Speakers Whine And Engine Noise In Speakers

[wallyyfm]

OK

I've been redoing the stereo in my buick. I have a rockford 800a4 with 100w x 4 @ 4ohms to each speaker. I have a punch 55.2 on subs. I'm using 8 guage wire. From my aiwa MP3 head unit goes into a kenmwood 5 band EQ and from there to the amps.

MY SPEAKERS MAKE A HIGH PITCHED WHINE WHEN THEY ARE PLUGGED IN AND ANY KIND OF GAIN IS ADJUSTED ON FROM THE AMP. WHEN I TURN THE GAIN DOWN, THERE IS NO WHINE, BUT OF COURSE NO BALLS TO THE SPEAKERS. I THEN STARTED THE CAR TO ONLY HEAR THE ENGINE SOUND THROUGH THE SPEAKERS. HOW DO I SOLVE THIS PROBLEM?

wally

[catalin]

I'm going to go with my feelings and say it's the 5band EQ. Bypass it and see if you still have noise.

[Mike's89AccordLX]

You need a better ground spot. Are your RCA's of good quality? I had the same problem and got new RCA's and found a better spot for a ground location.

[wallyyfm]

now i have seperate grounds for each amp, on each side of the trunk, i have 16 guage rcas, everything checked out until fully hooked up, i've very pissed and discouraged, this car needs to be on the road by the end of the week and its not even back together

more input please

[meangreenLXi]

get a better connection to the chassis. same problem and bad connection spot or alternator grnd. Or engine block grnd.

[TJ89Accord]

make sure you don't run the RCAs along with any power wires. Run the power wires on the opposite side of the car. Also try taking the radio out, and running a set of RCAs just to the back of the car, without putting them under the carpet and stuff, and turn it on, just to see if that is the problem...

tim

[wallyyfm]

ok, i do not have any rca's running with the power wire, but i do have 1 set of speaker wire for the right front running with the power wire, i think i will ground my amps to 1 ground point and sand it to bare metal and run the other speaker wire on the other side of the car

ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS?

[meangreenLXi]

Sounds like we've got a winner! :super:

[wallyyfm]

I will try this tonight, and let you guys know how it goes down

thanks all

wally

[87DXHatch]

Yes, definitely ground them to the same spot. That's what usually causes alternator whine, but you still may have some when you re-ground it. Personally, I've almost NEVER had 0 alternator whine... but it's never been audible when music's playing.

Something else you should try doing is upgrading your underhood wiring. Upgrade the engine block to chassis wire, the negative battery to chassis wire, and the alternator to positive battery wire.

[wallyyfm]

well, put both grounds on one bolt, still have the sound, it actually didnt decrease very much, so i went and bought noise cancellers from an audio shop

Now these are supposed to go after the EQ and before the input on the amp right? Cause I hooked them up and they did nothing. There are 2 little brown wires that I though needed to have power but they say they are grounds. I'm totally lost now.

wally

[Mike's89AccordLX]

This is where I have my ground at for the amp that I have now. I have it grounded near the top of the trunk on a bolt coming from the rear deck speakers. I think what I might try with my new system is to ground them on the rear strut towers. (Is this a good place, does anyone know?)

[wallyyfm]

So anyone know how to wire those noise filters in, are they supposed to be self powered or are do they have to be seperately wired in?

[86accordhatchback]

I've almost NEVER had 0 alternator whine

i don't know. my system never makes any noise it's not supposed to. well except one. when i turn the car on the subs rumble for about 1 second. but i've never heard any whine in my car

[87DXHatch]

Originally posted by 86accordhatchback
i don't know. my system never makes any noise it's not supposed to. well except one. when i turn the car on the subs rumble for about 1 second. but i've never heard any whine in my car

Well that's your system. Back when my system was simple it didn't have any whine, but now it's so complicated that it's really hard to pinpoint what's causing it.

You should ground those noise isolators. They aren't powered with power, they just isolate ground loops... see what that does.

[TJ89Accord]

try running seperate RCAs down the middle of the car, just plug them in, and start the car and see if it still makes the noise. dont hide them or tuck them, just to see if that is the problem. What side of the car do you have everything running on?

tim

[zero.counter]

The noise filter you are speaking of (if it is in fact what I have in mind) is supposed to run inline to the H/U. They reduce alternator whine. They have three cables, usually one input and two outputs. 1=12v Switched (Input), 2=Ground, and 3=filtered 12v Switched. It essentially cleans the power being fed into the H/U.

[TJ89Accord]

my stock radio had engine noise now that i think of it. Everything completely stock, and I could hear it. I don't notice it much now though. My alternator is kinda loud outside the car too. Hope it doesn't go on me :(.

tim

[87DXHatch]

And then today, I change a speaker BASKET (that's right, basket, nothing to do with electricity) and the alternator whine goes away.

Do I have any idea what happened? Hell no. Do I care HOW it happened as long as it happened? Hell no :D

Actually, I fiddled with my right speaker wires up front... changed the stock basket out for a fiberglass/baltic birch one I made to house my new componenets... ended up not being able to finish it today so my older speakers stayed. I may also have jostled some wires in my trunk (friend's cousin came by to check my stuff out) so maybe that did it? :confused: The automotive electrical environment is such a complicated thing...

[87DXHatch]

OH DUH! I have my EQ grounded to a metal piece attached to the chassis... and it's loose, so the ground probably isn't great. I'll bet I pressed it closer together because the crossover for the front right speaker is right next to where it's grounded.

[wallyyfm]

OK

I grounded the noise filters to the EQ and the whine is now gone. But when I give my speakers any gain off the amp, they make weird sounds, like the squelch on a CB, i adjust the crossover freq and everything but as soon as i turn on any gain they sound like ray guns

wtf is wrong now?

:wtf:

wally

[87DXHatch]

I can't help you. My speakers did a very similar thing, when the gain was turned up they freaked, and the only way I solved it was by switching out my amp for a higher quality one... I'm assuming the higher quality one had better circuitry so the anomaly wasn't occuring in it.

[catalin]

BY-pass the EQ man... meaning throw it out and then try the system.

[87DXHatch]

catalin has a very good point, a whole lot of EQ's end up inducing noise into systems... I'm pretty sure that's where the majority of my problems have come from, but I lean too heavily on it to be able to switch it out... :)

[wallyyfm]

ive gone back to my stock setup of jsut subs with no EQ and i have no probs, im selling the other amp and i'll just stick with my economy system, less bullshit