2001 NB radio replacement to monsoon

[boertje]

Question is whether a monsoon radio will work in a non monsoon NB of the same year. Why or why not? Is it wiring, or a vagcom setting? Amplifier or ohms?

 

[ekincaid]

I read somewhere on here that the wiring was different.

 

[boertje]

I installed an alpine in another 2001 bug with non monsoon. Ended up selling the car but keeping the radio. Took the adapter harness and used it in another 2001 Bug with monsoon without changing anything (as per crutchfield wiring) and it all worked perfectly so it doesn’t appear wiring was different. I did try to put a monsoon in a non monsoon but for some reason it didn’t work. K-line? Can bus? What?

 

[benmarks]

What model year are the non-Monsoon New Beetle and the Monsoon radio? This might change the answer.

 

[compu_85]

The wiring behind the headunit is likely the same. The radio's soft coding tells it if it has an external amplifier (Monsoon) or not.

 

[boertje]

What model year are the non-Monsoon New Beetle and the Monsoon radio? This might change the answer.

They are both 2001. My Son has a radio in his 2001 non monsoon going bad. He is a purist and doesn’t want an aftermarket radio. I have two monsoon radios in my box with codes. One is a 2001 and the other a 2002 both have same part numbers, hence my questions.

 

[boertje]

The wiring behind the headunit is likely the same. The radio's soft coding tells it if it has an external amplifier (Monsoon) or not.

Wonder if there is a way to fool the soft coding?

 

[jettawreck]

I believe the radios will work swapped but if Monsoon unit is installed into non-Monsoon vehicle you won't get the "better" (and I use that term very loosely) premium upcharge Monsoon sound. The "amp" really isn't much of/if any amp, more of an elaborate crossover system. There are no large gauge power wires feeding the "amp" but rather a multitude of small speaker wires and the Monsoon speakers have lots of wires from my recollection.
Do yourself a favor and install most any modest priced headunit and enjoy more features and the "upgrade" will really wake the speakers up.

 

[boertje]

I believe the radios will work swapped but if Monsoon unit is installed into non-Monsoon vehicle you won't get the "better" (and I use that term very loosely) premium upcharge Monsoon sound. The "amp" really isn't much of/if any amp, more of an elaborate crossover system. There are no large gauge power wires feeding the "amp" but rather a multitude of small speaker wires and the Monsoon speakers have lots of wires from my recollection.
Do yourself a favor and install most any modest priced headunit and enjoy more features and the "upgrade" will really wake the speakers up.

In my cars I installed a nice alpine unit and most happy with them. My son wants to keep the original VW radio look and I haven’t been able to talk him out of it…yet.

 

[benmarks]

I completely understand the desire to keep the OEM look. I am the same way. However, even with all the mods I've done to my car, one of the only times I deviated from OEM is with my Sony CarPlay stereo. This is the closest to OEM I could find, especially when set to red button illumination and a blue background image. You might want to show your son this one and see what he says. If you squint and look at it side by side with the old OEM nav/MFD unit, you might even confuse them. This is also one of the only headunits you can buy that still has a volume knob, if that's something that matters:

Sony XAV-AX1000

sony_carplay.png

• benmarks
• Nov 26, 2021