I don't know how to bypass the monsoon or the bose amps, but I do know from personal experience that the Metra harness GMRC-04 will work for the 00+. I have one in my car and as it has been posted only cost 70-80 bones. And it also keeps the retained accesory power (RAP) and all the bells and whistles the car is supposed to have.


Tim

so you did not have to run a seprate 12 volt + to the radio with the metra kit? i hate the door chimes but i would like not to have the wire running to the radio that should be in the harness but since there is not power to the ribbon how is it getting power to the radio?

The factory radio harness does have a constant 12v (battery) lead in it. In reference to running new wire we're talking about a switched accessory lead (only powered with the key on) GM thought it wise to integrate the radio into the vehicle'* computer system, and in the processes employes the use of a computer signal to turn on the radio verses a simple accessory wire as been used since companies have been putting radios into cars. The Metra/Axxess/Scosche/PIE aftermarket radio integration adapters create this accessory wire that would be required to turn on an aftermarket head unit saving you the trouble of fusing and routing a lead yourself.

My professional advice

With anything other than an entry level head unit (and even still there would be benefits) I would suggest running your own constant feed from the battery as well as using a relay to provide extra accessory current for the new radio. The created accessory output from the radio interface box is usually only about 2 amps and in my opinion not enough to get the job done in a lot of installations.

I have installed stereos in my own cars for about 15 years. The factory leads have always been sufficient for what ever I wanted to do. In fact I had a Jeep Wrangler with a PPI A600 running 4 Kicker 10'*, with a Kicker Impulse 350i running my mids and highs and had no problems with the wiring.

The only time I did have to use a relay was with a 89 GMC Jimmy. I had a Clarion 8571 with the same PPI A600 running two punch 12'* and a Phoenix Gold 1 farad cap. When I installed a clarion EQ, it kept popping fuses, I went to my installer and he wired up a relay for me, never had any more problems.

I can understand why you would recommend running a relay if It is a fairly large system, but why run a separate 12 volt constant, and on a entry level head??

Tim

Common with installs now, you often have external devices daisy chained to the radio. For example, my car has aftermarket XM, Sirius and iPod adapters, which all draw power directly from the head unit through the DIN cables. Yeah, its only a few extra amps of current, but when I know the system is going to be expanded upon I prefer to play it safe and plan the install accordingly. Many cars offer 10A accessory circuits and that would be sufficiant, but when using these databus interfaces in cars such as our Bonnevilles we only end up with a few amps. I can actually draw on experience related to this. I once had installed a Pioneer AVIC-N1 into an 04 Sierra using a databus interfaced and had to send the unit out for service twice for the same problem, within a mater of days the fusable accesory link in the Pioneer harness blew leaving the unit with a dead main board. After that I've desided to take the extra few minutes and use a relay in situations similar to this and haven't had issues since. Now if I was installing a plain jane CD player, with nothing else attached to it then I'm not going to use the relay.

The benefit of running a new constant lead (and chassis ground for that matter) is to eliminate ripple voltage. OEM radio harness are often linked to a handful of other sub systems and computers which can lead to "dirty" power. Its usually very apparent when installing video equipment as you'll often see scrolling lines. Your car audio equipment is no different then your big screen TV or computer, with clean power you get better results and the equipment will last longer.