low volume delco radio

I just put a delco delphi am-fm-cd radio in my 2006 chev express van that came with a delco delphi am-fm. The volume is low on the am-fm-cd. The radio came out of a chev pickup 2003

it was likely meant to be used in an amplified vehicle.

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A DMM is a beautiful thing.

MECP Advanced Installer Certified.

Same here.
Some some factory radios are designed to be used with the factory amplifier.
Even if the van's factory harness plugs in to the radio, it doesn't mean that it was the correct match.


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How can I tell if it needs an amp. part# 15196055

What's a DMM?

A DMM is a Digital MultiMeter.  Does the radio have the Bose logo anywhere on the face of it?

no, it's a delphi delco.

You would thing that I might know what a DMM is, I've been doing electric work since 1980 and I own 5 or 6 of them. Hell I'm getting old.

That radio appears to be part of a Monsoon system.  The deck in those systems sometimes does not have any special markings to identify it as needing an amplifier.  If I had to guess, as already stated, that radio is designed to send signal to a factory amplifier.

How would I tell if it is part of a monsoon sys.?

i dont think there really is a sure fire way to tell if that radio is only made to run a factory amplified setup unless you know the exact car that it came out of. if it came out of a car with a factory amplifier then it is only setup to output a low voltage signal that sends info to a factory amplifier which then drives the speakers. if it came out of an 03 chevy pickup it might not say "Bose" on the radio itself but it would say Bose on the speaker grill on each door panel.

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If you turn the volume all the way up, and the sound is barely audible, chances are it is a monsoon deck.

i am an idiot wrote:

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If you turn the volume all the way up, and the sound is barely audible, chances are it is a monsoon deck.

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i dont know if you are using "monsoon" as a blanket word for chevy's amplified systems but monsoon is typically only in pontiacs. and monsoon decks usually have a 7 band eq built right onto the front of the deck.

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I would estimate the sound to be about 25% of normal.

there is no eq on the unit

i think you just have a typical radio out of a truck with a bose system. they may be semi compatible because it will turn on with the vehicle's data signal, but it is meant to send a low level signal to a factory amplifier instead of driving the speakers by itself with a high level signal.

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had similar problem, just take speaker leads and solder male RCA's and feed a small budget 4ch amp. I did the same for my brother, i had an old school jensen amp laying around. worked great if you want to go that route.

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Go BIG or go Home                                    it might not be broke, but lets fix it anyway

thanks

do you have any idea what the voltage should be for amp. systems and no-amp. systems?

voltage for amp, sorry i dont understand your question. the speaker outputs on delco/delphi deck are just right and you dont need a line level converter. just solder RCA male ends or female ends to speaker outputs of stock deck. i installed it in a reg cab chevy truck and kept factory speakers powered off the jensen amp. worked great. i never thought factory delco speakers could sound that good. the delco/delphi radio was out of my 04 crewcab with bose, i found out the same way about low level output as you did. cost was kept low by, low budget 8ga amp kit, some scrap RCA's, and some speaker wire. you should be able to pick up a sony 4 ch or cheaper brand amp @ wally-world, and amp kit...

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Go BIG or go Home                                    it might not be broke, but lets fix it anyway

The radio that you have installed must be setup with software from GM. This can be done at any GM dealer. The software will configure the radio to work in your van. It sets up the VIN of the vehicle for the internal theft system as well. The software will also adjust the radio's output level to work without an amplifier. It sets it up to work with 2 or 4 speakers. There is a chance that the radio won't be compatible though.

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sparky

Thanks Is there any way to tell if my radio is compatible?

I checked with the dealer and he said there was no software for this radio

For all the trouble you've gone to with this, you could have just replaced the radio with an aftermarket radio and been done with it.

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MECP Basic Installation Tech
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no kidding but I $100 in it so I'm going to try and fix it before I go to an after market