'02 VW Jetta w/ Monsoon Sound System

[geekmedic]

I just recently purchased a 2002 VW Jetta with a Monsoon sound system. I'm less than pleased with the audio setup in this car.

Does anyone know the specifications for the speakers? I cannot find it anywhere on the net. All I can find is that it has 8 speakers and is 200 watts. Great, that does me a bit of good.

I have Polk speakers for my home theatre system and I was considering going with those. Something tells me these "premium" speakers with the "premium" sound system are probably no different than standard car speakers from manufacturers -- paper cones.

Any suggestions?

Cheers!

[dorokusai]

Congrats on your purchase, at least your wheels are smooth. I have a 2001 Audi A4, with the Bose "Premium" sound system. I think it sucks. I don't have the power that you have, and it still would suck I am sure. The cones on mine are paper, they just have angle brackets on most of them, its for imaging, thus the Bose sound. But its all BS, sure it sounds ok, low volume, but that is about it. Here are a link, maybe it has some good information:

http://www.monsoonaudio.com/index.htm

[geekmedic]

Unfortunately, Monsoon's website gives very little information... or at least I couldn't find any. I was on their site for a while, and all I could find was generic information. 8 speaks with a minimum of 200 watts. Go figure.

[dorokusai]

Well that just figures really, damn promotional homepages normally are vague. All I can say is good luck man, post your results so we know if you found a resolve.... :)

[geekmedic]

I stopped by Circuit City today to check out some Polk speaks. I was informed by the sales rep that I cannot install aftermarket speaks without changing out the radio system. He said that Monsoon doesn't put an amplifier on the radio itself. Instead, the speakers have the amplifier built in.

He said that the ohms were different for the speakers. Finally he said "if you really want the Polks, I can put them in there, but I'm telling you they'll blow within a few months."

Lovely.

Anyone have any experience with this? I'm hoping somebody will come forward! (I know you're out there!)

[dorokusai]

I am not sure of that statement. I do know that in my Honda Prelude, the sound was set up in a special way that if I wanted aftermarket speakers, I would lose that effect. Well the effect wasn't all that damn great anyhow, and upgraded speakers blew the old ones away. The Honda had the amp in the head unit. Oh yea, it was something called Anti-Distortion You could turn it up loud as hell and it would compensate for the level and keep the speakers from distorting. BS.

As to the problem you have, go to a independent dealer in Car Audio and ask for a second or even third opinion. You cannot be the only person who has inquired on replacement of stock VW stereo system. While there are competent people at CC and BB install shops, most are just kids, and learning as they go, IMO. That at least the case here locally.

[geekmedic]

I received the following response from a Crutchfield advisor. I'm going to take it to a really good car audio shop and get their opinion.

***********************************************

I'll be happy to help with your question on installing speakers in your Monsoon system. Replacing the speakers is not a problem; the problem would be replacing the receiver-we have no way to integrate a new receiver with the Monsoon system.

As for the system having self-amplified speakers, I have not heard of a Monsoon system with that design-only most Bose systems and the occasional Infinity system. Your Monsoon Sound system has a separate amplifier that powers all speakers, located in the cargo area.

As for the impedance, I cannot say for sure that it matches or not; however, if it were a question of blowing replacement speakers we would have that info listed in our database-it is not.

You can connect to system easily and an additional amplifier is not necessarily needed.

[dorokusai]

Medic - That sounded like a more informed source to me. I would go ahead with your plan, get a second opinion. Crutchfield is a well informed source by all means. If you want even more improved sound and dynamic punch, I would most definetly get a new amplifier. The stock one I am sure is not on the same level as a new Rockford Fosgate, Alpine, etc. Keep us posted!

I have been dealing with GeekDeal on Ebay any relation

[geekmedic]

Originally posted by dorokusai
I have been dealing with GeekDeal on Ebay any relation

Nah, not the same person. My handle on eBay is also geekmedic. I'm so original when I register for these sites!

[dorokusai]

:) I figured you weren't the same, if so I would say you have been taking alot of my money! I only keep this name because I am not smart enough to have multiple logins, :)

[Jstas]

Originally posted by geekmedic
I stopped by Circuit City today to check out some Polk speaks. I was informed by the sales rep that I cannot install aftermarket speaks without changing out the radio system. He said that Monsoon doesn't put an amplifier on the radio itself. Instead, the speakers have the amplifier built in.

He said that the ohms were different for the speakers. Finally he said "if you really want the Polks, I can put them in there, but I'm telling you they'll blow within a few months."

Lovely.

Anyone have any experience with this? I'm hoping somebody will come forward! (I know you're out there!)

This advice you recieved from Circuit City is incorrect, just like the tech from Crutchfield explained. However, the work and equipment you will need to buy and/or use is dependant upon what your goals are. I will leave that up to you to determine what level you want to move to.

As far as the Monsoon system goes, it is your basic car stereo. Monsoon does not make anything but integrated audio systems. The speakers are average automotive speakers tuned for the enclosures. The major price point in these systems is the electronics involved which contain things like automatic volume adjustment to compensate for road noise and automatic bass reductrion circuitry to compensate for speaker inadquacies. Basically, so you don't blow up your speakers. The systems offer very little benefit over standard units. The benefits are very negligible too often being things like a few extra pre-sets or an RDS system or just more power.

The issue with these systems is that they are fully integrated into the car. Sometimes they are even integrated into the alarm system also. This makes it extremely difficult to install aftermarket parts. The one common thing is that harnesses are not avaiable because the integrated systems are not only so far buried in the system but they are also, in most cases, proprietary and use proprietary harnesses. Hence the reason you cannot get specs on them.

You have two options. First option is to replace just the speakers if you are satisfied with the electronics in the system. This may work out well for you because I do believe that the Monsoon systems use common impedance loads of 8/4 ohms. However, if you want to replace electronics, you will have to forgoe the relative ease of a spliced wiring harness to use the factory wiring and wire up the system yourself. This can be difficult and daunting to a novice installer but it isn't hard at all, just alot of work. You can expect it to take a weekend. Also, the number of speakers in the system is a misnomer. They count tweeters and woofers seperatly. While it is valid, it can be seen as being artificially inflated. While it may have 8 speakers, the stereo may likely only have 4 channels. Afterall, pairing a matched tweeter and woofer together yet powering them off of different channels is a good way to not only destroy the imaging of the speakers working as a pair but increase frequency seperation between the woofer and tweeter.

Pros and cons of building your own system. Cons are cost and compatability. I don't need to explain cost. Compatibility not only addresses the problem of integrated stereos but also, things like power demands of your new stereo and speaker placement abilities. In some cases, it may be necessary to construct custom mounting brackets. Your pros are increased functionality. I have yet to see a factory stereo have as much features and capabilties as the same level of aftermarket stereo. However, the benefit is, where an integrated stereo will cost 1500 dollars it performs about as well as an aftermarket stereo that will cost you 500 dollars for the total package. Not really "premium" in my opinion. Other pros are easy upgradability and infinite possibilities for heightening sound quality. Also, no lousy circuitry to introduce noise in to the system and interfere with listening level performance.

My advice would be to either replace the speakers and try to be content with the factory electronics or, forgoe the whole Monsoon deal and install your own stereo, bypassing all of the factory wiring harness.


As far as adding a new amplifier, that may not be possible. Since the system is integrated, it uses the factory harness. Splicing an aftermaket amp into the system will most likely not work because much of the signal tailoring circuitry is usually contained in the amplifier unit itself. If you add an aftermarket amplifier, you may as well just get a whole new stereo because your wiring situation is going to be the same. Also, most aftermarket amps do not have high-level inputs anymore. High-level inputs are usually snap clips or screw terminals that accept the actual speaker leads from a factory car stereo. It is still possible to use a high level signal source without high level inputs but you will have to wire your speaker leads from the head unit with RCA jacks to run patch cables into the amplifier. Alot more work than it is worth because your signal will be super dirty. It works just not well at all and is very noisy and laden with distortion causing pink noise. Not to mention the RF and EM interferences picked up by the shoddy connection of a high level source into a low-level input. Bad idea in any respect.

So that, in a fairly large nutshell, is the deal with the integrated stereos. While it may be a nice deal for your average joe who is looking more for bragging rights than anything else, its is a virtual head ache for those who are looking for a premium sound from a "premium" stereo. If it was me and I couldn't get the stereo deleted from the factory, I'd pull all of it and install my own setup. But that is me and may not be you so do what you see best. I did not want to see you jump into a situation without adeqaute information. I certainly hope this helped.

[PoweredByDodge]

*waving 100 foot roll of cheapo radio shack 16 gauge wire in front of you* --- grab a screwdriver... get wiring... you wont regret it.