I have the base CD stereo in a 98 bird....

[Mark42]

Got the base stereo. CD player with equalizer and 4 speakers. (not monsoon system)

I notice that the sounds gets distorted at lower volume on FM than it does on CD. Actually, the CD sounds fine.

But it could use improvement. Wondering if adding a cheap 4 channel 300 watt amp driven by the speaker outputs (ie the Pyramid 4 channel unit) and some 50 watt speakers will let me listen to the stereo at moderate levels without the distortion I now get. I think the factory output is 7 watts/channel.

Think an antenna booster will improve the quality of the FM sound? It has the factory power antenna and I wonder if it provides a crappy signal.

BTW, this Firebird has only 30,000 miles, and i don't think the stereo was used much at all. And I really don't want to replace the head unit because I want to keep the factory look.

Anyone know the factory base stereo speaker wire diagram?

[Mark42]

Today I noticed that the FM was its usual distorted sound when at home (hilly terrain) but when I got near work (40 miles away) it sounded fine. So it appears that the FM fuzzy sound is just because of where I live, and not the radio per se.

[Tru2Chevy]

Well, sound quality broadcast over normal FM frequencies is crap compared to CDs, so it's normal to hear a loss of quality when comparing the two.

Using an aftermarket amp with line level inputs and good aftermarket speakers will noticeably increase quality, but it will still only sound as good as the source.

- Justin

[Savage_Messiah]

fm still exists?!