Stereo & Electronics - replacing monsoon radio

I didnt take any pics or anything I just wanted to say that I cant believe how much better a aftermarket radio sounds over the stock monsoon unit. Much more crisp sound and even the bass sounds better and louder. All I did was get a gm plug that plugs into the harness and I had to wire up the radio and it works thru the stock amp and everything.

I just had a customer who upgraded to a Kenwood double DIN unit and also was extremely pleased with the upgrade in sound quality. Most are though. The 2 weakest points on the Monsoon system are the stock CD player and the speakers. Upgrade those 2 things and it sounds much better because you've cleaned up the signal going to the Monsoon amp and are now sending that signal to speakers that can reproduce that.
It is a very easy process to upgrade and the difference is significant!

From any info that I have found it looks like the stock amp only puts out around 30 or 40 watts and my radio putts out 50 per channel. Would I benifit from bypassing the stock amp. It sounds good as is and will most likely leave it alone and add a stealth box with a alpine type r 10 and a decent amp.

From any info that I have found it looks like the stock amp only puts out around 30 or 40 watts and my radio putts out 50 per channel. Would I benifit from bypassing the stock amp. It sounds good as is and will most likely leave it alone and add a stealth box with a alpine type r 10 and a decent amp.

50 wats from a head unit?
what head unit u got?
mine only puts out like 18X4
Dam Alpine >.<

50 wats from a head unit?
what head unit u got?
mine only puts out like 18X4
Dam Alpine >.<

most any head unit comes with 50 watts x4 these days but mine is a panisonic like 2 yrs old I had laying around. They probably got some pushing 60 watts x4 by now but I know mine is 50x4 and has 3 sets (6) of rca's.

Most head units r usually 50x4. or around

most any head unit comes with 50 watts x4 these days but mine is a panisonic like 2 yrs old I had laying around. They probably got some pushing 60 watts x4 by now but I know mine is 50x4 and has 3 sets (6) of rca's.You're mixing peak and RMS ratings. Your HU puts out 50 watts peak but only about 18 watts RMS per channel. Peak ratings are meaningless because the system can't produce that level of output continuously. By comparison, the Monsoon amp puts out 500 watts peak into eight channels (62.5 watts per channel) but only about 240 watts RMS (30 watts per channel). Both ratings are higher than your head unit so I would stick with the amplifier.

You're mixing peak and RMS ratings. Your HU puts out 50 watts peak but only about 18 watts RMS per channel. Peak ratings are meaningless because the system can't produce that level of output continuously. By comparison, the Monsoon amp puts out 500 watts peak into eight channels (62.5 watts per channel) but only about 240 watts RMS (30 watts per channel). Both ratings are higher than your head unit so I would stick with the amplifier.

thats what i ment
lol my head unit only pulls out 18 rms.
but it said 50X4 max....
but yea you should stay with the amp all the way ! ;D

thats what i ment
lol my head unit only pulls out 18 rms.
but it said 50X4 max....
but yea you should stay with the amp all the way ! ;D

Im just going to leave it running thru the stock amp since it does sound good and I am going to get a amp and one of those single 10" box thats fits on the side in the hatch area.

it doesn't really matter what the HU puts out if you have the monsoon since all the speakers are being powered by the monsoon, not the HU...

it doesn't really matter what the HU puts out if you have the monsoon since all the speakers are being powered by the monsoon, not the HU...That's true (except for the tweeters in Firebirds) but the question related to the possibility of bypassing the Monsoon amp and running all speakers off the head unit if it produced more power than the amp.

You can bypass the amp, it's what I did in my setup. I was also told by Crutchfield that the monsoon amp takes the two front speakers and makes them highs and mids, and two of the speakers in the passenger side panels and turns them into a bass set of speakers, so with the amp being used with the new deck, you do not have a full range of sound. I bypassed my amp and removed it from the car. I have also added a 10" sub in a hidden box with a 600W amp and 1.5 cap. So now I have full range with the bypass done, and all being controlled by my Sony Xplod deck. I doesn't hurt to keep the monsoon amp on, so I would say its personal choice really.

That's the first time I've ever heard of the people at Crutchfield being even remotely close to understanding how a Monsoon system is set up.

The door speakers are separate components (mids and tweeters) that the Monsoon amp handles as two separate channels. The sail panel speakers are subs. So the Monsoon amp is only providing high-pass and low-pass filtering as necessary to match the type of speaker on each channel - it doesn't limit the range of sound in any way. Changing the head unit has no effect on this because the factory head unit is just an ordinary Delco unit with the same speaker-level output that an aftermarket head unit produces.

I just had a customer who upgraded to a Kenwood double DIN unit and also was extremely pleased with the upgrade in sound quality. Most are though. The 2 weakest points on the Monsoon system are the stock CD player and the speakers. Upgrade those 2 things and it sounds much better because you've cleaned up the signal going to the Monsoon amp and are now sending that signal to speakers that can reproduce that.
It is a very easy process to upgrade and the difference is significant!

That customer is me. It was AMAZING. So much so (I'm not a gotta be insanely loud or hit hard type of guy) we decided to forgo the Amp and stealth box sub and are going with a pair of Bazooka 6.5" subs for the sail panels. The stock subs hit as well as my bazooka 10" tube hits in my other Camaro. ...the bazookas should give me just enough more to be satisfied. The Door and Hatch speakers had already been upgraded.

The Kenwood head unit was like night and day vs. the stock head unit, with no other changes.

^^^how hard was it to fit the double din hu in?

That customer is me. It was AMAZING. So much so (I'm not a gotta be insanely loud or hit hard type of guy) we decided to forgo the Amp and stealth box sub and are going with a pair of Bazooka 6.5" subs for the sail panels. The stock subs hit as well as my bazooka 10" tube hits in my other Camaro. ...the bazookas should give me just enough more to be satisfied. The Door and Hatch speakers had already been upgraded.

The Kenwood head unit was like night and day vs. the stock head unit, with no other changes.

That sounds great would love to see some pics. :pics:

That sounds great would love to see some pics. :pics:

I've got the Bazooka 6.5" subs installed (with dynamat behind and around the speakers) and the head unit is in. I think I'm going to rework the brackets for the head unit to push it forward just a tad, but I think it looks great - as factory as I've seen a double din look in a Camaro. I DID install the PAC unit to retain the steering wheel controls.

Here are a couple of pics. ...pardon the shifter boot which has split open (i'm fixin' that this weekend when I install an Interceptor gauge in the cubby hole) and the grass on the carpet. ...it rained all week last week 'round here, didn't get around to cleaning her.

There was nothing overly difficult about the install, it just took patience and a little thought.