im just wondering if anyone has attempted to replace the factory monsoon front door speakers with an aftermarket component set. ive read there can be numerous problems with this. any thoughts or ideas would help immensely. 05 sf... infinity components

I don't know where you read that replacing the stock speakers can give you some trouble but I feel that is completley false. I just overhauled my entire audio system in my 01' santa fe about a month ago and i couldnt be more pleased. I myself put a relatively good system in, at least in my own opinion. Ok, so it works like this. I myself, or anyone else that i know of, have never amplified the Santa Fe's stock speakers, and with the factory head unit, i dont even know if its possible, im not sure if it has an RCA output, because i never really examined it when it was out. However, if you are looking to significantly upgrade your sound without spending a lot, this is basically how you want to go. replace the factory head unit with a higher grade one, alpine and kenwood are both fine choices. Make sure that the unit has at least one RCA output if not two of them, that way you can leave open the option for external amplification later if you cant afford it all at once. Once youve decided on a deck you probably want to go with speakers like Infiniti's Kappa series, or Alpine's Type R's. They are not terribley expensive but are made of higher quality materials and can handle higher RMS and will give better reproduction. If youve got a little more to spend, Boston Acoustic has some fantastic speakers but like i said, youll be paying more for them. Now if you just want better quality sound you can just upgrade the front components, the head unit, and then get a set of coax's for the rear (component are useless back there). All of that, if you go with a moddest 2 sets of speakers and a deck will cost you about 3-400 with install. Now if you want to go for higher volume and quality, hopefully you purchased a deck with the RCA output, so you can run a moddest sized four channel amplifier to the speakers (about 100-150 RMS) to the speakers so they can have enough power for all the ranges, and be able to go higher without distorting. Because in most cases, stock speakers in most cars these days are relatively good quality, they just need more power to reach their full potential. Now if you really want to go hands down and drop some bank, then comes the question of subwoofers. I know there is a lot of common misconceptions about subs, that people only like them to be loud and annoying, and that their ghetto. This very much isnt the case however, subs can add a dimension of sound and soul to your music you never knew existed. A lot of people dont know very much about subwoofers however, like the general conception is, the bigger, the better, the louder. This is so off you cant even begin to imagine unless you know anything about car audio. Here is the basic layout for sub size, and kind of what these sizes aim to achieve. I myself wouldnt go anything under 10" so i will start here. A 10 inch sub is the most versatile of all the subwoofer sizes in my opinion, it has the ability to hit hard for genres like rap, fast for genres like hardcore and screamo, and steady and solid for others like techno. I myself like 10's because they give a wonderful mix of power, sound, and quality. These bring your music to life but are not so annoying that people will stereotype you for them, they add richness to your experience. You are going to want to use a dual vented box for 10" subs. They will get a crisper sound, and the overall performance is significantly increased with the venting. Next are the 12"s. Now 12's are more limited on their uses then the 10's are. 12's obviously are larger so they have a lower response time then the 10's, which effectively means that they cannot hit at the same speed and frequency that the 10's can, i.e. most 12's would be hard pressed to put out constant hard crisp hits for techno. 12's are more geared for rap and hip hop, and generally will hit harder because of their size difference. with 12's you are going to want a sealed box so that they have a lower more drawn out hit to fit the genres more. Im not even gonna go into 15's because...well if you want 15's in a hyundai...well i dunno haha. Now if you decide on subs its very important you talk to a tech about an amplifier. Your amp's peak power doesnt matter so much nearly as its RMS (continuous power output). Your amp could have 15000 watts but if it only has 200 rms for a sub that needs like 500 your going to damage your sub. The closer you can get to matching your subs RMS with an amps RMS your going to get better quality and life our of your subs. Capacitors will help keep from your battery being strained, thus no dimming headlights or other power failures.

Now i know this was probably a little bit of overkill to answer a question about front component speakers, but I am a sound enthusiast and i like this kind of stuff haha. Currently in my 01' Santa Fe i have:
- Alpine CDE9872 CD/Mp3 Reciever
- Alppine SPR-17S 6 1/2" 2 way Component Speakers (Front, seperatley mounted tweeter)
- Alpine SPR-17C 6 1/2" 2 way Coaxial Speakers (Rear)
- Alpine MRP-M500 Mono Power Amplifier
- JL Audio 10W3v3-8 10" Subwoofers (x2)
- Rockford Fosgate 2 Farad Capacitor
- Rockford Fosgate 4 Guage Amp wiring kit

and in the future im going to get a deck with a 2nd rca output so i can amp the speakers, but they are adequette for now :D

This post has been edited by ////AlpineSantaFe01: Jul 27 2008, 08:51 PM

The Monsoon system has a factory amp under the front seat. I'm no audio expert but I know that this can cause problems. Impossible? Probably not. Just look before you leap.

thanks for the replies. i ended up running new wires to the 4 corners and completely bypass the monsoon system. i also upgraded to an aftermarket pioneer h/u. figured this would be alot easier than cutting and splicing into the factory stuff, in case of future sale of the vehicle. although, getting the speaker wires thru the front door molex was a definate pain in theasss, but well worth it.

yea i hear you on that one, i mean the factory system isnt the worst ive ever heard, but cause of the open trunk of the santy man does the sound blend well. I love this truck haha. Pioneer has good head units so you should be pretty happy with that. What component speakers did you stick up front? and did you put any coax's in the back?

i used infinity reference 6 1/2 components up front, using the factory tweeter mounts in the wing sail above the door panel ( pretty easy but a pain if i decide to resell the santy later) and i did use a set of infinity coax 6 1/2 in the back. i made a couple retaining walls out of laminate floor tile (sounds silly but it did work) and filled the enclosure with expanding foam. thought that might help bring out the sound in the hatch. alas....i cant tell if it did or didnt but i am just using the head unit to power all the speakers. im sure a 4 channel amp would help immensely.

yea, an additional aftermarket amp will help immensely. heres the thing though, and im hoping that this will be good news instead of bad. im assuming you dont have subs like me so this shouldnt be a problem for you so ill lay it out. your pioneer deck more than likely (unless its a high end model) will have one RCA input that you will be able to run the amp to, unless you have subs in which case you will need a deck that has 2 inputs. I used to have the reference models in my elantra and was pleased with them, so if you want to run them with more power, a 500-750 peak power 100-150 RMS 4 channel amp should suffice, cause you dont want to overload the speakers, just quench their thirst. this wont cost you very much at all and i think you will be blown away by the difference. Im running all alpine speakers including my head unit (obvious by my name i know lol) and i havent amplified them yet cause my full system set me back quite a bit and their still **** loud with relatively low distortion. But yea, for quality control reasons as far as amps go, go with fosgate, diamond, jl audio, memphis, or alpine. I have relatively little experience outside those brands but these are all reputable companies that specialize with the category, so it will be a safe bet. And for an amp with that output it will probably run you about 2-300 and then 40-75 for the wires, 4 guage is typically best for an amp that size, seeing as thats what i use on my alpine amp for my subs :) hope some of this helps you out

Hi Guys!
How did you remove the rear panels to be able to access the rear speakers?
where did you put your amps?
greetings from vienna/austria
Martin

i just placed my amp on a board bolted down next to my capacitor behind my sub box, cant even see it, has a nice clean look to it.