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  1. #1
    Junior Member hairygixxer's Avatar
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    2002 trans am

    can ya bypass the monsoon amp???

    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

  2. #2
    Life in the Fast lane sunsetorangess's Avatar
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    Met. Sunset Orange
    01 SS

    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.
    Last edited by sunsetorangess; 05-16-2006 at 07:01 PM.
    2001 SS, Its not the car its the Driver that matters....

  3. #3
    Sideways to da next light redline's Avatar
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    black
    2000 trans am

    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.

  4. #4
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    Sunset Orange Metallic
    2002 Camaro SS

    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.
    Last edited by 02sunsetss; 05-17-2006 at 11:21 AM.

  5. #5
    Junior Member hairygixxer's Avatar
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    silver
    2002 trans am

    I Figured It Out!!!

    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

  6. #6
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    Silver
    98 Trans Am

    Thats a trick?

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by 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.
    Got any pics of that or maybe a link or send me a pm as not to clutter this post?

  8. #8
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    Sunset Orange Metallic
    2002 Camaro SS

    Quote Originally Posted by daveb91
    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.
    Last edited by 02sunsetss; 05-18-2006 at 09:07 PM.

  9. #9
    Member Runn_WS7's Avatar
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    Anyone wants to ship me one Sweden...
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    Hello from Sweden.

  10. #10
    Junior Member hairygixxer's Avatar
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    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.
    Last edited by hairygixxer; 05-20-2006 at 02:51 PM.

  11. #11
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    Sunset Orange Metallic
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    ...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.
    Last edited by 02sunsetss; 05-22-2006 at 02:18 AM.

  12. #12
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    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.

  13. #13
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    Sunset Orange Metallic
    2002 Camaro SS

    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.

  14. #14
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    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...

  15. #15
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    Sunset Orange Metallic
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    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.

  16. #16
    NookNookSS
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    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

  17. #17
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    Sunset Orange Metallic
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    Apparently not.

  18. #18
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    98 Trans Am

    Quote Originally Posted by 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.
    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.

  19. #19
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    Sunset Orange Metallic
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    Atleast someone else here relies on fact and not theory...Thanks

  20. #20
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    The Monsoon amp reminds me of those cheap car stereo "boosters" of the 80's

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