Wiring in new speakers directly to aftermarket head unit

**99bluebird** · 10-19-2007, 09:52 AM

So I installed my alpine head unit but it doesn't sound nearly as good as before because its 60x4 is still piggybacked through that POS monsoon amp. So I want to wire speakers directly to the head unit. I guess I will just tap into the splice harness btw the HU and the factory wiring, then run leads to the doors and sail panels?
Questions
Why did the factory harness have all 8 speaker wires built in if they were just all run straight back to the monson amp in the rear pass. well, then run back to the doors and all the speakers? Is there any way to avoid having to run all my wires directly from the head unit to the speakers? FOr example on non-monsoon equipped cars the wiring in place goes from head unit directly to speakers. Could I remove the monsoon amp and splice the wires bypassing it?

**b.lee** · 10-19-2007, 10:26 AM

sounds like you didn't hook up the remote wire when you installed the head unit
this wire turns on the factory amp, and by how you described it, it sounds like your problem.

there should be a blue wire coming off the back of the new head unit,
and there should be 1 wire from the cars harness hooked up to that wire for the factory amp to get the signal to turn on.

**99bluebird** · 10-19-2007, 03:55 PM

Yes that is still connected its just that the alpine+monsoon is not good compared to the alpine alone. Anyone know the wiring schematic I'm talking about?

**99bluebird** · 10-24-2007, 02:32 PM

Someone can surely answer this- So do the 8 speaker wires from the harness behind the head unit all go directly to the monsoon amp, then are they run from there out to the speakers? Or is anything powered already from the head unit. If it is the first situation I could do some splicing in the rear well of the pre and post amp wires to avoid any interior removal (except speaker swap) correct? Then just disconnect the amp power.

**Mike's TA** · 10-26-2007, 10:36 AM

OK Here's what I know. The aftermarket radio has basically a built in amp. When it is hooked up directly with your stock amp then you can have some issues like reduced quality and random times certain speakers could shut off and then come back on. Reason is your running a stronger signal into a unit that is designed to accept a weak one. The easiest thing to do is to run wires from your new radio to each speaker. You could try to splice the wires together at the amp, but good luck if you do. You will also have to replace your speakers because they are 2ohm and the aftermarket radio more than likely is running at 4ohm. This incongruity will also cause reduced sound quality.