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05 Monte Carlo LT Build

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#1 ·
Intro! If you just want pretty pictures, keep scrolling, there’s a ton. If you have 3 minutes to spare, read on.

Finally starting a build log for my 05 Monte Carlo LT. A little bit about the car: I decided to go with the red/black/chrome theme, and began adding little accents soon after I got the car.



Red stripe:



Seat/steering wheel covers:



Carbon fiber Di-Noc /vent trim:





Brake calipers. While working on painting the front two calipers, I did a stupid thing and jacked up both wheels. The tire jacks caved as I was taking off one of the front wheels and the weight of the car was resting on one corner of the jacks and the tire. See here :eek: :D:





But it all turned out alright:

 
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#2 · (Edited)
I got into car audio back in November of last year and my first system comprised of the following:

-stock HU
-Alpine SPS-600 coaxials in doors
-stock 6x9s in the rear deck
-stock 4 channel amp
-db Drive K3 15D4 subwoofer in a sealed 1.75cu ft enclosure
-Alpine MRP-M500 mono amplifier

In other words, the sad system of a broke college kid. Here’s a couple quick pics of what I had:

HU:



Speakers:



Stock amp:



Sub/amp:




I settled with it for a couple of months until I caved and went even more broke and thus begun the addiction. The majority of my playlists consist of rock and metal, i.e. AC/DC and Metallica, so my goal is to create a system that will function most optimally for that type of music. My up-and-coming system, version 1.5, will be made up of these:

- Pioneer AVH-P3200DVD head unit (ideally. Stole the idea from Scotty’s RX8 – it looked great.)
- JBL C608GTi MKII components in doors
- JBL MS-8/Alpine H800/650 processor
- PAC 4 channel line-out converter (thanks to Ryan Slade for the wiring help!)
- No rears
- MB quart ONX4.60 4-channel amp, bridged to fronts
- db Drive K3 15D4 sub , forward-firing
- Alpine MRP-M500 mono amp

Since the beginning, strakele has been an enormous help in the project and teaching me everything he’s learned. My first system I mostly watched and learned; this time I was actually doing it. Won’t be trying for any SQ competitions for a while, but that’s my ultimate, distant goal.

The next component I added after the speakers and sub was a 4 channel amplifier for the speakers. I chose the MB Quart ONX4.60 since it had sufficient power for my Alpine front and stock rear speakers, and could also be bridged to provide more than enough power to my new JBL’s.

New amp:



Comparison to old:



Ghetto wiring (for now):

 
#3 ·
The weekend before the new JBL’s arrived, we prepped for the install by running new 16ga speaker wire. The stock speaker wire had about 5 strands of copper in it.

Wiring pictures:









With the big 15” sub, I had been getting rattles in my rear deck, so Erin was kind enough to give me some closed cell foam to help quiet it down. This area will also be covered with CLD.

Rear deck pics:



Apparently Chevy thinks it's cool to just clip the speakers down and doesn't bother to screw them down. 'merica.



CCF to cover rear deck:



All cut to fit:



Car full of crap:



Having some fun:

 
#4 ·
Yesterday, my new JBL C608GTI MKII’s arrived!



All the stuff:



New and old:








I couldn’t wait to put them in and have a listen, so I realize the current install is not optimal and will be improved ASAP. I’ll have them mounted on MDF or HDPE baffles, but for now they’re decoupled from the panel by a layer of non-hardening modeling clay and closed-cell foam.



The diameter of the magnet is JUST small enough to fit within the stock water shield on the speaker mount!

The tweeters were installed in the stock location right above the woofer with some Liquid Nails silicone glue:



The crossovers are mounted under each front seat with Velcro to allow easy access for adjusting the tweeter levels.





All wired up:

 
#5 · (Edited)
And the final product:





Crossovers mounted and wires braided to keep them together:




The amplifier is currently not bridged to give the speakers a while to break in before applying full power, and my sub level is turned down while the rear deck is still apart, so I don’t have any real listening impressions yet, other than that it’s awesome to finally have 2 working tweeters!

These JBL's are known for being able to produce very strong midbass, so I'm also awaiting more CLD for the doors to stop vibrations, and thanks to John, will also be adding MLV to the doors as well.
 
#19 ·
nice, finily another monte build around these parts :D


you should think about changing those brackets, idk how well those tweeters will hold, but this is what i did. i had that same speaker kit, AMAZING speakers, i LOVEEEEEEE them. you might be starving them a bit with that amp, they like allot of power, but they still play fine with a moderate amount.


check out my build, maybe it'll give ya some ideas, read the whole thing, because ive redone it twice since ive had it :p

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...s/85154-my-build-my-04-chevy-monte-carlo.html
 
#6 ·
Good job so far. On the mounting rings I'd do hdpe for sure. I did and will never do mdf again. Plastic holds screws so much better and will last forever. Have you decided between the new Alpine processor or ms8 yet? Personally I think you could do a lot better tuning by ear once you get the hang of it but for a plug and play the ms8 is still a great unit. Autotune will only get you so far on time alignment.

Other than that have fun and show your battle scars with pride. Look forward to hearing it at the next g2g.
 
#7 ·
Just a thought, if those passives can be biwired you might get a cleaner sound going that route instead of bridging. Less energy would be wasted through heat. Might even get more output that way and also have time alignment for mids and tweets. Trust me, even with drivers right next to each other time alignment can make a difference.
 
#8 ·
I had recommended the PXE-H650 for a factory integration processor that is more budget conscious than an MS-8 or the new H800, whenever it comes out. Less fine tuning options, but at 1/4 of the price of the H800, it'll get pretty darn close.

If the passives could be bi-wired, we would have gone that route instead, but they can't. Using the amp bridged should be able to get her more dynamics.. not necessarily just getting louder. At high volumes, the stock head unit does some kinda funky EQ anyway. The AntEQ feature of the H650 (and the 800 too I suppose) should be able to clean that up until she gets a new HU.

Anyway, we have replaced the coil of speaker wire going to the sub with a single thicker gauge wire cut to proper length, and are in the process of making RCA's of the right length to get rid of most of the mess of wires behind the sub.
 
#11 ·
Parking deck is partly out of convenience, but mostly necessity. Unfortunately we both live in apartments while going to college with no garage to work in. The top level is nice for lighting and because it's the least crowded. There are lower levels that we have used during bad weather, but the lighting sucks, so we try to avoid it.
 
#12 ·
Seat/steering wheel covers:

Naturally, this is one of my favorite shots - love the hog's tooth hangin' from the rear view!

Fantastic work! I really want to hear this car some time. Great execution, especially while working on it in a parking deck! I'm glad you were able to get some ideas and some materials from Erin's G2G - really validates why we do those. BTW - love the humor you put in the build log!
 
#17 ·
So, finally got around to bridging the JBLs this evening, which are now running at a theoretical 240w. For the first week I was breaking them in and they sounded alright, but I thought they were lacking in the famed JBL midbass/midrange. The tweeters were bright even at the lowest setting in the xover, which was good because I tend to like a bit of brightness. I reserved judgment on the rest of it until it was time to bridge them.

Once I initially bridged the connections, there was a noticeable improvement in the overall clarity but it wasn't what I had anticipated. The mids were still lacking. Boo...

That was, until....

*drumroll*

strakele had the brilliant idea of switching the right side polarity to see if the issue was due to phase cancellation! We did so, and BAM! Punch, kick, outstanding sounding mids from the JBLs at last! It was a really remarkable improvement and I am seriously digging the sound. Now I just need to slaughter some serious rattles with some heavy dosing of RAAMmat and we'll be sounding pretty good for a while in the Monte.
 
#18 ·
I had never tried switching polarity on one side before, but I had read a lot about people doing it. I wasn't sure how audible something like that would be, but this sure made a believer out of me.

Simply swapping the polarity made a night and day difference in the sound. The midbass is much punchier now and the midrange no longer sounds hollow. Very cool.
 
#20 ·
We've been through your thread a couple times before and during this project. The lighted dash kit you had before was pretty sweet. I think she'll be going your current route though with a double DIN touchscreen unit.

Anyway, I used the same method of attaching tweeters to a bracket in the A-pillars of my car a few versions ago, and they held just fine, so I don't foresee any issues here.

Also, if you check her most recent post, the amp is now bridged to the components, providing up to 240 watts, which should be more than enough to get these suckers playing.
 
#22 ·
ahh well if you go single din and youre interested in that bracket i sitll have it laying around :blush:
 
#23 ·
Ah, other Monte guy! Kind of you to stop by here. Yeah, I've been following your build. These cars are so friggen difficult to work with, you remind me that it's possible to bypass the absurd oddities of GM manufacturing :p Since you're so far ahead of me in your build, and it looks good, I'm gonna PM you a couple questions.

And like strakele said, with 240w of potential power, the tweeters are making a show of themselves. It's great, huge improvement, even at -2.
 
#24 ·
take those 660's active and you'll cream your pants :) the passive cross over crosses them over pretty high, i played with them active for awhile doing them at 4500,3500, 2500, and even 2200, i'm not a real professional but they sounded fine at 2200 but i dont think they can do everything down that low but I personally liked them at 2200.

ask any questions you like :) yes this cars a ***** to work with, especialy with that massive trim peice for the dash that has to come off just to take out the deck <_< I also have some pictures of some repairs ive done if you watch my log, i broke the 4 way button, pretty easy fix, just dont do what i did and let the glue seap through :( stilll erks me that it has all the sraches and ****, plus some of the glue can still kind of be seen :(

i dont know what you did to get 220 watts out of that setup unless you changed amps, but that mb quard says 60 x4, so 120 x 2, unless your bridging it with that stock amp still? i don't advise any of them shanagans O_O
 
#26 ·
Well, I was all set to get an audition of the millerlytemobile, but was put off for now. Even though strakele (in keeping with the last name motif ;)) and I goaded her, the decision was final that the Monte just wasn't quite ready for 'public consumption'. I look forward to a future trip to Atlanta when the beast is unleashed! (reference to that 15 lurking in the back).

I did get an opportunity to have an extended demo with 'SQ music' in G's Mitsu - fantastic! And I did get to see the famous parking deck where the install magic happens, despite the lovely Atlanta background noise. Where does that helicopter show up on TrueRTA? Thanks guys for meeting up with me last night - it was a pleasure!
 
#27 ·
It was great to see you again too. By next time, I should have an even better tune going, and we'll make sure the Monte is ready to rock as well.

And yeah, I've always wondered how Imprint or MS-8 corrects for helicopters, sirens, horns, loud motorcycles, gate buzzers, or any of the other stuff we have to deal with up there...
 
#28 ·
So glad I got to meet you again. Next time you're around you can listen to the Monte all you want. But after I bridged those JBLs, the doors are shaking so much it's probably shifted the earth's axis. It sounds like there is a caged animal behind the panels. So my doors are being deadened tonight and tomorrow, and hopefully by the time you return I'll have my processor and HU so you can hear it yourself, sans demonic rattles and distortions.

First impressions, you know. Yesterday would not have been a good one. ;)
 
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