Speaker noise

coolhandFluke
coolhandFluke Posts: 2
edited July 2004 in Car Audio & Electronics
I need a little help.

My setup was working fine. It was:

db6750's in the front
db675's the back.
Alpine 9827 head unit
Hifonics zx4400 amp.

I have just the fronts running off the amp. The rears are running from the deck. It was working perfectly. But I recently installed a sub and I started to get alternater whine.

More of a background. I have 4 gauge power line running on the drivers side. I have Front/Rear and Sub RCA's (ZN 3.0) running on the passenger side. The rear speaker rca's, are just chillin and not connected to the amp. I have a 4 gauge ground, but it's pretty long. like maybe 2 feet. Speaker wire is 16 gauge twisted, and 12 guage twisted for the sub. The power line doesn't come close to any other wires except near the amp.

The sub is a ID8, and I have it bridged on the rear two channels.

Could it be that since the amp is now drawing more power, that the ground is no longer sufficient. Maybe because it's too long or something like that.

Other than that, the sub sounds reallly good, but the noise is driving me crazy.

Any help is appreciated.

- John
Post edited by coolhandFluke on
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Comments

  • exalted512
    exalted512 Posts: 10,735
    edited June 2004
    4awg should be plenty, even at 2 feet...try moving it elsewhere
    -Cody
    Music is like candy, you have to get rid of the rappers to enjoy it
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  • PoweredByDodge
    PoweredByDodge Posts: 4,185
    edited June 2004
    i've got a 3 foot 0 gauge ground... and i dont get noise, so dont sweat the length.

    unscrew your ground screw... shave the **** out of the body metal to which you're attaching it... make sure its BARE metal there... nice and clean silver metal... then screw it down SECURE so its making good contact.

    if this does not work...

    check for pinches in your speaker wire... where the wire may be making contact with the metal body of the truck. this would include **** like when you pull up the trim around the carpet to tuck the wire underneath, you accidently put a screw back through the wire when you put the triim back on.

    if this does not work...

    check your body grounds... be sure that the engine block / assembly has a good ground to the frame and the body of the car.
    The Artist formerly known as PoweredByDodge
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  • Kschultz76
    Kschultz76 Posts: 59
    edited June 2004
    If you disconnect the sub and go back to your original setup does the whine go away?

    What kind of preinstalled factory harnesses do your rca's run near, any kind of ignition or air bag harnesses, or fuel pump harnesses that would be carrying high current?

    If you disconnect a particular set of rca's does it go away?

    I had a similiar experience after installing a new 4 ch amp and speakers at all four corners, it turned out to be my rca's. I was using SW ZN2.0's, which turned out to be the culprit. I had no choice but to run my rca's along the side of my passengers rockerpanel along with the stock harness that carried current to the fuel pump and airbag unit under passenger seat. The SW's didn't have enough shielding to protect them from that current. I replaced them with Stinger Expert series and the noise went away immediately, and my SQ got a lot better as well.

    I recommend moving them first if you can perhaps to the middle of the car away from any stock harnesses, if that doesn't work maybe try a better quality rca.

    Good luck.

    - Kevin
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  • coolhandFluke
    coolhandFluke Posts: 2
    edited July 2004
    Just to keep you guys updated. I was going to change the head unit ground, and add 4 gauge grounds from chassis to engine, and negative to chassis, because based on troubleshooting, and your guys advice, that's what I figured was the problem because, speaker wire/rca's were all good.

    I was re-reading old posts on this site, and one from Macloud mentioned that he had a car with too big of a fuse, and changing the fuse solved his noise problem. Anyway. I had a 150A fuse on the power line, because it came with my wiring kit. I ordered a 60A fuse, but never put it it. I put it in, and it completely got rid of the noise. Can you believe that? I don't know if that's coincidence or what.

    I am still going to add new grounds, because I think that's a good practice regardless. But the whine is gone today, so atleast I can sleep a night.

    Thanks for the help guys.

    - John
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  • MacLeod
    MacLeod Posts: 14,358
    edited July 2004
    Coincidence? Or maybe Im just a genius?!? :p

    I doubt this would work in every situation but if you are only drawing 60 amps at max output then an 80-100 amp fuse is overkill.
    polkaudio sound quality competitor since 2005
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