Are 'old' New Beetle stereos and 'new' New Beetle steroes cross-compatable?

[FallinApartBoy]

you are both telling someone who has a monsoon head unit in there non monsoon car that it doesnt work. that SO makes me want to believe you. i only test drove like 80 of these things before i bought one and they all sounded just like the one i bought. then i put a monsoon and it sounds better. i dont think either of you are getting what im saying...or hearing for that matter. so im pretty much done fighting with both of you. keep telling everyone that the radios dont work. but me personally i have been there and done that and have one in my car and i KNOW it works. and i KNOW it sounds better. so until either of you get a good point to go on besides "oh i tried it and it doesnt work" then shut up. get me some good hard facts. send monsoon a letter and ask. go ask a VW dealer. get me some diagrams. but when you do that figure out why MINE works and YOURS didnt because i would really like to know why.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Dude.... Read.... There Is A Difference Between Working And Sound Quality. I Did Not Dispute The Fact That You Plugged It In And Got Noise! Sound Quality And Your Ability To Setup And Tune A System I Would Listen To Is Something Different Than You Getting Noise Out Of The Speakers!

That Will Be All.

[JetPuf]

Originally Posted by OldSkoolVWLover

Dude.... Read.... There Is A Difference Between Working And Sound Quality. I Did Not Dispute The Fact That You Plugged It In And Got Noise! Sound Quality And Your Ability To Setup And Tune A System I Would Listen To Is Something Different Than You Getting Noise Out Of The Speakers!

That Will Be All.

X2... again

[FallinApartBoy]

yeah it SOUNDS GOOD. maybe you both arent paying attention. im not dumb i know what im talking about. i have installed enough systems into cars. it sounds better than any non-monsoon beetle i have ever been in and as i said before i have been in a bunch. and i do believe that both of you said "they are compatible to some extent" and then go on to say non-monsoon to non-monsoon and monsoon to monsoon. they sound just fine if you switch a monsoon into a non-monsoon. not too sure the other way around. but get some good hard FACTS and come back and see me. you both are just hear sayers. dont spread rumors if it does work at least to some extent. im not saying it works in all cases but in mine in did work so why tell people no dont do it if it might work. tell them it has been debated and MAY work. thats all im saying.

[JetPuf]

what facts do you need besides the fact that the monsoon only has LOW LEVEL outputs, not intended to power speakers.

[FallinApartBoy]

prove that. thats what facts i want. and you both have said it works so why tell people it doesnt? doesnt make sense to me. it does work. maybe not all the time. but i got a new monsoon out of a beetle and it sounds great. maybe they have changed them or something because it sounds good. do either of you understand that? you both keep blabbing about how they arent made to power speakers. where do you get your info? besides "duh i hooked it up and didnt sound good duh". get some facts before you tell everyone it doesnt work. because it did in my case.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

I get my information from knowing how it works. Once again, did you read the posts???? I have done a ton of installs into VW's alone, I know how the systems are setup, monsoon and non monsoon.

Once again this all comes to question, not our technical advice, but your ability to listen and tune a system. Sorry, just because you say it sounds good, doesn't mean it does. Once again READ, different people listen to different music. Different people think different things sound good. You MAY THINK it sounds great, and it may not to 90% of the people out there. If you are listening to nothing but AM radio, then yeah maybe you got some improvement because it is not over amplifying the static.


One last time, I don't just install stereos, I TUNE them to the car and the setup. A stereo setup that just sounds good at one level with one type of music IS NOT proper. As I said before function and noise are only 2 of the pieces to a proper stereo install. I will leave it at this, I am glad you are happy with your install.... congrats. Being happy with it and it being correct and proper are still 2 different things.


Also I think this is the 3rd time now I have mentioned what you are listening to and your ability to tune, you have not made any comment about the depth or types of music you listen to. Or your ability to tune a system. Seriously just live with the fact that we are not going to agree, you think it sounds great, when I have plaid with interchanging decks it sounds like crap unless it is installed properly with the deck outputs having gain added or being cut (by a separate piece not by the deck) to match the inputs the speakers or the amp is used to seeing. I know from doing, and I know what has sounded better and what has sounded worse.

[scarabY2k]

[JetPuf]

I should pull out my monsoon, and get a picture that has the wiring, and the wording "to amp" and take a picture of my factory stereo's wiring, and the wording "to speakers".

[FallinApartBoy]

and now... the video of my car. a monsoon in a vortex blue 2001. which they didnt come with monsoons so you know its a non-monsoon car with a monsoon in it. sounds good even for camera quality huh? no audio mods besides this are done to my car so with that said....i prove MY point.

and the back of the radio has to do with how your car is wired. the plugs are the same which means if your car is a non-monsoon then it is wired like a non-monsoon and vice verca.

http://www.project11eleven.com/monsoon.mpg

[Shay]

ok all you need to shut up seriously

Fallingapartboy's video has good sound quality

and I have heard that you can put a moonsoon into a non moonsoon

but not a non moonsoon into a moonsoon



Oh and...

[JetPuf]

it plays. we never said it would not produce audio. what we are not able to tell is the true sound quality. a phone or almost any capture device will not represent it clearly. high and midrange can be easily produced with low wattage in my experiance. now end bass is where I noticed a difference by adding the amp.

I appreciate the video though. would you like me to post one?

[JetPuf]

okay, I made a video with my Canon SD-600, and an audio clip using my iBook G4's internal mic. Neither of these represent the sound quality well, like a camra phone would also have a hard time doing. The mic picks up the bass, and distorts it. I included two different songs. you can listen to them on itunes music store if you want to hear the full quality.

This really is pointless, and I dont know why any of us are spending so much time on it, we wont convince either party that one is more right or the other is, but ohh well. here's my offering.


Audio
Video
You'll need to download and play the video in a player that supports DIVX. it wont play the audio in my web browser. the audio works well. There are diferent music samples in each.

[scarabY2k]

Okay guys this movie is getting a bit redudnant. This whizzing contest has become a Mexican standoff. Just agree to disagree and leave it at that. A lot of spinning the wheels and going nowhere.

[FallinApartBoy]

it produces sound and it was good sound. you can hear it word for word and it obviously works so why tell people it doesnt. looks like i win the argument because you are obviously giving up on the whole thing after my video.

[JetPuf]

please re-read ALL my posts. I never said it would not work.

[FallinApartBoy]

no you said it would sound bad. does it sound bad? didnt think so. it works just fine. it sounds AT LEAST as good as my non-monsoon if not BETTER. so why are they not compatible? I WIN!!

[OldSkoolVWLover]

seriously man..... just wow..... that system sounds like CRAP. I do like how you picked a song as I have said in a few posts now that will not even begin to show the full range of what a decent install should.

BTW, the video made my point 1000000 times over. You are listening to music that is mids and highs, you can turn up some **** like that and it will be LOUD, it will not sound good. As said above, the video is crap quality anyways. But seriously that stereo sound like the HIGHS are turned up WAY loud. I didn't even hear a hint of a bass note in that wonderful video.

I do like that you posted a video proving the point I have been trying to make, but apparently you haven't read that. If you listen to certain types of music you are not going to hear the issues. This hurts my sole so badly because I have DONE this install, and I KNOW how to do it right, and I KNOW what sounds right. Just because it's loud doesn't mean it's good, plain and simple. Loud music with no low end is CRAP, maybe you like it, maybe you love it.... that is not a stereo install. Ohh and BTW, the stock deck in our NB with all stock speakers (ohhh yeah it's a 2000 so it's older) sound better and has more depth and sound stage. Of course once again this proves nothing because its a video, cameras do not record a true sound stage, they barely record mono audio.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Originally Posted by FallinApartBoy

it produces sound and it was good sound. you can hear it word for word and it obviously works so why tell people it doesnt. looks like i win the argument because you are obviously giving up on the whole thing after my video.

you really don't get it.... hearing lyrics word for word is not the same as sound quality. you really don't know what you are talking about... READ, hearing words does not mean sound quality!!!

And one last time your video proved the point I have been trying to make.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Originally Posted by Shay

ok all you need to shut up seriously

Fallingapartboy's video has good sound quality

and I have heard that you can put a moonsoon into a non moonsoon

but not a non moonsoon into a moonsoon

You actually can put a non monsoon into a monsoon car. What you get it an over amped signal (the basis for this whole discussion). The monsoon deck has lower outputs, when you install a non monsoon into a monsoon car you just need to wire up the amp turn on lead and you WILL get sound. The radio will just play louder with the volume at the same level because the signal going into the amp is higher so the signal coming out is then higher. With this you do see more distortion at lower volumes and the overall sound becomes a lil muddied if you will. By this I mean not as much detail is present, most people wouldn't even notice it until the system is tuned right and they have the ability to compare from the muddy sounding over amped signal to a signal that has been cut down before getting to the amp.

The one thing you cannot mix and match at all with these systems is speakers. The speakers actually operate at a different ohm load. The monsoon I believe are 1 ohm speakers IIRC and the non monsoon are either 2 or 4 (can't remember off the top right now). The other issue with this is, if you pay the money for a monsoon it becomes harder to change out the speaker.... unless you want to pull all new wire to cut the amp outta the loop. Before someone jumps on me, you can run aftermarket speakers, but running the incorrect ohm load will lead to long term problems and possible some sound quality issues depending on speakers used..