With some of the talk recently regarding adding an aftermarket HU to a Monsoon or Bose system, I was curious to see if I could have a close-up look at one of modules. I went to our local "Future Shop" to see if they had anything in stock. The installer had a look and told me I needed to know exactly what kind of stereo I had. Specifically, whether the chimes came from a speaker in the dash behind the radio or if it came from a stereo speaker. After trying to explain that in any 2K+ Bonneville the chimes were all from the stereo I was informed of how incorrect I was. When I explained the difference in harnesses/modules was whether the stereo has an external amplifier or not, I was again told I still needed to know whether the chimes came from a speaker behind the radio or from the stereo speakers. Hmmm.... after trying to help him understand, all he said was that maybe I should become an installer because apparently he didn't know what he was talking about. I left that one alone and walked away. Needless to say, I never did get to see the module(*).

IIRC, the chime is through the speakers.

Absolutely it is from the stereo speaker. What bothered me about this experience is that the installer treated me like I was a complete idiot and there is no possible way that I might know something he didn't (not having any clue what my background is). I've done some fairly extensive work with many electronic systems in the 2K+ Bonneville (including OEM audio) and feel I'm quite well versed in this area. I just didn't appreciate the attitude and inappropriate remarks.

More than anything, this is just a venting thread

Beware! Not everyone is capable of dealing with intelligence in the appropriate manner as the person at the audio store demonstrated. I am happy to hear that you walked away instead of bashing the guys face in.

Is there something in particular you want to investigate? Would a copy of the instructions that come with the adapter help? If you have a fax, maybe one of the BC members that have purchased an adapter could fax it to you.

I have a set of instructions for a module used in an amplified system. I wanted to have a close look at the Dock-N-Lock primarily for the amp/antenna module turn-on. Some time ago GXP Vince had an issue and I completely forgot about it. Although I believe he found another solution, I still wanted to follow up. There has been more discussion of these modules lately and I want to familiarize myself a little more. Sometimes there'* nothing quite like a "fingers on" look at things.

Sometimes it just isn't worth anything more than walking away. At the end of the day, I would have accomplished nothing by getting into a big battle. They will never come within a country mile of my car with a screwdriver or pair of wire cutters and that'* all that really matters!

He obviously didn't know what he was taking about.

Every GM car I've ever worked on with the Class 2 Data Bus system that is integrated through the radio, the chime has always came through or from the Drivers side front door speaker.
I've heard of it coming from a speaker in the radio or behind the radio but have never witnessed it and I've done tons of these cars (all different GM'*), but not too many of the newer Bonne'* (only a couple).

As an Professional Installer I'm sorry to hear that he handled it the way that he did.

I can tell you from experience that its not an easy job to be an installer in a busy location.

Alot of customers think that they know how to do our job better than us, just because they've butchered a couple stereos together and thrown them into there own cars or there friends cars.
It'* fun to watch them come back and ask us for advice or to fix there hack jobs.

This guy didn't know your experience level he must of thought you were just some other customer trying to give him a hard time.

It can be a trying and very stressful job at times.

I'm not defending this installers attitude or comments but just trying to sheed some insight.

Some installers also think that they know it all because they have a few hundred cars under there belt.
I routinely have this problem with other installers, mechanics and do it yourselfer'* that I meet and I love giving them a piece of humble pie, by finishing a job they couldn't or fixing a problem that has stumpted them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that your experience with this installer was a misunderstanding / miscomunication but unfortunatly not always uncommon.
Also that everyone has something to learn from someone else, and some of us more than others lol.

The most common problem with these modules from my experience is the pin position (not matching up with the correct wires in the factory harness).
GM has a bad habit of moving around the wires in different vehicles, instead of making it standardized.

Regards,
Dutch

Dutch has my approval to work with my stereos!

I'm sorry about the installer guy giving you trouble. Perhaps one day his acoustically advanced but otherwise small and trashy old car will one day break down right next to you, and you could then get away with punching him.

There are 2 wire for the amp on the monsoon system. There is an Amp Present signal to the radio and a amp turnon signal to the amp.

As far as I have dug into this, the Monsoon amp must be a speaker level input amp. All the delco radios I have taken apart have built-in amps. It would seem much different that in the older days when the radio actually was preamp out and had no amp in it at all.

The amp present signal may tell the radio to change the gain on the internal amps. Who knows for sure. I have not really looked into to that depth. I have pretty much Identified most of the chips used in the 2000-2005 bonne delco decks as part of my delco MP3 radio project and trying to understand the theftlock as well.

There are Monsoon and non-Monsoon MP3 decks but like I said, they all look the same inside as far as the amp is concerned. All the decks have amps internally.

I have also found that the XM radio module and the CD Changer actually share the same input to the radio.

Also, the microprocessor inside the unit is programmed differently for the MP3 units so that you can't have a tape deck inside the MP3 deck as the there is 2 control lines used for the MP3 mech in the radio that used the old cassette deck I/O lines as well. I was kinda hoping to see if I could keep the tape deck and get MP3 as well but looks like that will be a no go and also I am getting a bit off topic here so I will stop here.

Xenewise