Hey guys, first off ... i know jack shet about car stereos ... home theater and computer speakers i could write manuals but when it comes to mobile electronics im completely noobified

its an 06 ss with the 6 cd changer and the amp in the trunk ... so my question is a multi part thing ...

1- what is the amp doing in the back of the trunk ... not enough room with the cd changer in dash so its remotely located ???

2- what is the power output of the stock head unit/ amp/ speakers ???

3- is it possible to replace the amp and speakers fairly cheaply while leaving the stock head unit and steering wheel controls ???

i went to an audio place around here and they arent exactly the most knowledgeable about stock things, he just wanted to sell me the most expensive dvd head unit and throw a premade box with some 10's or 12's in the trunk and charge me $2000 ... the thing is i like the stock head unit, cd changer, and aux port ... replacing the head unit is not necessary to me at all

so i guess my most important and obviously most difficult question would be ... is it possible to replace the amp and push the stock speakers a little more and then upgrade down the road when they blow or if i start messing with any of it should i just start at the head unit ...

ohhh for musical choice its mostly rock/ alternative/ screamo/ metal and very little if any hip hop or rap so i dont need a trunk pounding car ...

thanks for any help or guidance guys and i apologize for the open ended and fairly vague questions ...

 

Well,I dont know much about the '06 M/C but i do have an '05 M/C SS SC....First i did the speaker upgrade. I know that all the Monte's have 2 ohm speakers so i went with Infinity Kappa 60.9cs 6.5" seperates in the front and the Infinity Kappa 692.9i 6x9 " 2 way in the rear deck....Keeping the factory and the factory amp.....Wanting a little more volume,I had the factory amp remeved and went with a small Kenwood 4x90wpc at 2 ohm amp...My installer did a great job,mounting up under the rear deck just like the factory amp...At this time i also went with a Kicker 750.1 mono sub amp and a duel L5 10" Kicker sub box....I can control the amount of base from the front of the car via the small remote the Kicker amp comes with....I guess the next step is to change the factory head unit. I dont know if i want to do that so i'll listen to what i have now and go on from there...Im sure you can do the same thing in your '06 M/C...

 

Hey, i'm currently dealing with the same scenario. I've been thinking about it the past 6 months or so, and i think what i'm gonna go with is something like the Rockford Fosgate 3sixty.1 or 3sixty.2, or the Alpine Imprint. I had a full system in my 02 and thought that with the 06 it'd give me a chance to more-or-less update the system with some better quality subs etc. when i'm installing it into a new car. Needless to say when I was thinking about all this stuff i didn't take into account that i'd have to get a separate module to keep the steering wheel controls, another one to keep onstar, and another one to have XM. . . . not to mention get the adapter to keep the computer for the door dings and low fuel alarms, so after doing some research and lookin at a couple youtube vids of OEM processors I think that's the way to go.

I'm not too sure about the alpine imprint or the jl audio cleansweep but i know the 3sixty gives you equalization, preamp outputs, a separate volume **** (to mount in the front of the vehicle to makes the volume increase equal across all frequencies (you can still use the volume **** on the factory stereo but they say it sounds better overall with the separate volume ****)), and a couple other goodies.

Also i'm almost certain that there is an ipod adapter for the 3sixty that allows you to charge it and also run it with your stock headunit as opposed to having to have your ipod in front of you to change songs, volume, etc. (i hid it in my glovebox in the old car and ran everything off the alpine. . . .Crazy convenient!)

I'd love to put the ol' Alpine headunit in again but just don't think it's an economical option right now (student loans are kickin my a$$), and like yourself i really don't mind the factory one. Good Luck!

 

Also, from what i understand OEM processors aren't even that hard to install yourself. . . . just striping and crimping the wires and hooking them to the right spot...

 

the MS8 would be the best way to mentain your stock deck, and have epix sound control.

there are many units to do what you wish to do, you can go with alpine, jl audio, JBL, audison, they all have sound processors that'll give you pro upgrade options with stock head unit.

I personaly like the JBL the most, the ms-8, the audison BItone, and theres one from Alpine that im not sure what its called but it's on par with those two. all very good units. theres also the rocker fosgate 3sixty.2

your looking at 300-800 depending on the options you want. the thinsg that the ms-8 are gonna do that the rocker fosgate 3sixty.2 can't do are very numeriouse, but the main differences are control, the more you spend the more control and automation you have, their all self tuning units, the ms-8 offers time alignnment and is possible in any set up be it acctive with 12 speakers, or standard 6 speaker passive set up. just do some research and you'll see your options.

do you plan on upgrading your speakers? id reccomend at least some after market speakers.

for amps, i have a beutity i would like to reccomend, a CDT SQA-4100, whitch is normily a 500$ amp, but if you buy from cdt's B stock invintiy site you can get it for around 300$, basically slightly used refurbished gear.
http://cdtaudio.com/shop/viewitem.ph...0&productid=28

there are many others you can go with, I personally like alpine PDX line, anything JBL or JL audio, its all solid gear.


if you wanna look at some speakers check out the speakers on the b-stock site from cdt, good stuff, i really like their bracixal HD M6's those would make an excellent front stage driver set. and the 6x9's on there would go great with that amp as well.

sub's i'd go with maybe an Alpine Type R 12" in a sealed box, pick what you like, i cant tell you everything, but these are just ideas to get the brain juicy about upgrades

 

well at least it is possible to do this in pieces, start with the amp, then speakers and then maybe add subs down the road ... ill let you guys know if or when i get an amp done