I have an '02 Z- convertible and I just purchased 2 Alpine speakers from Crutchfield for the back. In the instructions they sent for the install, they said that the speakers couldn't be connected with the wiring harness from the factory, and only the bass could be reproduced if I connected them by splicing the wires. Where can I get a harness to connect these speakers, or how can I hook them up correctly without the harness? I am looking to install on saturday. Any help? Thanks!

 

Are you sure these speakers are shallow enough? If they aren't the first time you put your top down you can say goodbye to your new speakers.

 

They actually are for along the rear seats, in the side panel. No problems there, just the wiring. Any help?

 

Are you sure the speaker magnets won't get hit by the roof mechanism when you put the top down? If your new speakers require a deeper mounting depth than the factory speakers you'll ruin the new ones when you put the top down.

I'm not aware of any wiring harness adapter. If Crutchfield can't provide you with one I'm guessing there isn't one to be had.

If you look at the factory speaker plug it should have the wires labeled A and B. B is the positive connection. As long as you connect both speakers the same way you won't have a problem. This assures that they are both in phase with each other. If the rear speakers don't seem to blend well with the front speakers try reversing the connections (make A positive) on the rear speakers.

 

Dude, I JUST did this installation last night. I have a '00 vert z28 with the exact same setup as you. I figure you have 170A's?

1.) You are going to need about a 3/8" to 1/2" spacer. Your best bet here is to make one out of wood. I used a plastic one with a layer of dynamat on each side. YOU NEED A SPACER! I know crutchfield is one of the most reliable install databases.. but in this case they are wrong. You've been warned. Do not try this without a spacer. If you insist on learning the hard way, at least try manually dropping the top the first time. You'll see it will hit.

2.) You also need to bi-amp the speakers. Way I did this was to remove the factory female harness and wiring from the factory monsoon speakers, and wire them up to the 170's. When you remove the factory speaker, you'll notice there are four wires. That is how our cars are set up. You need to get the two tweeter wires wired up to the Apline tweeters, and the two woofer's wired up to the Apline woofers. Cut the factory harness off with enough wire to work with (the woofer set will be very short, only about 1").

Look at the wiring on the Apline speakers, you'll notice the separate lead going into the tweeter crossover capacitor bridged from the main + input. You need to seperate this so your Monsoon tweeter wiring goes just to the Apline tweeter. So the positive ends up connected right to the tweeter capacitor. Be careful this capacitor lead is not very durable. Same goes on the negative side but there is no capacitor, you just need to separate it from the main input.

Now wire up the four factory harness wires (use solder, take care not to drop any on your new speaker cone).

Mount your spacer, plug the speaker in, and mount it up.

The 8 self tapping screws that came with the Alpines will work, but you'll want to trim about 2-3mm off the point to keep from having it around your top liner. How much depends upon how thick your spacers are.

You could use other ways to get into the factory harness, if you want to keep the factory drivers virgin. It will be more difficult that way.

You CAN'T just stack all four wires into the Alpine. You'll fry your amp. You also can't just pick two wires, because then your Apline will either only make bass or only make treble.

You have to do the bi-amp wiring arrangement to get full range sound. The fact that the Aplines are setup in a way that allows you to make them bi-ampable is why they are so popular for Monsoon replacements.

I've upgraded all four speakers in my vert in this manner to Alpine 170A's, and the sound is very good. People crap on the monsoon setup but properly wiring replacement speakers can result in very good sound.

FYI etronics.com has the aplines for about $65.