Safe to bypass moon & tunes amp?

[ColonelPanic]

I recently installed a new radio (Panasonic CQ-C1333U) since my factory unit died (again for the umpteenth time. ) Anyway, I've just got it running through the Moon & Tunes amp at the moment. It sounds great, even with the stock speakers! Packs quite a punch too, the sound is alot clearer across the board with this new radio. I'm quite happy with this thing as a whole, not a bad radio for the money. But there's always room for improvement. I'm wanting to bypass the amp to see if that rids my system of some white noise that I have with the new radio. It isn't bad - only hear it during talk/etc. or at lower volumes. Music cranked up a bit drowns it out nicely. I'm thinking that I am simply putting too much into that amp than it was intended for so it amplifies every little thing, hence the background noise. I can't turn this radio up too much higher than the mid teens for fear of damaging my speakers or my ears, it's fricken LOUD! When you first apply power to it, the volume is defaulted to 18, which scared the crap out of me when I first hooked it up. I think I need LESS power...So one question I do have: Is it safe to bypass the amp and use an aftermarket radio with the moon & tunes speakers? I've had a crapload of audio system problems with this car and I've finally got something in there that is working (again, for the time being until the car kills this one like it has everything else ) and I'm enjoying it immensely, so I'm a bit apprehensive about trying it... Will the lower impedance of these speakers have an adverse effect on the radio's built-in amp? I hate to burn something up in the process of trying to rid my system of a minimal amount of background noise. Or, if I plan on doing away with the amp, do I need to replace the speakers? TIA!

[GMJAP]

Have you tried the line-level converter (see various posts regarding new HU with M&T amp) to fix the white noise?

[ColonelPanic]

I didn't think about that... I just wired it in standard with the wiring harness adapter and called it done. Hmm...

[Jahntassa]

Quick answer: No, using the stock M&T speakers with an aftermarket radio is NOT a great idea. Yes, it might work, and yes, it might work for a while, but those radios are designed for 4 Ohm speakers, and the M&T speakers are 2 Ohm.Try the line-level fix first!

[ColonelPanic]

Thanks for the input, good thing I thought about stopping to ask before I went to go rig up some jumper wires. I should have used the search feature and my crappy electronics degree I have before asking about it, I found all kinds of info. lol!Yay, it is nice having a Wal Mart behind my house I guess, since I was able to drive 30 seconds in the middle of the night no less to find what I was looking for, what others here have mentioned... http://www.walmart.com/catalog...96490So, I yank the radio and begin to hook it up. Fun, fun! The screw terminals were a friggin' PAIN! Unfortunately, I had to chop the vehicle adapter harness waaay short to make the others line up right because I had one cut too short previously when I was hooking this up, so I had to cut every other wire way short to match it. But anwyay, I got everything hooked up sa best as I could and got it out to the car, plugged it in, turned the radio on and adjusted, viola! Yep, that's what I was looking for. It sounds lovely, no white noise! Then one of the wires came loose. I have to figure out where to put the thing anyway, so I guess I will need to do some splicing and run some longer wiring. I just bought another vehicle adapter and some heavier speaker wire from Meijer so I can either dump the existing harness that I screwed up or splice on to it, either way...Once I can finally get it installed, it'll sound great. I just hope it stays working, the screw terminals are really bugging me when I think about the long term, they seem pretty dang chintzy... I hope they hold but I'm not holding my breath.

[Jahntassa]

If you have enough wire, what i'd usually do is make some 'stress relief', usually by taking a zip-tie and bundling the wires together, and tying it to a screwhole on the thing the wires are coming from. That way if they get tugged or anything, they won't yank out of the screws!

[ColonelPanic]

I spent a couple hours last night setting up some wiring for this thing. I cut 16 ~6" leads from 18 gauge speaker wire, it was thick enough to stay in there. Or I thought.But when I went to put it all in the dash, the whole assembly BROKE APART! Half of the case went way down inside the dash, the other landed where I was able to retrieve it easily, and I was left with a circuit board and a bunch of wiring hanging. Not wanting to offend any Scosche supporters here, but man this thing is such a cheap piece of crap! Anyway, I duct taped it back together and was trying to find a place to put it, and a wire came out and I didn't have my tiny screwdriver handy so I just gave up. It was bedtime so I had to call it quits, and have to face driving back into work with no radio. Tonight, I'm going to make some REALLY long wiring and tin the tips with some solder to see if that will make the things stay in there better. And then, hopefully I can find a decent place to mount it.If anybody can recommend a better option than the FAI-3, let me know. I'd prefer something that has acutal wires coming out of it to splice into, not these crappy screw terminals, and maybe something that has a sturdier case that won't fall apart if you look at it the wrong way. This is such a shame, the electronics inside are doing exactly what they should and are working VERY well, the difference in sound is astounding. That part of it is PERFECT! But the materials of this unit are just junk, which is making me want to say to hell with it and go back to static until I can find something that doesn't suck! I certainly got what I paid for, I guess.

[GMJAP]

CP - I'm beginning to think, maybe, that you emit some sort of anti-quality field that causes consumer devices in near proximity to go legs up.Nothing personal, but the "reverse-Midas-touch" postulate has some real data going for it.

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by GMJAP »CP - I'm beginning to think, maybe, that you emit some sort of anti-quality field that causes consumer devices in near proximity to go legs up.Nothing personal, but the "reverse-Midas-touch" postulate has some real data going for it. Good luck can't find me in a four leaf clover. And yes, there is some sort of aura about me that I have never been able to understand. The stock head unit had all of its buttons stop working and then started changing channels, doing seeks/scans/preset scans, powering off and on all on its own and such when it crapped out... It was quite strange. Remember that 80's movie Great Outdoors with John Candy and Dan Akroyd? That old guy that got struck by lightning 66 times? I feel like that guy. I just found a replacement I may consider if anyone knows anything about it: http://www.pie.net/store/index...D=160h ... i55.htmlIt looks promising... Wires coming out so I don't have to deal with those screw terminals... I'll see how my project goes tonight with what I have, if it doesn't work out any better I'll be considering this thingamabob if it is of good quality...

[GMJAP]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »I just found a replacement I may consider if anyone knows anything about it: http://www.pie.net/store/index...D=160h ... i55.htmlIt looks promising... Wires coming out so I don't have to deal with those screw terminals... I'll see how my project goes tonight with what I have, if it doesn't work out any better I'll be considering this thingamabob if it is of good quality...Maybe try screwing the wires in and then duct-tape the crap out of the whole thing (wires & all) before you put it back in

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by GMJAP »Maybe try screwing the wires in and then duct-tape the crap out of the whole thing (wires & all) before you put it back in And maybe some super glue. I think this might just work. I'll take pictures of this mess of duct tape and wiring for everyone to see if all goes well.

[ColonelPanic]

Done! Man, did that ever suck. But hey, done!I fought against those cheeseball screw terminals and won, dang it! I took my 18 gauge speaker wire and stripped off some insulation, leaving only enough wire exposed that was absolutely necessary for the job, then twisted the hell out of it. Once that was done, I took a very thin solder and tinned the tips of the wires. That was the key, it took some forcing, but I got those wires in the things and screwed the terminals down and viola! They ain't goin' nowhere. heh!So, I continued on, splicing, soldering, heat shrink tubing, and taping until I got this big mess of crap ready to go out to the car. I didn't get any pics though. But anyway, I settled on :mounting" the thing down by the dash brace to the left of the glove box. It just kinda sits there, halfway double-sided taped to the dash. I tried the patented ragingfish method of zip tie installation but it didn't go so well. I ended up breaking off one of the little tabs on this thing's case when attempting to do so. I'll try to figure it out later, I'm sure it's going to rattle in its current state. But at least as a whole, I'm happy to say the wiring is not a disaster and that I took my time to make sure I didn't end up with a future headache, hopefully. I did all my adjusting on this previously so I think I have all the gains adjusted as they need to be. LF, RF, RR are ~1/4 of the way up or so. LR is all the way up because I still have a defective speaker back there which is about 75% quieter than every other speaker at the same volume level. If I turned it down, I couldn't hear it, since I can barely hear the thing as it is. I'm happily listening at a comfortable volume level of ~18 (max 40 for this radio.) Much better than what it was, and the white noise is gone. And the aux input on the radio works better now too, thanks to this. The iPod was a wee bit interesting previously - I had to turn it all the way up then turn the tuner up to the 20's to hear it; whereas other sources I would be blowing speakers at that volume. Now, it is back in line with the other sources - I don't have to turn the iPod up so high, and I can still have it loud enough with the tuner's volume around 20 or so. And when I go to change sources after listening to that iPod, I won't have to remember to drop the volume 10 notches to prevent damage to my hearing. This is pretty nice!Sorry I didn't get any pics of the operation... But here, have one I took a while back of what it looks like when it is put back together. lol!Thanks for everyone's assistance and for putting up with my ranting.

[GMJAP]

Good work! Glad to hear you got it to work out. How does it go... "Duct tape is like the force - it has a light side and a dark side, and it binds the universe together."