New Head Unit... Do I keep the factory amp?
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2004
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New Head Unit... Do I keep the factory amp? I have a head unit sitting in my garage and well i think it looks better than the factory one so im going to put it in. Do i keep the stock amp or get rid of it? Would the aftermarket hu put more power to the speakers than the factory amp would?(aftermarket= 50w x 4). Would i have to rewire the speakers in order to remove the amp?
Launching!
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 240
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From: Point Mugu, CA
Since I don't know what kind of head unit you have I will have to base this on general assumptions. Most of the time you have to bypass the amp with an aftermarket head unit. And no you do not have to reroute the speakers, there is a wiring harness that you can get at best buy or circuit city or any car stereo place to connect the speakers to the harness then the harness to the head unit, therefore bypassing the amp. Again that is just general stereo replacement for most cars.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2004
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I have the alpine sps 170a door speakers... and when i installed them with the monsoon amp i had to wire the tweeters directly to the head unit and the other to the amp. should i wire the two wire together or do they have to be wire separate even though there is no longer an amp? I really dont know if this hu will work because it is only set up to run 4 speakers but there are 6 speakers. I plan on putting 2 10 inch subs in the hatch so then could i just forget about the 2 speakers in the hatch or are those important? also, should i replace the midbass 6 1/2 inch subs with just some regulare 6 1/2 components? sorry for all the questions, i just had some ideas in my head.
Last edited by sweetZ28; Feb 7, 2005 at 02:35 PM.
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,330
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From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
The Monsoon amp takes speaker-level input so the head unit is just an ordinary Delco radio with a Monsoon label on it. You can get a Metra harness adapter to connect to your aftermarket head unit and it will just plug right into the factory harness and use the Monsoon amp. That's the easiest way but many people don't like the Monsoon amp so they bypass it and either run a better aftermarket amp or just run straight off the head unit.
Bear in mind that the Monsoon amp runs with 2-ohm speakers rather than the more common 4-ohm ones. If you decide to go without the Monsoon amp, you should replace the speakers with better quality 4-ohm ones.
Bear in mind that the Monsoon amp runs with 2-ohm speakers rather than the more common 4-ohm ones. If you decide to go without the Monsoon amp, you should replace the speakers with better quality 4-ohm ones.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2004
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I have decided that i am just going to bypass the monsoon amp. how exactly do i bypass the amp? I am just going to run the speakers off the new head unit. I already upgraded my door speakers with the alpine 170a's. When upgrading the door speakers i had to wire the tweeter separate from the sub because of the amp but since i am bypassing the amp should i wire the sub and tweeter directly to the head unit or is there a harness that bypasses the amp and then the rewiring is not necessary?
Launching!
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 240
Likes: 0
From: Point Mugu, CA
Go to best buy, circuit city or any car audio store and ask for the wiring harness to bypass your amp. Tell them what you are doing and they will point you to the right wiring harness. Don't go cutting all of your wires out, just ask them for the harness then its a simple unplug from amp, plug into harness then plug head unit into other side of harness. It really is that easy. Also if you are going with that powerful of a setup I would recommend getting an aftermarket amp, the factory one just doesn't have the power to push that many speakers especially the subs.
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