Stereo & Electronics - Monsoon Head-Unit dieing

The CD Changer doesn't work, the display decides to go nuts from time to time (all icons turn on and clock does random stuff)...

so I was looking into getting another head unit, aftermarket maybe, but if I can pick up a stock unit at a resonable cost, I will.

Someone I know is getting rid of a 97 Grand Prix head unit that looks identical to my monsoon unit except for the monsoon lettering.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o7/tjsblackbonne/Picture016.jpg

Is the only differance the Monsoon has an amp and a name stamp or is there more internal stuff done to them? Can get it for 40 bucks so might just be worth a try, but the dash doesn't look fun to play around with.

Off topic,

Truely the system in the car is garbage, the clearest sound comes from the far rear speakers "sails?", the rest are aftermarkets that as soon as you turn it up distort pretty bad. In the future after I get a rear-end, heads/cam, I'll worry about that stuff, low volume it's actually decent but I want to hear CD's not just commercial radio all the time.

Yes, the 97 Grand Prix head unit will work in your 98 Formula. The connections are the same so it's just plug and play. There is nothing special about a Monsoon head unit except for the Monsoon label on the front. Otherwise it's just an ordinary Delco head unit with speaker-level output and can be easily swapped out. All of the Monsoon "system" is in the external amp and special matched speakers. In fact, it works quite nicely with an aftermarket head unit.

Plus an aftermarket HU also opens up more multimedia possiblities and better sound quality. The installation is not that much more involved/complicated then the stock one either.

thanks for the info, this will do for now, when I decide to do the audio I'll look into redoing the setup, for 40 bucks I may as well have a working head unit for now.