Standing Z

I ran across Sony XAV-AX7000 head unit, which has a built in amp and puts out 45 RMS and 100 peak. My Trans Am still has the stock Monsoon amp so my question is, would these two play nicely together? Is it possible the stock wires would be under sized if I were to use this head unit? Any thoughts on this setup or the headunit in general? Thanks

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

The Monsoon amp is designed to take speaker level input (rather than pre-amp level like most aftermarket amps). It will work fine with that head unit.

Standing Z

Will the system gain anymore power with this head unit then? Or would it be the same if I went with a normal 20 rms head unit?

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

You won't gain any power overall because the Monsoon amp is still limited to only 200W into eight channels. But you may be able to use more of that power before the head unit starts clipping. The Monsoon amp will produce clean output when it's given clean input. The problem is that many head units, especially the factory one, will start producing distortion well before they reach peak volume so a head unit which is designed to produce more power will give the amp clean input to a higher level.

One other thing you will probably notice is that the higher powered HU will ramp up the volume more quickly as you turn the ****... there will be more of an increase between each click.

JonAdkins

Bypass the monsoon amp with that headunit. That'll give you full control over crossovers and slopes from the headunit instead of using whatever the factory monsoon crossovers are, which are far from optimal in my opinion.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Sorry, no. It is never a good idea to bypass the Monsoon amp... partly because of the reason you mention, the unique tuning of the output channels. The Monsoon amp has eight output channels, something that is uncommon and very difficult to find in the aftermarket, and the channels are specifically filtered to match the unique speaker layout. You are unlikely to be able to improve upon the crossovers and slopes designed into the factory system using an aftermarket HU while still using the factory speakers. You also have the problem of how to configure the eight speaker channels from the four channel output without giving up channels (e.g. running the doors as coaxial which gives up the separate tweeter channel). That's something you can't duplicate using just the head unit. Besides, why would you give up 200W of clean output to run only the head unit? Granted, the 45W per channel Sony comes close to the same power (180W total) but most head units don't produce that kind of power and that's still only four channels of output. Basically, the amp and the speakers together are what makes the Monsoon system (the head unit is just an ordinary Delco unit) so you can't really replace either one without replacing the other - something the OP doesn't appear interested in doing.

Now, there's a lot of amazing things you can do with aftermarket sound systems in f-bodies by replacing the speakers with a more conventional configuration, perhaps adding an amp, and rewiring the speakers to a 4-channel configuration... but merely bypassing the Monsoon amp without those other changes is not a smart thing to do.

JonAdkins

True, most don't have stock speakers 20 years later as they long have been worn out. Bad assumption on my part. Eight channels is great, problem is the filters though, especially with any decent aftermarket speakers the filters are FAR from being good. Most of the reason they aren't good is to protect the cheap stock speakers from being damaged.

Personally, aftermarket was the only way to go, moved all mids/highs to in front of me, I've got nothing in the rear. I actually just run 3 channels, a 4 channel amp bridged and my subs. To each their own though.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Oh, you're absolutely right. If the speakers have been replaced with something other than Monsoon matching equivalents such as a Kee Audio kit then getting rid of the Monsoon amp in favor of an aftermarket one or head unit alone is the best way to go. But merely bypassing is not a good idea... you're much better off to run your own wires to replace the tiny old factory wiring. On the other hand, if you still have the factory speakers (really not a good idea but some people do) or you did replace them with something compatible like a Kee Audio kit (a very popular option) then retaining the Monsoon amp has a lot of advantages.