Moon and Tunes Amateur Installation

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I wanted to get an aftermarket GPS/DVD player for my 2003 Pontiac Vibe. I did not notice that my Vibe had an amplifier until I read on this forum about the Moon & Tunes Vibe feature. This means that my Vibe has moon roof as well as an Amp right under the front passenger side seat. This could make a little more complicated to install an aftermarket radio. I read a lot different articles on this forum and by doing so I got a universal idea of what to do. However, I did not feel that there was a strong article which clearly explains the procedure. I DO NOT mean that this is going to be the most complete article on Moon & Tunes. I am just trying to give something back to you guys who are always writing, taking pictures, and even expending money to help everyone else save money doing stuff by ourselves.

So yes, I have a factory Amp which I want to keep and I want to install an aftermarket radio. If your Vibe does not come with a factory amplifier, you DO NOT need these tips. You could always double check it under the front passenger side seat. I went ahead I bought myself a deal package on eBay. This package comes with a double DIN Installation KIT (GM-K9210DD), an antenna adapter (GM factory Antenna to aftermarket radio), and a wiring harness (70-2003). I bought all that for only $15.94 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/111019998376?ss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 2351wt_883) I also bought myself a set of RCA cables from my local dollar store for $1.29. I own a soldering gun and other materials.

I went ahead and plugged the yellow, red, and black cables from the aftermarket radio to the aftermarket harness plug. All speaker wires coming from the aftermarket radio I left UNPLUGGED and UNUSED. Since for this installation I am keeping my factory amplifier, I am going to use the RCA outputs from the aftermarket radio instead. Then I got my set of RCA cables and cut the cable on half leaving me with a set of 4 RCA plugs. I split the RCA cables to get my positive and negative. The center wire was positive and the outside one is the negative.

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Then I soldered the RCA ends to each speaker wire (front left and front right, rear left and rear right) on the aftermarket wire harness and taped them up.

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The aftermarket wiring harness comes with all necessary wires except for the one that turns on the Vibe factory amplifier. When holding the aftermarket wiring harness, you will notice that it is marked with A side (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 slots) and B side (1-12 slots). The missing wire that turns your factory amplifier is B3. Right next to that B3 is the B4 wire which is included but not used most of the times. B4 is an orange with white stripe wire. I removed the all B section tab by putting pressure on the side clips. I slide the B4 orange with white stripe wire out and put it in the B3 position. That same B3 wire I plugged to the dark blue with a white stripe wire from the aftermarket radio harness which is marked as “AMP” wire.

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Then, I finally plugged the RCA cables to the aftermarket radio outputs. Everything worked beautifully! No noises, no distortions! Very cheap and easy! Enjoy!

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[brandontw]

This is a great post, and it helped to inspire my stereo project.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=42929" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just wanted to come back and give a shoutout, you were in my bookmarks!

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This is a great post, and it helped to inspire my stereo project.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=42929" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just wanted to come back and give a shoutout, you were in my bookmarks!

Wow! Your post is excellent! It is really detailed. Great post! Thanks for the shoutout!

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I just installed a Pioneer DVD head unit into my '05 Vibe w/moon & tunes. Connected just as you did. However, I'm experiencing amp pop when I turn off the ignition and when I shut off the head unit. Tried a pop stopper (delays amp shutoff 1-2 seconds), but it didn't do any good. Did you experience this problem when you put in your aftermarket unit. Was yours also a Pioneer? I've read that Pioneer units tend to have a problem with amp pop.

Hello there. I am glad that my post was useful. I installed a different head unit and I had the same problem. This pop noise usually occurs when you connect the custom wiring to the RCA connections of the aftermarket radio. To solve this problem, I bought myself on eBay a "high to low" ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/111519200629?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT ) device which converts the speaker wires coming from the radio into RCA outputs. I did so and I corrected the problem. I hope that this could help you as well. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks and good luck.

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Now that's interesting. Basically, you made rca ports out of the "high output" speaker wires, which replicates what the the rca ports are designed to do? Why does this method make a difference? What did you adjust the output level to, on the adapter? Typically, these adapters are for head units without rca ports.

From what I've read, my problem is coming from the amp - to eliminate the pop off , the amp need to turn off before the speakers, which means I now have to hack into the speaker wires with a delay circuit, which I don't want to do. If the cheapskates at GM had used 4 ohm speakers, we could have bypassed the amp altogether. But then, they would have had to put in a decent amp that wouldn't cause these problems.

I've called two Pioneer dealers. They can't explain why I'm getting the amp pop. But then, neither have had any experience with the Vibe M&T systems. I find that surprising.

What brand is your head unit?

I installed a Pioneer AVIC-X940BT on my Vibe and there is not noises. The factory amp sounds great. I do not really know the deep details on why I solved my problem that way. However, my only explanation is that the Vibe's factory amplifier is a little bit more sensitive than the regular aftermarket ones. I basically did not adjust anything on the adapter. the adapter that I used did not need to be adjusted.

If I were you and this is just a suggestion, before expending a lot of money, I would just try the Hi to Low adapter and see what happens. If that does not solve the problem, then I would go ahead and try different things. Please let me know how you solve your problem. Good luck!