Hey all, I finally got tired of waiting for the wiring harness to come out. So today I decided was the big day.

I followed AztekzRpurty's instructions HOW TO: Aftermarket Headunit Replacement which was a great help. The disassembly went flawlessly. Thanks Aztek

The wiring was not the same on the connectors as Azteks, which is the wiring for the non-Monsoon setup. I figured I would add what I came up with to help others out with their Monsoons.

I went with the same install kit: Metra 99-3302
Metras version for the antenna adapter: 40-cr10 chrysler
Alpine CDA-9856 ( Has ipod control and can do either XM or Sirius )
Sirius Sir-Alp1 Sat. tuner

I ended up with the following wiring diagram based on Aztek's and a Saturn Vues wiring ( the Vue uses different colors ):

Connector 1:
pin 1: Red/White 12v constant
pin 2: Gray Dimmer control
pin 3: open
pin 4: Green Right Front Speaker -
pin 5: Green/White Right Front Speaker +
pin 6: Dark Green Left Front speaker -
pin 7: Tan Left Front Speaker +
pin 8: Black/White Ground
pin 9: Green/White GM Lan
pin 10: open
Pin 11: Blue Steering Wheel
pin 12: open
pin 13: open
pin 14: open

Connector 2:
pin 1: open
pin 2: open
pin 3: Pink Amplifier control
pin 4: Tan Right Rear Speaker +
pin 5: Blue Right Rear Speaker -
pin 6: Brown Left Rear Speaker +
pin 7: Brown/White Left Rear Speaker -
pin 8: open
pin 9: open
pin 10: open
pin 11: open
pin 12: open
pin 13: open
pin 14: White/Black ? Steering Wheel Ref.
pin 15: Green Amp Mute
pin 16: open

I didn't connect to the steering controls, amp mute, or Lan connections.

I didn't have to cut anything off of the top of the install kit, but I did have to remove the guide pin and make the cuts on the side mounting bracket area as Aztek did.

I used the plastic mounting brackets in the kit instead of the din mounting cage that came with the radio. This allowed the radio to be recessed so that the radio will set flush with the dash. Because of the depth of the radio I had to remove some of the plastic in the back of the mounting area with the dremel.
Radio
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3230856

Ipod connected with Alpine High Speed Cable:
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3230941

I put the Sir-Alp behind the glove box on the plastic tray and ran the ipod control cable into the glove box.
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3230861

As I gets some pics ready, I will add them to this post.

Hope this helps the fellow Monsooners out there.

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________
Mysterious
Sand and Steel
Chrome wheels
GM CAI
Alpine with Monsoon Sound
Illuminated Windrestrictor

Good job!

I'm going to edit my how-to to send people here when they get to the wiring section. And I figured I didn't need to trim the top of that adapter. Dangit.

I might have to go back in and see if I can get it flush mounted too. That looks sweet.

__________________
"Emmaline" 5913 Envious/Ebony - loaded except base radio/no xm/polished
My Mod Page
3 video Solstice reviews How to lower your front license plate How to install an aftermarket headunit Upload your BEST pics here!

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I posted this to the bookmark thread for future reference. Great job

__________________
2006 VIN #30, first 1000 series, black exterior, sand/steel interior
Index of useful threads: General, Tech

Thanks guys, if one of the harness companies would just get off their butts and make us the proper parts it would be a whole lot easier.

Wait until you get to hear the monsoon system running with a higher power headunit, the volume goes up real quick, but it sounds great and the sub really hits.

Aztek, be ready to do some trimming in the plastic behind the radio. The radio itself will fit, but if the radios wiring connections don't line up with the original cut outs you will have to make your own.

__________________
Mysterious
Sand and Steel
Chrome wheels
GM CAI
Alpine with Monsoon Sound
Illuminated Windrestrictor

Have a question about your comment about improved sound with the Monsoon system once you install a new head unit with more power. Thought the Monsoon system had its own amp located on the back wall behind the driver. With replacement of the head unit you are still going through this amp so where is the improvement? Is this like a new head unit with high voltage line outs and therefore more power from the amp? Does the new head unit with more built in power simply drive the front/rear speakers and the Monsoon amp drive the factory sub?

My plan was to keep the factory Monsoon 6-disc head unit so that I maintain the steering wheel controls and less chance of theft because it is factory (and who steals factory radios), install the Rockford Fosgate adapter that corrects any factory radio equilization issues and provides a cleaner signal for the new aftermarket multichannel amp that will drive replacement door mid range speakers and tweeters (have some very high end Alpine component 6.5 & tweeter set collecting dust). No rear side speakers--all front stage. Keep the Monsoon sub but it will be driven by the new multichannel amp that I will have mounted behind the driver's seat like the Eclipse Solstice at last years SEMA.

By the way--Installed the Alpine head unit model that has the iPod connection for direct control via the head unit in my other vehicle and it is great! Love the fact the iPod can be locked up in the glove box and you have a clean line in signal--no ground loop issues I had before and the iPod is automatically charged. Little time getting use to the head unit controls but this new radio from Alpine is great. Hope the adapter that GM comes out with works as well.

You wouldn't believe the difference in the sound from just a head unit.
I asked him where he got the speakers and he told me that they were stock. No shat!
Stock speakers rule if you give them enough honey. I need to figure out where to get a toy to push more watts to the existing speakers and leave the head unit stock.

__________________
I visit here less and less nowadays. Leave a PM if you want but it may be days before I return to it.

I was wondering, what does the pink wire, 'amplifier control' actually do? Did you use it Troy?

__________________
"Emmaline" 5913 Envious/Ebony - loaded except base radio/no xm/polished
My Mod Page
3 video Solstice reviews How to lower your front license plate How to install an aftermarket headunit Upload your BEST pics here!

http://social.zune.net/member/FartBlossom57

How's it going Aztek. The pink wire gets hooked up to the radios remote amp trigger, it just tells the amp to turn on. With the factory radio I never had a pop when I turned the radio on because it was already on to provide the cars bells and beeps. With the new radio the amp is off until the radio fires it up.

Russsims, the reason I believe it sounds so much better with the Alpine is not only is it a cleaner signal but the Monsoon amp runs from the speaker level outputs and not a line level. The Alpine is like 40 or 50 watts per channel compared to the factory headunit which is most likely a really low wattage.

When the Alpine was in my Rodeo with no amp a volume of 17 or 18 was about its max before the speakers ( pioneers ) were starting to wimp out. In the Sol with the Monsoon amp, a volume around 10 is about the most I have tried. I am afraid to push it much farther. At that volume I can drive at highway speeds and clearly listen to the music over the wind noise. I imagine anyone driving near me at the time can to.

The sub is simply amazing now, I went old school on it with some old Beasty Boys and The Cars that Go Boom songs. Way back in the 80's I ran 4 Alpine 8's in stereo competitions and it wasn't much more base then I have now.

__________________
Mysterious
Sand and Steel
Chrome wheels
GM CAI
Alpine with Monsoon Sound
Illuminated Windrestrictor

I'm confused as well. If you just replaced the head unit and left all the connections the same, then the amp would still have line level input, unless you ran RCA cables, which would make sense since you said the volume improved, which would be because the Alpine has higher voltage pre outs than the stock unit probably has. But does the Monsoon amp even have RCA inputs? I don't understand, I must be missing something.

Has anyone done or thought about, leaving the stock Monsoon amp and wiring and replacing the speakers and sub with better ones?

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GXP Mysterious darkside l ebony leather with red
headliner l sport pedals l A/C l single disc Monsoon XM l chrome l no spoiler, onstar, smokers, or mayo
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Maybe I'm using the wrong terminology here. The Monsoon amp receives it's input from the speaker output of the radio and not the rca connections. So with the Alpine I am sending a higher output into the amp then the stock radio wiring was. As far as the cleaner signal comment, the alpines have always put out a very clean low distorsion sound compaired to stock radios.

__________________
Mysterious
Sand and Steel
Chrome wheels
GM CAI
Alpine with Monsoon Sound
Illuminated Windrestrictor

Also on what the amp powers, it definately powers all speakers in the car. Disconnect the amp trigger and all sound is gone. I didn't think to play around with exactly where the sub gets it signal, it's coming from 1 or both rear speaker outputs.

__________________
Mysterious
Sand and Steel
Chrome wheels
GM CAI
Alpine with Monsoon Sound
Illuminated Windrestrictor

So the amp doesn't have any RCA connectors, just speaker wire connectors. In that case the louder sound and better quality doesn't make so much sense to me. I thought any line level speaker wire input would perform about the same and that you would only see a benefit if you used RCA pre outs, which improve signal strength depending on if they are 3v, 4v, 5v, etc. If the speakers were wired directly to the head unit I could understand a difference in sound, but it's still going through the amp, with the same type of connection. I guess the new head unit just puts out better signal through the speaker wire to the amp.

__________________
GXP Mysterious darkside l ebony leather with red
headliner l sport pedals l A/C l single disc Monsoon XM l chrome l no spoiler, onstar, smokers, or mayo
Ferrari F430/612 Scaglietti - Alfa Romeo 8C - Porche 911 Turbo - Lambo Gallardo Superleggera - Aston Martin Vanquish S/DB9/Vantage - Merc SL 65/SLK 55 - Tesla Roadster - Vette Z06 - Lotus Elise - Infiniti G35 6MT - BMW M3/3 series - classics - Chevy Nova - Camaro - Vette - Dodge Challenger - Pontiac GTO

banner courtesy of: crundell

Interesting issue of keeping the Monsoon amp and then upgrade to high end front stage speakers/woofer. To me it would depend upon the RMS power output of the Monsoon amp. High end speakers demand higher wattage, but who knows.

I am personnally going with a good quality mulitchannel amp that is recieving a clean signal from the Monsoon head unit. In order to get that clean signal the audio shops I have been talking to in the LA area recommend a Rockford Fosgate signal processor (do not remember the exact name of the unit) but it overcomes the shortcomings of factory head units that some times use special equalization.