Moon & Tunes Factory Amp Details??

[Dreded]

Was wondering if anyone has any sort of details on the factory amp for the moon and tunes package even a model # would be helpful.

I am installing a new deck tomorrow and am wondering if the factory amp is 200Watts RMS or 200Watts Max... given its physical size it could quite easily be 50Watt RMS per channel(assuming there is only 4 channels not 6).

Also according to the wiring diagram the harness has separate wires for tweeters and door speakers but several people have said that they are inline... anyone know the truth?

The New speakers I am installing have a passive crossover and I am going to install these under the seat and just cut the tweeter output wires from the factory harness as well as the front speaker output wires... then connect the wire from the factory amp to the crossover then the crossover out to the cut wires... should all work fairly well as when looking at the factory tweeters their crossover is "built in" to them.

When I do this install I will install just the Head Unit first and take many photos for a write up as there seems to be much confusion into how to install a new head unit using the factory amp/speakers without having to buy the $40-60 line level converter.

Depending on my findings about whether the factory amp is 50Watt RMS I am also going to install a second amp for front speakers and then power the rears from the factory unit as I have to assume a external 50Wattx4 peak is better than the one built into a head unit given the space(head unit is 50watt peak and 17watts rms) :p.

[Derf]

Was wondering if anyone has any sort of details on the factory amp for the moon and tunes package even a model # would be helpful.
-Check the following link, video in 4th part may help viewtopic.php?f=11&t=40421&hilit=+monsoon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am installing a new deck tomorrow and am wondering if the factory amp is 200Watts RMS or 200Watts Max... given its physical size it could quite easily be 50Watt RMS per channel(assuming there is only 4 channels not 6).
-All indications are 200 watt max, still have yet to find actual GM publication

Also according to the wiring diagram the harness has separate wires for tweeters and door speakers but several people have said that they are inline... anyone know the truth?
-The amps in the Vibe have separate output for tweeter and door woofer, it appears the amp has a built in crossover but may be just limiting high to the woofer, again cant find GM documentation

The New speakers I am installing have a passive crossover and I am going to install these under the seat and just cut the tweeter output wires from the factory harness as well as the front speaker output wires... then connect the wire from the factory amp to the crossover then the crossover out to the cut wires... should all work fairly well as when looking at the factory tweeters their crossover is "built in" to them.
-Sounds like it could work, but not sure if the amp outputs may have an internal crossover.

When I do this install I will install just the Head Unit first and take many photos for a write up as there seems to be much confusion into how to install a new head unit using the factory amp/speakers without having to buy the $40-60 line level converter.
-If you use the factory amp, unless you use the RCA outputs on your head unit, you will need the converter to change the head units speaker outputs to line level for the factory amp.

Depending on my findings about whether the factory amp is 50Watt RMS I am also going to install a second amp for front speakers and then power the rears from the factory unit as I have to assume a external 50Wattx4 peak is better than the one built into a head unit given the space(head unit is 50watt peak and 17watts rms)
-This could work, but would take some work to balance the system, the amp levels would need equalized

[Dreded]

appreciate the feedback derf...

So I installed the new HU and left the factory speakers/amp for a day and I would say that there is no crossover in the amp, it was built into the factory HU as it sounded like crap until I set the high pass filter of the new HU to 100hz which ended up sounding a lot like the stock setup just a tad better. Ten the tweeters themselves just had capacitors right on them to act as a High pass filter.

The factory amp powers the rear speakers quite low.. so most of those 200watts go to the fronts which is the way it should be for a car with rear door speakers.

I was surprised at the decent wiring they used from the amp to all the door speakers id say its 16awg which is tons unless you are installing competition grade speakers.

So I didn't take pictures of the HU install as this post viewtopic.php?f=18&t=42929 covers it quite well... essentially if you are going to put a after market HU(head unit/radio) make sure it has pre-outs(line level) for both front and rear speakers(any decent one should) and attach a RCA jack such as these: http://www.amazon.com/IEC-1-Feet-Speake ... ca+to+wire to the wiring harness adapter speaker connections and plug them into the line level output of the new HU (once done the speaker wires from the new HU will have nothing connected to them)

So then after running the new HU with stock speakers for a day I replaced the stock speakers with Polk Audio DB6501 Component system for the front and DB651S coaxials for the rears but still using the factory amp I also disabled the 100hz High pass Filter I had to enable with the stock speakers on the HU and it sounds awesome I highly recommend these speakers... I had to make adapters to get the rears to fit the holes nicely as they are quite large(the holes not the speakers) but the component system(DB6501) came with adapters for the woofers that fit the factory holes I had actually bought speaker adapters off amazon but they didn't even come close to fitting right.

For the Polk front speakers I placed the Passive crossover inside the door with double sided 3M foam tape and used the wires that went to the old woofer as the input to the crossover it was quite easy to run the wiring from the factory tweeter position etc.. also using the screw that holds the factory tweeter I was able to screw in the holder for the polk tweeter into the factory location and then I just reamed out the hole in the tweeter cover a little with a knife to make it fit a little nicer(since its hidden behind a grill it doesn't need to be pretty.) if I had had a 2" hole saw handy I think id use the flush mount that comes with the polk tweeters instead of the hidden mount.

If I was to do it again id buy two of the DB6501 Component systems one for front and rear and then just flush mount the tweeters into the rear door panels as there is tons of room behind the door panels. While putting components in the rear is a little overkill the fact that the kit comes with speaker adapters that work perfect for the vibe/matrix makes life easier.

I think in the long run I will run the rear speakers off the HU(would have to remove rca connections and use speaker outputs) and replace the factory amp with a 2ch x 100watt RMS aftermarket amp to run the front speakers but for now the factory amp sounds pretty decent with the new speakers etc and Ill do this next step in 6months or something so it seems like a new setup again :p

[Dreded]

So after giving it some thought on my commute iv come to the conclusion that the factory amp is more than likely 12Watts RMS @ 4ohms since the factory speakers etc ar 2ohm that 200watt rating is sure to be @ 2ohm.. so half that for 4ohm then half it again to get RMS (200/2)/2=50/4speakers = 12.5watts if the amp is fairly efficient it might be 15watts per channel at 4ohm.

Also I HIGHLY recommend when installing new speakers to use some sound deadening.. I never have bothered before but decided to do it since my once speaker was rattling a bit and all I did was buy 2 sheets of Dynomat 12"x12" to use where the speakers install in the front (just cut small hole for speaker and used full 12"x12" sheet) and then two 8"x8" squares of carpet insulation that I got for free from a carpet store as a sample behind the speaker to absorb and sound waves going the wrong way and the sound quality went up dramatically... no more rattles and less distortion. I would say it was as big of an improvement as upgrading to better speakers from stock ones... so well worth the $20 and 10min of my time.

Basically just did this with dynomat(obviously not my car but same idea)

[vibrologist]

I HIGHLY recommend when installing new speakers to use some sound deadening.. I never have bothered before but decided to do it since my once speaker was rattling a bit and all I did was buy 2 sheets of Dynomat 12"x12" to use where the speakers install in the front (just cut small hole for speaker and used full 12"x12" sheet) and then two 8"x8" squares of carpet insulation that I got for free from a carpet store as a sample behind the speaker to absorb and sound waves going the wrong way and the sound quality went up dramatically... no more rattles and less distortion. I would say it was as big of an improvement as upgrading to better speakers from stock ones... so well worth the $20 and 10min of my time.

This is absolutely correct!
Since you have Moon & Tunes do something similar with your sub woofer. I pulled it out and separated the box and placed a layer of quilt batting into the box and bolted it back together. you could just take the speaker out of the box and put the batting or insulation in through the hole (time saver). I also put some Peel and Seal on the 1/4-panel and stuffed some insulation in hollow areas.