[jjpark]

I posted this under the Mobil electronics section but it doesn't seem to be too active other than a lot of readers. Hoping it's ok to post here and get some help.

Speakers aren't working. 04' Passat with the single CD and tape player. (Monsoon)

All the hi-range speakers work but sound gritty. The lower speakers in the doors fade on and off. The drivers speaker works, doesn't fade on and off but sounds torn.

I have tried adjusting the fade and left and right and doesn't seem to fix anything.

Also.

I have an 01 Passat with the Monsoon 6 disk changer in the trunk. On my 04 there is a metal electronic box in place of the changer. What is this box?

Can I swap that box out with my changer and it work or do I need to swap head units as well?

Any help with these issues is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[captain_video]

Try some basic troubleshooting. Pull the door panels to access the speakers and test them using another source. If they work then check the wiring between the speaker and the source unit (i.e., amp or head unit). I'm not familiar with Monsoon systems, but I assume they have a separate power amp. Try to test the speakers using a different amp, but keeping the existing wiring. Check the wiring between the head unit and the amp. Try a different head unit. The idea is to isolate which part of the signal chain is causing the problem. It could be something as simple as a loose connection or as bad as a defective electronic unit, like the amp or head unit.

 

[jjpark]

I will try trouble shooting but can I plug and play with swapping the the radio head units to see if that is the issue?

 

[FrescoGreen01.5]

The Monsoon system uses a separate power amp. It's under the rear deck of the sedan, right side, or in the left side forward of the left taillight in the wagon (in first aid compartment). The CD changer, in both cases, goes in the first aid kit compartment.

The head unit isn't likely the problem. The wiring to the doors is the most common issue. Those plugs are just beside drivers left foot/passengers right foot for the front doors, and behind the accordion covers for the rear doors. Check for speaker resistance and clean contacts there. For Monsoon, the front bass speakers are 4 ohms, while the rear are 2 ohms.

In my wagon, I was shocked to find the previous owner had inexplicably replaced the factory speakers, using improvised connections to the (rather awful) replacements. Fixing those improvised connections got sound back; replacing the speakers with factory speakers got good sound back. (I've owned my sedan since new, so I know how good Monsoon should sound.)

 

[jjpark]

Thanks for the replies. I will check the connections (hoping that's the issue) but strange how they all would go out. I'm doubting the previous owner messed with them. He didn't k ow much about cars so he would take it to the dealer to service it.

How likely is the amp to go on this? I unplugged the connectors and plugged them back in with no difference.

There is no CD changer but what does the electronic box do where the changer would normally go would go?

 

[scotts13]

Some cars had an aftermarket hard disk music system called a Phat Box installed. It's an expensive and desirable option; post a picture. It's also possible it could be the Monsoon amp. I believe some cars had it in the cubby instead of under the rear package shelf.

 

[B5 Money Pit]

On my 02 variant, the rear seat tweeters are not operating. I tested them directly, both work.

The Monsoon is apparently a 8 channel output amp. Unfortunately, the two channels that go to the rear tweeters have gone in-op.

Monsoon surprisingly sounds really good. But I now have a Blaupunkt New Jersey 220 double DIN head unit in place since the original head unit bit it. The Blaupunkt 220 was pretty much plug and play and sounds and works great with the Monsoon amp, except for, as I mentioned, the rear tweeters.

So I am tempted to bypass the Monsoon amp and try out the NJ's internal amp on all stock speakers on mid/high pass and add a dedicated Blaupunkt mono amp and a sealed box 10" Rockford Fosgate sub that's been waiting.

 

[Steve in Chicago]

If your amp is failing, see if you can find a working replacement Monsoon amp at a decent price on-line somewhere.

Outboard power amps almost always have a greater output then whatever amplification they can squeeze into a head unit. In an external unit they have more physical room to work with and more heat dissipation to use so they can make higher output amps.

Your Monsoon power amp is a bi-amped unit. Each tweeter and woofer gets it's own final amp stage to drive it. The crossover work is done before the finals. The crossover points are tailored to match those speakers.

Another option is to find a place that does component level repair on audio gear. You may just have some blown caps or transistors.

 

[jjpark]

I believe I have a normal Monsoon set up. Head unit and amp located under the rear deck. Which BTW looks like you have to remove the read deck cover to remove the cover for the amp??

I still don't know what the metal electric box is in the trunk where the 6 disk changer is usually located. Since I don't have the changer (This thing is sitting in its place and it is all wired up with factory harness's)

Can I use the amp out of my 01 Passat to test?

I will say that in my 01 everything with the radio worked but there seems to be a lot of people saying Monsoon is a really great set up. I thought I would be more impressed because it has an amp. It sounds pretty average compared to a lot of factory systems that don't have an external amp. Should mine be sounding better??

Thank you

 

[Steve in Chicago]

Post a picture of the hardware you're talking about. Whatever it is, we should be able to recognize it and tell you what it is.

 

[jjpark]

Post a picture of the hardware you're talking about. Whatever it is, we should be able to recognize it and tell you what it is.

As soon as I can get my Photobucket account set up I will post a pic.

 

[jjpark]

Update on this.

I still haven't a clue what the metal box does that sits in the cubby (drivers side) trunk. It's NOT the amp an it's not the 6 disk changer.

My issues are the speakers.

2 front door speakers were torn. Hot glued them and they sound much better. Rears looked fine but the 2 wires that go from the plug to the center of the speaker seemed to have come un soldered behind the speaker cone. I'm going to call a speaker repair place and see if and how much to fix. If I could access this area I would re solder myself but these speakers are sealed up pretty well.

I was able to temporarily fix the wire issue on the passenger front but no telling for how long.

The OEM speakers I found on Ebay and elsewhere were either way to expensive or were used so I am assuming the used will develop the same issues I'm having now. I had priced out aftermarket component speakers and it's tough. VW was very specific in the Monsoon set up.

Keep y'all posted

 

[jjpark]

Update on the speaker issues I was having.

The wires to the voice coils separated on all four speakers. It was less expensive to replace the speakers with aftermarket ones then it would have been to repair or buy factory replacements.

The local repair place gutted my original speakers and mounted the new ones inside the bracket of the old. The brackets are needed for mounting and clearance for the window to operate properly. It was cheaper for them to do the work than it was for me to do it. Crazy I know.

I reinstalled the new ones, buttoned it all up and it sounds GREAT!!!!!

The replacement speakers are Kenwood's KFC-X133 5.25" 2way Coaxial

Their a bit different from the factories because they all have the tweeters but they don't interfere with the factory tweeters at all. Next will be to install my 2 10' subs to complete the system.

 

[Steve in Chicago]

The Monsoon system employs an active crossover in the first section of the power amplifier. High frequencies are separated from lows then both are sent on to separate amplifiers. This is called bi-amping. The high frequency amps drive the tweeters directly and the low frequency amps drive the woofers directly.

The tweeters in your new coax speakers are not going to be seeing much, if any, high frequencies. The woofer part of that coaxial speaker will be getting signal it can use.

I would have gone with aftermarket replacement speakers too. The originals (even replacement units) are going to be old and potentially failing.

 

[jjpark]

The high's with the new speakers seem very good with some music while with other music not so much. Is this because of the crossovers are preventing the rear aftermarkets from getting the high frequency?

 

[VAGguy]

Yes, the highs go to the tweets and the lower freqs go to the woofer. If you just used the wire to the woofer, you won't get highs from it.

 

[jjpark]

I guess I should have been a bit more clear. The original speakers were 4 and 2 ohm. I can't remember which went where; 2 ohm up front and 4 ohm in the rear or vise versa.

From what I recall weren't the rears were more of the woofers of the system while the fronts were more the mids.(reason for the 2 and 4 ohms)?

The guys at the repair shop mentioned that 4 ohm all the way around would be fine and it's getting hard to actually find true 2 ohm audio speakers. They didn't have any in stock and I really didn't want to wait to order them.

So my questions are...

Were they incorrect in selling me all 4 - 4ohm speakers?

What's the difference and am I harming the speakers or factory amp running a 4 ohms?

Thank you

 

[Steve in Chicago]

The rear door woofers on the Monsoon system are 2 ohm speakers. No, you're not harming anything by running 4 ohm woofers on all four corners.

They used 2 ohm woofers in the back in order to allow a little more wattage to flow through those speakers.

The way electricity works is volts times amps equals watts. Think of volts as electrical pressure, amps as amount of electrical flow and watts as amount of work being done. In a car system your voltage is typically fixed at about 12~14 volts. With that limitation, the only way to get more work done (make more sound) is to increase the amount of current flowing. Current is a product of voltage (pressure) and resistance. Since we can't raise the voltage we exercise our other option of lowering the resistance. That's the reason for the 2 ohm speakers. A speaker with lower resistance to flow being driven my the same voltage (pressure) will allow more current to flow through.

That's a simplified explanation.

 

[jjpark]

Steve. Thank you for that explanation and incite. :thumbup:

 

[VAGguy]

Ideally, if you are replacing the speakers with non monsoon or non oem, ditch the entire monsoon system. You can recode the radio to non monsoon and it should send out high level signal like other radios. Best solution? Replace the radio with ~$100 aftermarket and you could even get bluetooth and other features. You can even replace the monsoon amp with a good little amp that puts out ~50w per ch to power the speakers you have now.