Monsoon System Questions

['96GAGT]

IN a little while I'll be doing a setup for a friend who has a 2003 GAGT with a Monsoon radio system in their car.

We are going to be installing the following things

Aftermarket Deck
Amplifier
Subs and its box
Wiring kit

My immediate question is this. If we remove the Monsoon head unit to install the factory unit. Will the amplifier that pushes the factory speakers in the car quit working?

And if so is there a way of getting around it.

And since the amp pushes the stock speakers.. will the speakers stop working?

I wouldn't say that it had to do with the head unit but I'm just sticking my neck out.

Some information on this subject would be useful I just need to know if I remove the stock unit and put in an aftermarket am I going to loose the power to the amp that pushes the stock speakers. And with the stock deck gone will that keep the stock speakers from working with the new deck?

[MantaGreen97]

I'm not sure about how the exact setup of the Monsoon goes (I'm sure someone else will answer that for you though ;) ) but personally, what I would do is just bypass all the Monsoon BS altogether...

Meaning run speaker wires directly from the newly purchased aftermarket gear (preferrably a separate amp, but if not the HU I guess). Or intercept the factory speaker wiring in appropriate places, of course. But running new speaker wire is really pretty easy and will take away all the ??? and head-scratching about the Monsoon amp and you'll end up with better sound too [provided this is decent aftermarket gear we're talking about here].

[DFizzle]

I can only speak from my experience with my '04 SE with Monsoon, so I can't say for sure if things will be the same in the GT. That being said, when I installed my aftermarket deck, the factory amp still powered the speakers but the internal amp in the deck caused the factory amp to turn off momentarily whenever it lost signal, i.e. whenever I changed radio stations, source, or turned the car off. The result was a fairly faint, but still noticeable speaker pop whenever the amp turned off and back on. This became a much more serious issue when I tried to hook up my subs and aftermarket amp, since they would also fire when the factory amp turned off and back on.

I've heard many different things about the Monsoon system, and it seems like everybody ends up having a different experiance. I ended up replacing my front and rear speakers and having a buddy of mine help me with some creative wiring using my aftermarket crossovers to bypass the Monsoon amp completely (Pictures 1 (http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a245/juggleboy720/Car/IMG_0594.jpg), 2 (http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a245/juggleboy720/Car/IMG_0593.jpg)) so I could eliminate the pop. The alternative is to run all new speaker wire, but then you run into the issue of the rear speakers which are dual input and 2ohm and won't work right without the factory amp.

So, the short version is that removing the factory HU (at least in the SE) doesn't have any direct impact on the factory amp as long as you reconnect the amp turn on wire when you put in the aftermarket deck. My experiance could be somewhat isolated and have to do with the deck I installed, and I've heard that some people have been able to swap out decks with no popping problems at all. This was just my solution to the problem.

[AAS SC/T]

If you purchase a periferal GMCO adapter you can wire it up and it will run the factory monsoon system with no issues. You even keep all the factory addition like power after key off. You can then add an aftermarket amp to you aftermarket head using the preamp output from the head to run the subs and other speakers just run speaker wire to speakers you have then bypassed the monsoon amplifier. Just remember to unplug the factory speaker cable plugs from each speaker you rewire.

['96GAGT]

Where can I get this periferal GMCO adapter you speak of Craig?

['96GAGT]

What IM aiming to do is install an aftermarket deck.. I still want the factory speakers to work with the new deck and still have the factor amp push them..

[DFizzle]

You can get the GMCO adapter (chime module) at any number of different places. Shop around for the best price, here's the Cardomain listing:
GMCO Adapter (http://www.cardomain.com/item/PERGMCO)
I used that (different brand) and still had the speaker pop issue, but you may have a better result. Like I said, everyone seems to have a different experience.