Jim Cuff

i just installed a new pioneer 5800 on a stock 02 coupe.
Used the metra harness, no problems. HU fired up and sound for fronts sounded incredible so much hi and clear mids rear in hatch worked but only a 10th of the volume.

i tried swapping channels like front to back to check and sound level for rear still the same. Mid sail subs are almost no sound no bass gutless even for fronts no bass

i tweaked the eq and cranked up levels but had no effect on rears.

is monsoon bad or this normal? Can I check if blown? Worth swapping or people sell rebuilds?

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Moving to Stereo and Electronics.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

We have had several members experience similar problems and they have always turned out to be settings in the new aftermarket head unit. In this case, you want to check things like Speaker Mode is set to Standard (not Network), Subwoofer is set to Off, Rear Speaker Output is set to Rear (not Subwoofer), all Crossover->HPF/LPF settings are Off, Listening Position is Off, and all Speaker Level settings are Off.

The reason you want to disable all of those settings is because the Monsoon amp already shapes and filters the audio signals for each of the speaker locations so you want to send it four channels of plain, full-range input signal.

Jim Cuff

Ahh got ya. I did see those settings. I know they are all off except for the SPeaker Level and Listening position. Actually the rears was set to sub and sounded better off. The crossover is off and it is a standard network.

The LP and Phase adjustment does make an incredible impact for the front speakers sounds like a concert. Speaker levels for the front where 0 but the back was -6DB. So I went to +2DB but it had no difference I could tell maybe a minor improvement.


Maybe the amp is blown on back channels? The front mid and tweet seem to work. and the back deck (not sails) definitely get a left and right signal with no distortion just low.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

It's very unlikely that the amp is blown although it is possible. It's easy enough to check... just plug the factory HU back in and see if the rear speakers work properly. Assuming they do, you're back to checking the new HU connections and settings.

Jim Cuff

Good call. Made the swap wasnt much better. I did hear the bass randomly jump on/off in the sail speakers. I assume a bad amp or loose wire/ground then.

I have a alpine MFP-F300 4/3/2 Amp (50Wx4 4ohm, 75Wx4 2Ohm, 150Wx2 2Ohm)
What would be the cleanest/best way to hook this up along with the HU 4ch?

I could buy new speakers as well. Like to get more mid bass from sails.
Since they are probably in good shape maybe keep them stock for now and wire alpine across the stock amp wire harness?

Run Tweeters/Rear deck off HU
Run alpine to front coax and sails 75x4@2ohm (sails are DVC 4ohm running 2)

Or

Buy new front compnent with crossover, run alpine front channel to coax/tweet in door, run sails off back channel and run rear deck off HU

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

The front and rear tweeters already run off the head unit in a Firebird. And there are no coaxial speakers in the car unless someone has replaced the stock component sets. The sail panel subs aren't running 2-ohms... they're each running two separate 4-ohm channels from the Monsoon amp.

You can replace the stock amp with an aftermarket one - lots of people do that as an upgrade. But it means rewiring the car. You need to run RCA cables from the head unit to the amp and then speaker wire to your speakers. The factory system uses speaker-level output from the HU to the amp so the factory wiring isn't much use when replacing the amp. There are some aftermarket amps that accept speaker-level input but they are not common. And then you have figure out filtering the signal to the appropriate speakers (i.e. the subs in the sail panels).

Jim Cuff

Well I got my HU installed. Need to finish pulling powerr to the backup camera but everything else went in. I did have to cut my tray out then things went smoothly.

The pioneer is pretty cool, looks and sounds great. I havent figured out the best way to play sirius or switch to spotify yet. I think for ease of use bluetooth for pandora/spotify/sirius stream will be the best. And nav directions thru siri and bluetooth on the phone.

Appradio works but still seems off. The Appradio Live map thing works well and cool for Nav view. Maybe that and bluetooth music.

Jim Cuff

I did fine out my amp problem. As I was playing in the back of the car for the camera I heard the speakers cut on off. So I jiggled the amp harness.

When I removed the harness I saw along the bottom row of connectors gobs of grease. I think they were blocking the signals. I cleaned up as best I could and it did improve. I think some cleaner and a pin might help even more.