I still have the stock tape player in my '89 and wanted to replace it with one of the GM Monsoon CD players. I saw a pic of one (Monsoon) installed in a GTA on Ebay. Looked like a perfect fit. I want to order one from my local GM dealer. Anyone know if there is a difference in '98 to '02 stereos? Any particular year that would be preferable? Thanks

98 to 02? No.
But
89 to 02? yes. The harness is different, just pick up a $20 02 harness from your local bestbuy and splice the wires, its the only differance. Somewhere here you'll find what colors on the thirdgen harness go to what colors on the 02 harness

Thanks man.

sorry, but that's NOT the only difference...

monsoon powers THREE sets of speakers, each have an 8 or 10 ohm load...

you need all new monsoon speakers to make the swap

good luck.

Clue me in on the monsoon. I am a complete newb to stereos
I did some searchs but just want to make sure I have some things clear in my head. I have a 92 bird . The harness should be the same along with the attena lead as the 89-02 stock systems right? Its a 14 pin connection compared to the old 12 pin connection. Also why do you need all new speakers with a monsoon system , and only monsoon speakers because of the ohms? That kinda threw me. I figured I could swap out just a new stock unit into my bird and away we go. I appreciate any help on the question.

dan

I honestly couldn't tell you if the monsoon would be plug-in-play, regarding the harness... but that is easy, just get a harness adapter if required...

as far as I have heard, the speakers used in the newer f-body monsoon system were between 6-10 ohms a piece... this way the combined load of 6-8 speakers would work right on the monsoon amplifier, ( I ALSO don't know if there is an external amp required for monsoon...)

if you want some real advice, don't get the monsoon, get some high-quality aftermarket headunit..

if you want one that fits great, there are several nice mp3 cd players that fit perfectly in our 1.5 din opening...

1.5 din, right? whatever we have, they make full-sized GM units.

Thanks, this helps.

The monsoons also have a factory amplifier in the panel in front of the spare tire.. there is a silver box right next to the power antenna for all the connections to the speakers an so forth.

I wish I knew the specs on those amplifiers... I always thought monsoon systems ROCKED for stock setups...

the bass sounded like at least a 12" for deep notes, and for 'hitting' I'd say it sounded pretty weak... but most people don't even care about that.

if I had a monsoon mp3 deck, I'd probably never change it...

For what it's worth.....

I installed a Monsoon CD from I believe a 2000 Firebir (the one with the front panel equalizer) into my 91 'Bird. Harness plugged right in, so did the antenna, and it works fine w/o the amplifier. Granted, I don't use it as a "boom box" and try to rattle bystanders or nearby car windows, but I like it. The only mod done was enlarging a couple of the bolt holes on the radio's front mounting bracket, and having to cut out a small corner in the radio console since the CD player versions are a little deeper front-to-back than the factory tape player was.

YMMV, of course.

weird, maybe since you have fewer speakers, the ohm load is good enough..

or maybe you got one that didn't have the external amplifier...

Sorry, I dunno. I'd also not rule out the possibility that I'm not smart enough in the audio department to probably know the difference.....

Not sure where you got 6-8 ohms from, I was under the impression that the 4th gen speakers were 2 ohms apiece; did they change it all over in '98? I swapped a set out of my brother's '97 a while back and I could have sworn that at least the front four were all two ohms. Can't remember what the trunk one(s) are rated at. Am I out to lunch here?

If it is configured for 6-8ohms, then beware. Just 'cause it's working right off the bat doesn't mean that there won't be problems down the road. Can be as simple as overheating or as bad as losing a channel.

But if the speakers are 2 ohms apiece then you'll be okay. I don't know how the configuration of the speakers is set up in 4th gens, but my guess would be one of two things if they are 2ohms:

1) Either the deck powers the door and sail panel speakers and is set up to handle a 4 x 2ohm load

OR

2) The deck is configured for a 4 x 4 ohm speaker set up but is bi-wired to run only the two door speakers at a 2ohm load while the amp handles the rest of them.

Pure speculation, but if either of these configurations is correct then you'll be good to go for the swap regardless. However, your best source of information on this would be from LS1.com. They have a decent car audio forum and generally know their stuff.

well whatever the setup is... we KNOW it has an amp.. and I highly doubt its just used to power the rear speakers