R32 JUhl

I appreciate the offer. I don't want to put you through that kind of hassle, though. Sounds like it would be a pain to do. It won't take long for me to test the mobo ground theory. And a decent sound card is pretty affordable anyhow. I just gotta squeeze it in between planning the wedding and work! We're two months out and haven't sent out the invitations yet.

__________________
My first attempt at a carputer.

PM me if you're interested in a monitor faceplate for your '99-'04 Golf or Jetta. My Vortex ID is NorthAtlR32 - you can IM me there, too. Go here for more information.

MP3Car.com

 

shakes

nah ... the only hassle for me would be power. it's under the back seat which just folds up, and is just connected via a USB cable.

But not that I think of it ... you'd have to load the driver on your machine though. And we all know creative drivers are anything but lightweight.

Maybe I'll bring them on my mem stick and if we get bored we'll give it a go. otherwise you'll figure it out sometime.

__________________
My JeepPC Install

"there are no stupid questions, just stupid people."

"it's been agreed the whole world stinks so no one's taking showers anymore"

tosky420

edit- never mind-
it just now....
2 minutes ago..
....dawned on me you have no head unit at all in the car...I'll admit it...
brain fart.

__________________
Where do you want to go in your car today?®

R32 JUhl

Well, you motivated me to do something about the issue last night. But I still have work to do. I grounded the motherboard and that had no affect. Installed a USB sound card and that didn't improve the situation. I still hear all the activity in the carputer. But from that work, here's what I've gathered. My amp work-around is powered off the 5V PSU line - so that is ONE source of the carputer's noise. My internal sound card is ANOTHER source of the carputer noise. In other words, I have to attack BOTH issues at the same time in order to completely remove the noise from the audio system. Previously, I was only doing one fix at a time and it would not address the problem.

Fixing both issues will take more time than I have available at the moment, unfortunately. Basically, I have to introduce a clean 5V signal into the amp and locate, purchase and install a PCI sound card that will work with my XMD, WinTV/FM and Powermate.

__________________
My first attempt at a carputer.

PM me if you're interested in a monitor faceplate for your '99-'04 Golf or Jetta. My Vortex ID is NorthAtlR32 - you can IM me there, too. Go here for more information.

Man Ace

Hey Juhl,

I want to get rid of the head unit all together with my carpc setup. I understand mostly how you ran the setup, but can you do a newbie DIY guide to how to replace the headunit so it is functional with the monsoon. The monsoon has been such a pain in the *** to me lately. I figured i could swap it out with an aftermarket amp but the way the car is wired and the ohms that the stock speakers are at makes it very difficult unless you rewire the whole car. Which is pricy.

So in conclusion, this is a request for a DIY guide to solving the sound issue. I am not familiar with capacitators or any of the jibberish. It has to be very newbieish at this point. I really do appreciate all you have done to help us MKIV owners understand our monsoons. Thanks again.

Stonewall78

To man ace, check out the car audio section on the forums of vwvortex.com One thread there will have every answer you need to know about the monsoon system. You can run it with a nother amp but from what I have heard from friends it is just not worth it. You can also have a tough time interfacing an input into the monsoon amp. If I personally had one I am sure I could hack one apart and figure something out but I don't have the time or money for that these days.

R32 JUhl

I'll work on it. What if I could simply offer you something you plug directly into the Monsoon amp? Materials would probably be less than $20. Of course, my assembly time would be worth BIG bucks!


The exact same problem I had - didn't want to spend that money on speakers. Turbo? Yes. Speakers? NO!


Give me a few days time and I'll cobble something together.


Well... not every answer... I hunted all over vortex for the answer to this problem and never found it. If you can find the link, ace and I will be indebted to you.


It's not necessary to buy another amp. and the one you purchase has to meet very specific requirements - requirements I couldn't find in an "off-the-shelf" solution.


The Monsoon amp is easy to interface with when you know it's looking for a BTL input on the left channel. I've done the "hacking" already.

__________________
My first attempt at a carputer.

PM me if you're interested in a monitor faceplate for your '99-'04 Golf or Jetta. My Vortex ID is NorthAtlR32 - you can IM me there, too. Go here for more information.

Man Ace

If thats what it takes, I'm game. I just need something to go from the computer to the amp. I have an Audigy 2 soundcard if it matters. So if you can make something, GREAT! Let me know

This whole thing is so easy if you just keep the headunit, but of course couldnt have the full in dash screen if I kept it. damn it.

I wonder If I can hack the headunit apart and make extension wires to the faceplate of the HU and fabricated it somewhere else? I have seen a picture of someone who put the HU on that panel in the roof by the sunroof switch. That would be a chore also though and at this point I have to start relying on which task am I better at? Car Audio or Fabricating? Thats the choice.

I could possibly also put the HU in the trunk where the CD changer is now. But again, I run into the problem that the HU harness is in the front. Which would require me hacking apart the WHOLE dash to run it to the back. Somehow I got confused when I was reading the vortex about the monsoon and thought I could replace it with another amp, but after reasearching last night I realized i was deathly wrong.

The only reason I want to keep my HU is for AM radio. There are alot of sports events on AM here and I don't want to be screwed without it, but then again I could solve that by getting XM or Sirius. I ahvent seen Sirius utilized in FrodoPlayer though.

MP3Car.com

 

DK888

nice work! esp with the screen and the dvd slot. BTW Man Ace...you can rig your radio like that and put the face in your rearview mirror or just get rid of the radio like me.

Man Ace

How do I connect my soundcard to the monsoon amp input though?

R32 JUhl

Thanks man!


Patience grasshopper, I will make a guide.

__________________
My first attempt at a carputer.

PM me if you're interested in a monitor faceplate for your '99-'04 Golf or Jetta. My Vortex ID is NorthAtlR32 - you can IM me there, too. Go here for more information.

Man Ace

lol

R32 JUhl

This might interest you - You can discard your HU AND have AM once this project is finished.

__________________
My first attempt at a carputer.

PM me if you're interested in a monitor faceplate for your '99-'04 Golf or Jetta. My Vortex ID is NorthAtlR32 - you can IM me there, too. Go here for more information.

jaded_gti

or you could relocate it to where the ash tray/cigarette lighter is....



(just finished it about an hour ago)

Osiris

At first I was pretty hesitant about paying for XM radio but after a small meet where I met R32 JUhl and some others that had XM, I was convinced. I have been using for a couple of weeks now and am still amazed at how much there is to listen too including live sporting events. Two bad things about XM is if your into sports XM specializes more into baseball but have a few sporting news channels like ESPN. I beleive Sirius has the lock on the NFL. Another thing is the lack of morning talk radio. I like to listen to the morning personalities on the local hiphop & RnB station but XM doesnt have that. At least not in that style. All in all though I think its a great investment.

__________________
Osiris Networx

--Tuning is all about price vs performance. You've got to find your own medium.--

MP3Car.com