my dad is giving me his 2002 monte carlo SS and ive been using it for about a month and ive beend using a cassette adapter for my iphone and its giving me really bad quality. Im wondering if i can buy an alpine head unit and just solder it or plug it in and use. also the bass sounds very inconsistent and just sounds weird. if i were to add subs would i need an amp or can it hook it up to the one in the back?

 

Get the wiring harness that is desinged for your car. You can get it at walmart or any audio store.. Then you can(if you want) solder your connections.. Or just use some type of crimp connecter.

As far as iknow you cant use the factory amp for a sub.. It can get expensive, so do a little research and do it right the first time!

 

Getting a harness is the way to go as far as making things easy. However I know chevy can have really expensive harnesses depending on what all you have in the car. Just to give you an example I have an 06' Monte SS and a harness for my car is like $140 since I have things like onstar going through my wire harness. Since you have an 02' it shouldn't be to bad, maybe like $20. And as far as your sub problem goes, it really depends on the kind of power your amp put's out and what kind of sub you're looking at and what kind of power is needed to push it. Do some research and see what would work best and what would be the least expensive route (assuming you want to go a cheaper route).

 

Get Metras GMOS 04 harness if you have a factory amp, GMOS 01 if you do not. Also if you need to keep steering wheel controls get their ASWC interface. Soldering is always the best but crimp connectors will work fine also. You will have to splice a single wire on the factory harness if you do the steering wheel control interface.

 

Ok so for now I'm thinking I'm just doing a head unit. I went I a car audio store and he said since I have onstar I need a more expensive unit and this 150 dollar peice for it work but he was busy and I never told him that my onstar isn't in service is it still a problem? And if so do still need the special head unit. I want to solder every thing and will look into the gmos 04 harnes. Keeping the steering wheel controls would be nice but I will look Ito that too. Btw I'm only 17 so excusa me if I don't understand some tech terms.

 

Oh and about the harness if I get that gmos 04 for my factory amp would need to switch to the gmos 01 if upgrade the amp or add one?

 

I have an 03 with a Kenwood DDX514, I don't remember my harness being more than $50 lol and I have onstar as well (not that it works though haha) IIRC my harness/interface thing was only $45ish at Walmart... Made by scosche
I Love my DoubleDin, I mostly listen to pandora through my iPhone 5

 

Checkout this website - 2002 MC Radio parts - You can get the AUX Adapter ROCS-844
fmm-100 for $47 and then look at the item above it for $8 to plug in the RCA and have it become a 3.5mm port for any iPOD Phone etc. Also it is a 6ft cable so you can route it into your glove box so it is not out in the open. This would make it so that you would not need to get a new stereo or anything of the sorts.

$55 vs $150+

Edit - You may need the Dual Aux, not sure what you have in there now and how it is set up.

 

thanks everyone. i still want the new head unit because i plan on upgrading speakers and adding a sub. so if anyone has some links for a cheaper harness that be awesome.
so i know i need the Head unit, the harness, the steering wheel wiring, and the antenna adapter. Also i cant find ohm and RMs ratings for the factory amp (ill see if its on the amp tomorrow). so future plans are replace speakers for higher quality and then later add one small sub for some bass. if i were to replace front and rear speakers with these...
Alpine SPS-610 Full Range Car Speakers at Onlinecarstereo.com
Alpine SPS-609 Full Range Car Speakers at Onlinecarstereo.com
would i need a new amp?

 

Do it right and buy the right harness. I went through crutchfield like i most always do.. putting in that GMOS crap is a headache. The factory amp will be fine for aftermarket speakers but a QUALITY aftermarket amp would be better.