can ya bypass the monsoon amp???

[hairygixxer]

I am trying to install an Alpine headunit but have been told I will have to bypass the factory amp and rerun all new speaker wires. Please help?! Do I really need to do this or can I just run wires to the output of the amp after it is unplugged??? Thanks
Domenic

[sunsetorangess]

I had a casst. deck in my ss and i ran into the same prob, system will sound like poo if ya dont and the wires go thru the amp thats why they say you have to re run.
Why are ya replacing the hu?
not too mention you will loose your steering wheel controls.
I put new speakers all the way around bc you will also loose the rear 2 speakers.

[redline]

yes you have to run new wires to all the OE speakers you want to use. You can also buy an after market unit that sends a signal from the steering wheel controls to your new head. its usually around 80 bucks.

[02sunsetss]

Actually the monsoon amp is pretty easily bypassed...At the amp there are 2 harnesses these both happen to be GM 88-up harnesses(The same as behind the radio). Buy 2 of these wire them together and plug both the harnesses from the amp into these. No need to run wire. I highly recommend changing the front speakers though.

[hairygixxer]

ok guys check out this little trick... If you plug in the new harness that you buy anywhere... best buy, crutchfield, circuit city, you get the idea... and wire in all the wires from your new head unit's wiring harness to the new plug in harness, you simply piggy back the remote line of the new radio's harness to the original harness of the car. There is a single blue wire in the factory wiring harness that is unable to be plugged into the aftermarket plug. It just doesn't have anywhere to plug into and it is very obvious. Take the blue remote line of the Alpine, Pioneer, Kenwood what ever the case may be and piggy back these 2 wires together. You can upgrade your stereo and it still uses all the factory speakers and amplifier without having to re run all new wires. I did it last night and it works great!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks all who replied I sooooo appreciate all comments and suggestions. They came in handy!.
Domenic

[daveb91]

Thats a trick?

[daveb91]

Actually the monsoon amp is pretty easily bypassed...At the amp there are 2 harnesses these both happen to be GM 88-up harnesses(The same as behind the radio). Buy 2 of these wire them together and plug both the harnesses from the amp into these. No need to run wire. I highly recommend changing the front speakers though.

Got any pics of that or maybe a link or send me a pm as not to clutter this post?

[02sunsetss]

Got any pics of that or maybe a link or send me a pm as not to clutter this post?
It's extremely simple...go to Best Buy(where I work) Buy 2 GM 88-up harnesses(it's the same harness you bought when you changed your radio) Wire the 2 harnesses together color for color. So you'll have a female harness on each side with the wires connected together in the middle. The amp is in the back behind your spare tire...There are 2 harnesses plugged into it. Pull these harnesses out and remove the amp as it will never serve you a purpose ever again. One of the harnesses is the output from the amp the other is the input from the radio. Plug the harness you made into the middle of these and Wallah you have bypassed the monsoon amp. I'll try to take some pics tomorrow....And as for the little trick posted above great trick...Not..And the monsoon amp doesn't use a turn on wire it turns itself on when it recieves speaker level signal.

[Runn_WS7]

Anyone wants to ship me one :) Sweden...

[hairygixxer]

You are probably correct 02sunsetss but it didn't come on without the "blue wire" connected and after I connected it "Wallah" it came on. All I was saying is that if you want to do the connection without removing the amp incase you were to sell your car in the future and wanted to re-install the factory "monsoon" radio, amp and all, there is a way. I wasn't trying to ruffle your feathers or anything. Sorry if I did!!! I come from the old school where it wasn't as easy as plugging in an adapter and "wallah". We actually had to figure things out the hard way. Trial and error. So once again, I wasn't trying to upset anyone. Plus, I was the one who began this thread and you are criticizing for no apparent reason. It's no one's fault you are a "trained" stereo installation expert from Best Buy, and we are not. Plus, I didn't have to remove anything and it worked without your too cool double plug trick... Have a nice day!!!
regards...

OH BEFORE I FORGET! YOU ARE INCORRECT!!! THE AMP TURNS ON BY THE REMOTE LEAD NOT THE SPEAKER SIGNAL. THAT'S WHY YOU CONNECT ALL THE WIRES ON YOUR PLUG TO PLUG TRICK. YOU ARE ACTUALLY CONNECTING THE REMOTE LEAD FROM THE FACTORY AMP REGARDLESS IF THERE IS AN AMP OR NOT.

[02sunsetss]

:notworthy: ...Apparently you are correct about the turn-on...I wasn't really bashing you...The question was can you bypass the amp...I stated how to bypass it...You stated how to keep it. No hard feelings...But taking the amp out of the chain will really clear up the sound...And when you want to sell the car you pop the amp back in disconnect the harnesses and plug the amp back in and you guessed it "Wallah", good as new or well good as stock I guess you could stay...LOL...The turn on was told to me by another installer so I apologize. Roll around with the amp hooked up for a while then try my way and see what you like better. And the only wires you have to hook up on the 2 harnesses are the speaker wires...Nothing else.

[ScrapMaker]

out of curiosity, why would you want to pull the monsoon amp? it's going to be a much better amp than the amps built into any aftermarket headunit...

if you are running other aftermarket amps, then yeah, I understand... but the people who do that typically don't care about any monsoon wiring harnesses, cuz they pull everything, or just leave the stuff disconnected... no 'bypass'...

what's nice to know, if you want, you can wire up your aftermarket amp from the rear of the car without running new speaker wires... although, you will still need the RCAs (unless you rewire the existing harness to be RCAs,) so you may as well run new speaker wire while you're at it.

[02sunsetss]

The monsoon amp creates alot of distortion, so no it's not really better than an aftermarket radio's internal amp...It's made to work with the factory HU...There's an audible difference I assure you.

[ScrapMaker]

the monsoon amp isn't 'made' to work with anything special... it will work PERFECTLY fine with ANY headunit... as long as the headunit outputs speaker-level channels.

and the main source of distortion on the stock monsoon system is the headunit... once you get rid of that, you lose a lot of what causes it...

the most powerful headunit I've ever seen puts out 30WRMS per channel... the monsoon is gonna put out MUCH more per channel with probably a lower THD...

now, like I said earlier, the monsoon is still a POS and doesn't compare to aftermarket amps... but amps in headunits are CRAP... plain and simple... whatever volume, bass, and clarity you are used to in your monsoon system, expect to lose at least half...

--maybe not the clarity, but you attempt to push the headunit to anywhere near the stock monsoon amp's capabilities, you will run into bad distortion...

as far as I can tell, the only time you benefit from bypassing the stock amp is if you are putting in a new one... otherwise there's no point... All-or-nothing... if you are replacing all the speakers in the car to run off of the aftermarket headunit... most likely you'll be too embarassed to play it in front anyone you know...


and yeah, there will be an audible difference... it's called half the volume... cuz that's about how loud I would expect a deck to get after yankin the amp...

[02sunsetss]

I'm done with this...I guess you know everything already...I've only done it 5 or 6 times...I guess it was a freak occurence it sounded better all 6 times... Thanks for playin.

[NookNookSS]

Ok, I just got a 2000 SS with the tape deck HU in it. Just bought the cd monsoon unit off ebay for $150. Now, what do I have to do to hook up the 600w RF amp and 10in JL sub? I am clueless on what to do with the monsoon system. BestBuy should know what to do right? lol

[02sunsetss]

Apparently not.

[daveb91]

I'm done with this...I guess you know everything already...I've only done it 5 or 6 times...I guess it was a freak occurence it sounded better all 6 times... Thanks for playin.

This is what I was thinking also I have two other cars with only aftermarket speaker replacements and a aftermarket HU and they kick the Monsoon and its overrated 500 watts ass.

[02sunsetss]

:thumbup: Atleast someone else here relies on fact and not theory...Thanks

[daveb91]

The Monsoon amp reminds me of those cheap car stereo "boosters" of the 80's

[02sunsetss]

I installed a radio in an 01 Z28 yesterday with Monsoon and I did not hook up the turn on wire and it worked fine...And if you check the Monsoon diagrams provided by dipherentdesign there is no accesory going to the amp whatsoever.

[ScrapMaker]

so you think that a stereo putting out 15-20WRMS per channel (not even mentioning that you will NOT have subwoofers anymore,) will sound better than the stock system that puts out AT LEAST 50WRMS per channel?

You're welcome to your opinion, but I've heard many aftermarket decks driving speakers directly... I've wired up 5 different cars from scratch, and at one point or another, the car usually drives the speakers with just the aftermarket headunit... makes my ears bleed with the earth-shattering crappiness of the sound output...

like someone said earlier... all or nothin... either pull the monsoon and put in all aftermarket amps, or don't bother...

the only exception might be the new headunits with 30wrms per channel, but even then, you still lose your subwoofers...

[02sunsetss]

It's not a matter of thinking...I've done it on Camaros...Which from all your arguments it seems you haven't...And if you think the monsoon is putting out 50RMS watts per channel your crazy...Your argument in this matter is based solely on opinion and theory...Like I said before I'm done arguing about it...My last post was not directed at you...It was to clear up something me and another member were discussing. So unless they changed something in the way it's wired an 01 monsoon does not have a turn on.

[ScrapMaker]

Well you're entitled to your opinion, but saying that an aftermarket deck directly powering speakers will be 'better,' (I assume that means louder and clearer,) just gives people the wrong idea...

most people that do what you are suggesting will be sorely disappointed... a more sensible upgrade would be to wire in the aftermarket 2-ohm infinity's to the stock monsoon amplifier...

and the fact that I've never done it in a (4th gen) camaro means absolutely nothing. I've done it in more cars than I can remember, and you get the same results. You MUST turn the bass way down to get any sort of high volume... otherwise you'll get distortion and ruin your speakers... which is true of the monsoon system as well, but at a much higher volume...


the best advice to give someone here would be to either keep the monsoon amp, or go all-out...

[hairygixxer]

Hey Guys, 02sunsetss is right!!! Not for nothing but I did install my new HU and kept the Monsoon, but it sounded fine at low volume but sounded like poo poo at any other volume. I ended up removing the monsoon and just went with the power from my Alpine and it did sound better, way better. As for the "bass woofers" are concerned, they have factory crossovers on the speakers themselves and if you install a nice set of components, they usually include crossovers so you are able to keep your "bass" in the factory location. Let's also remember ladies and gentlemen, MTX, I know "illlll, I am not buying MTX" actually makes a sub box that you can remove the woofer and replace it with a better one, and put it in the driver's side rear storage compartment in the t-top well or the hatchback well. Well, have a good night and I feel bad for starting this thread. Play nice boys, play nice!!!
later

[ScrapMaker]

It's just that there's not enough power coming from the Alpine headunit to even provide bass anymore.. that's the biggest problem...

any headunit is capable of powering your highs, to an extent... but if you put a set of 6.5" components, or a 6x9, you will have no bass, because it will distort badly if you try...

[hairygixxer]

I guess, but honestly, it's really not that bad. Especially if you're a dad and travel with children in the car. On the flip side, even a small amp would assist but you would have to replace speakers definitely. I guess it all up to what ya like. I have all stock speakers and the radio powers all fine. There are crossovers on the speakers so it's not so bad. Again, I got kids!!!

[raysz28]

So, im trying to install an amp for a sub, and i want to keep the rest of the stock speakers, headunit, and amp. can i run speakerline imputs right from the rear or sail panel speakers? can tap off of the imput from the monsoon amp or is there a place to put RCA cables?

Thanks for the help

[ScrapMaker]

PAC makes an adapter or you could do it yourself with a speaker-level convertor from Wal-mart... $10

then you would run the ignition wire to the amp to turn it on.

and obviously the power and ground as well...