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1994 Trans Am stereo upgrade to 2002 monsoon

6498 Views 9 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  ZumpTA
I have a 1994 trans am with the 10 speaker system and cassette. I want to purchase a head unit from a 2002 Monsoon system that has CD and ability to add an auxilary input for MP3 player. Also want to upgrade the speakers. Have questions.
1. will the 2002 Monsoon head unit plug into my 1994 speaker system and power the speakers without additional work?
2. Want to replace the current speakers with quality upgrades. Will component speakers in the doors and far rear work and how would wire in the crossovers of the new speakers to the system? Would each speaker (tweeter, midrange) need its own crossover or band filter?
3. Concerning the subwoofers in the sail panels. How deep is the opening for the speakers? for example should I look at "flush mount" subwoofers or do I have more room for that.

thank you
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A 2002 head unit will plug in to your car's radio harness, however, it will not work properly without re-pinning the connector. The 1994 cars had a year-specific pinout, specifically, with respect to the amplifier turn-on (pink) and steering wheel control input (dark blue) wires. I have no idea why GM did this - beginning in 1995 they changed the pinout back to the way it was in 1993.

The Monsoon head units were no different from the non-Monsoon head units other than their appearance. (There is one minor difference that depending on the part number you are looking at may be present, but nothing that changes the answer to your question.)

All four tweeters and the door midrange speakers have their own passive crossovers. Replacing these speakers will require the addition of something similar. The 2-channel amplifier behind the passenger side sail panel contains the only active crossovers in the car, and it only powers the subwoofers in the sail panels.

There's not a lot of room for a subwoofer to protrude from the opening behind the sail panel. I can't tell you exactly how much there is, but there isn't much. With the factory amplifier, there's really no need to spend money on a 6.5" subwoofer (cheaper ones run about $100 a pair and go up from there)...just purchase a 6.5" coaxial speaker with a really good low frequency response (like a Pioneer) and it will serve you just fine as a "subwoofer." The RMS of the head unit and the amplifier is in no way going to overpower anything aftermarket in the way of speakers. You'll hear the amplifier start to clip long before that happens.

I'm not sure why you are looking at replacing tweeters unless there's something wrong with yours. Those things basically last forever and they sound fine.
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As concerns head units is there a certain part number to look at to accomplish my objective. I want to be able to patch in an MP3 player such as an ipod. I have looked through some sights and there seems to be certain years of the monsoon head units that give you the opportunity to connect an ipod and some years don't
The Pontiac Monsoon CD player part number that can control an auxiliary input adapter is #09390782. There may be others, but I don't know of any. You will be faced with the same obstacles I described above with that head unit.

One other thing...does your car have steering wheel controls? If it does, they won't work properly with a 2002 head unit.
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Yes I do have the steering wheel controls. what prevents the new head unit from working with the steering wheel controls from 1994
Yes I do have the steering wheel controls. what prevents the new head unit from working with the steering wheel controls from 1994
Well, like I said, they'll work, just not properly. Beginning in 1995, the functions assigned to the steering wheel control buttons changed, and so did the head unit's recognition of the differing voltage levels coming from the resistor ladder in the steering wheel controls. For example, (this is going from memory), I believe that the upper-rightmost button on your steering wheel controls says "PWR," and it turns the radio on and off. The 1995+ head units will interpret the corresponding voltage level as a "volume up" command. This is simply because GM changed the steering wheel control buttons in their location, appearance, and function. The recognized voltage levels remain the same, but the functions assigned thereto changed.

I changed my steering wheel and airbag to a 1995+ style wheel to work around that problem. I hated those old buttons anyway.
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A 2002 head unit will plug in to your car's radio harness, however, it will not work properly without re-pinning the connector. The 1994 cars had a year-specific pinout, specifically, with respect to the amplifier turn-on (pink) and steering wheel control input (dark blue) wires. I have no idea why GM did this - beginning in 1995 they changed the pinout back to the way it was in 1993.
Can you describe how to accomplish this?
For anyone trying to help you, they should be aware of this related post as well:


@1993TransAm
Can you describe how to accomplish this?
I read in another post of yours that your current steering wheel controls do not work. Is it your intention to repair/replace the 1994-style buttons, or change to the 1995+ style buttons?
Can you describe how to accomplish this?
You get the Factory Service Manuals for both years from the MediaFire link below. You compare the pin outs on the wiring diagrams and swap the pins of the connector as necessary. If Pin #1 is power on one unit and left speaker negative on the other, well, you make it right!

MediaFire
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