Care to Help a N00B Out?

So, like most everyone else who reads this section, I'm about tired of the GM stock Monsoon head unit. I (ignorantly) assumed that replacing the speakers in the door and the B-pillars would fix the incredibly poor sound quality of the stock speakers that was prevalent when I bought the car almost two years ago. I was wrong. A friend of mine who knows a bit more about car stereo systems than I do said that the bassbuzzy distortion noise is because the stock head unit lacks the power to drive the upgraded speakers I had bought(some Kenwoods, forget which kind). Well, it's been long enough. I'm tired of crappy sound and a crappy head unit.

I have decided that I want to upgrade the entire deal. New speakers, new head unit, possibly an amp and a somewhat small(8' or 10') sub in the trunk.

Some problems that keep me from just up and ordering the parts and installing them are that I've been told(and read in various places) that the head unit on the fourth gen Camaros is also our alarm system, keyless entry, etc.

So, that complicates things. Did any of you who replaced your stock head unit lose functionality of these things? If so, what did you do to counter it? It would be pretty depressing to learn that in order to have a system that sounds good, I'll also have to buy an aftermarket alarm and keyless entry system and pay to have all this wired up by a professional.

Any information you folks could give me would be greatly appreciated.

So thirteen people have looked at this and yet no one has an answer? It's a simple enough thing. Can I replace the stock head unit without losing my car alarm and keyless entry, or can't I?

Or is this just a section that should be labeled "help me plees I wanna kno if my sub will fit" instead?

The Monsoon is probably wired/amped different than a conventional head unit. If you are using the Monsoon wiring, that is why the speakers sound funny.

To make it easy just wire around the Monsoon amp. If you're going to amplify all speakers with an aftermarket amp, then that won't be a problem. If you are just trying to install a head unit, I would just run speaker wire to all the speakers and not even worry about the monsoon. I don't think you'll loose anything like doorlocks and stuff. That's just my .02

To make it easy just wire around the Monsoon amp. If you're going to amplify all speakers with an aftermarket amp, then that won't be a problem. If you are just trying to install a head unit, I would just run speaker wire to all the speakers and not even worry about the monsoon. I don't think you'll loose anything like doorlocks and stuff. That's just my .02

Thank you for the response. So, just to clarify, if I'm replacing the head unit, I should just go ahead and switch out all the wires anyway, and the alarm and keyless entry are another unit entirely(as far as you know?). That sounds like what I'd planned to do, if I could keep the alarm and keyless entry at any rate. This info helps me a lot. Thanks again!

Yea, that's what we did with the Bose in my buddys 94z. Just run new speaker wire and you'll be good to go. Haven't personally worked with the Monsoon, but why don't you try pulling out the radio and seeing what happens. Worse comes to worse you find out that your remote entry doesnt work. I also believe there's some kind of interface harness that you can plug in to make your aftermarket head unit work with the Monsoon but from what I remember that's a bit pricy. Hope that works out for you.