98 TA Head Unit in a 94 Firebird? HELP

[TA2FST4U]

My friend drives a 94 Firebird (V6), and recently bought a LS1 Monsoon Head Unit to install in it. The install went great but when he was on his way to work yesterday, his speakers stopped putting out sound. He said the head units display still worked but there is no sound. He took it out and reinstalled it, and still no sound. Does anyone know why this happened? We told him to check his fuses but he said they all were good. Any input would be great!

[DrMilhouse]

Did his 94 have the bose system in it? I'm guessing it did. If so, it's because the impendance of the speakers were not right for the head unit. The entire audio system changed when it went to LS1 style. Your friend if replacing the head unit will want to change out his whole system to after market. Each speaker in the bose system has it's own amp at the speaker. To do it right, you'll really need to replace all of the speakers and the head unit and run new wires to each of the speakers.

HTH
Mike

[TA2FST4U]

I understand what youre saying but it is because its a Firebird? Just a few hours ago, we installed the unit in my 93 Trans Am to make sure it wasnt the head unit, and it worked great! Even with some of the speakers missing. I dont know, youre most likely right but i just want to consider other ideas before i tell him he has to go blow all this money. He asked me to look some stuff up so i will do that and check back to see if you or anyone else have any more suggestions. Im thinking maybe the head unit is too powerful for only 6 speakers and maybe he needs to add a few, or his car is being really stupid and uncooperative.

[DrMilhouse]

nah, it's not because it's a firebird, it's because of the crazy bose system that was in it originally (most likely). Does your TA have Bose or did you put aftermarket in it already?

It's not that it's too powerful for the speakers that are there, it's that the speakers are all amped individually. The original head unit makes a very small signal to each of the speakers which is amplified at the speaker.

Just curious, does YOUR head unit work in his car? I'd guess probably not, just wanting a confirmation of that.

[TA2FST4U]

Well, my 93 Trans Am had 4 Kicker speakers, a sony head unit and the other 4 or 6 were all stock as far as i know. My 99 Trans Am is completely stock. He put two of my old speakers in his car, and re wired them and the sound was working for like 15 seconds and then it would just stop. The cd would still be playing but you couldn't hear it. I am going to have to try my head unit in his car. Do you think it would be better for him to go and get AC Delco speakers (because i dont know what he has in it) or do you think he may need to get an amp? Also, do the the speaker wires get their power from the next speaker or are they each individually wired to their own power source? It's becoming so complicated now and it's driving me nuts. I just want to figure this out so his stereo works. Thanks for all your help. I think we're getting close to the problem.

[DrMilhouse]

best thing to do would be scrap anything stock and start over, get a decent head unit and 4 speakers, an amp and a decent sub.

That costs money.

I'm not sure how you wired up your speakers before that allowed them to work for 15 seconds or whatever.

Each speaker has it's own power source and it's own signal source. Each speaker should have 4 wires. Two for power (1 + and 1 -) and two for signal (also 1 + and 1 -). I have no idea of their colors.

If they have 4 wires, the easiest thing to do all together is to just run new wires from the head unit to the speaker and use after market speakers with an after market (or monsoon would work with some in locating all the right wires and using a different harness.

ehhhh... hassle hassle

The monsoon deck is for crap and the bose deck is for crap, neither one is going to give an amazing sound that is going to make all the hassle worth the effort. Don't mean to piss on the parade, I'm just telling you what I think. :)

[TA2FST4U]

Well, the situation is really complicated. He didn't have a monsoon system to begin with. That's what he wanted. He did try different speakers or something and it worked. I think he needs an amp. I hope. Well, any information will help. Turns out, he has a Grand Prix stereo. It is identical to the stereo thats in my 99 Trans Am so I am not sure if that makes a difference. Well, we will keep trying so any comments may help. Thanks alot!