car...and I've had several over the years, usually spending 3-4 times that amount. The components are as follows:

Front Door Speakers - Infinity Reference 6502ix = $70
Rear Deck Speakers - Infinity Reference 9602ix = $65
Subwoofer - Infinity BassLink 200w powered 10" = $150
Amp - Clarion XC1410 300w 4-Channel Class D = $90 (never in my life did I think I'd use a Clarion amp to power a system, until I read the reviews)

All components are brand new, in box, purchased off ebay or from Best Buy clearance. I've had Infinity speakers before and was familiar with their rich, clear sound. I researched and read reviews, and settled on the Reference series. These 2-way speakers have a +3db gain switch and tweeters that pivot in any direction you need. That was a key point for the low mounted door speakers. Using the pivoting tweeters and 3db gain, I was able to bring the sound stage from the rear to the front, as it should be. The other key factor with the Infinity Reference speakers is that they are as close to 2 ohms as you can get, which matches the factory speakers. Less ohms means more sound at lower volume. Almost all other aftermarket speakers are 4 ohm.

I played the song "So Butterfly 2014" by Bassnectar to test the system.

My audio veteran friend in the car and the neighbors that quickly wandered over to my garage were amazed to put it lightly...the system plays the entire range of this song with clear highs, zero distortion and unreal low-end bass. Bass that is tighter than the dual 12" sub box I previously had. The average listener will not need the sub as the 6x9s themselves produce amazing bass all the way down to around 45Hz. I wanted to "feel" bass down to 20Hz, so I added the sub

$375 and some quality install time on my part was well worth the effort. If anyone is looking for a pretested system for the Monte, this is it. I've done the leg work for you, now go get one for yourself...you might pay a bit more than I paid, but still for under $500, it's best mod you can do to any Monte

 

 

What can I show you Mel? I'll snap some pics for ya...

 

My audio should be going in this coming week. I will have a kicker set-up with my stock head unit.

 

What specific Kicker components? I was very impressed with the highs the Kicker CS65s produce...

 

Just what you got.

 

I did audio in the Monte for a while until I realized that the only audio I really wanted was the throatiness of a V8 lol

I ended up selling my car audio to help with the Trans Am, but I do miss punchy bass from time to time

Sounds like a good deal for a pretty decent system though, interested in pics as well

 

Can you describe the connections on swapping out the factory amp? Did you mount it in the same spot as the factory amp? Wiring diagram would be great. If you have one.

I would like to do the same thing and if you've already figured out which wire goes where.....

 

Here are a few pics of the trunk, which is really the only way to tell that anything has been done. The interior and under hood look completely stock, even though I ran a power wire all the way to the battery. I still need to tidy up some of the trunk wires, but what you see is what you get. I simply zip-tied the Clarion amp to the factory amp bracket and tucked most of the wiring up above it.

I will post a wiring diagram shortly. Basically, you'll need to tap into the factory input wires at the amp in the trunk, sending front & rear signals to both the Clarion amp and the Infinity sub amp. The Clarion and Infinity amp input wires are the same colors, making the installation almost foolproof. You can also tap into the factory speaker wire outputs to the door speakers, keeping it simple.

After listening to the system for a while, I am quite pleased with the overall setup. I have the BassLink adjusted very conservatively and it still hits so low, you can't deny it's there

 

I thought about doing a free air set up in my monte, due to the 6x9's being basically subwoofers pushing out mainly lows and the fronts doing highs and mids....I was gonna run with two 10x frees....Ill listen when i get home !