Install help....noise!!!

[Reverend_Ezekiel]

I have two amps and a cap in the rear. One bass amp, and one for the mids/highs.

I'm getting some kind of noise from my front speakers, the ones running off my Xtant amp. It's not alternator noise, it stays the same pitch no matter what RPM my car is at. It's just a low humming noise. BUT, whenever I turn on "Balanced inputs" on the amp the sound goes away, but it sounds like it's echoing..

The way I have it installed is my RCA's, Remote, and speaker wires are on the drivers side, with my power line on the passenger side.

Any ideas?

[MTMike]

How's the ground?? Is it a good clean solid connection?

-Mike

[Reverend_Ezekiel]

I made a good ground in the spare tire well. Scrached the paint off, and ran 4awg to distribution block. Then I have 8awg out to my amps and cap.

[Backfire]

The best way to diagnose noise is with a set of muting plugs. These are just RCA connectors with the center electrode grounded to the outer shell. This guarantees a 0V signal. Remove the RCA's from the amp and install the plugs on the amp input. Turn on your system. If you still have noise from the fronts then the issue is with the amp or power hookup. If the noise is gone. Then it is probably from the head unit or signal wiring. It is a good way to start the diagnosis.

[ May 29, 2002: Message edited by: Backfire ]</p>

[DrMilhouse]

Just take a short RCA cable and plug in one end of the RCA cable to the left channel input and the OTHER end of the SAME cable to the input of the right channel. You're muting the signal by doing this as well. This will tell you if the noise is coming in from the amps themselves or if the noise is coming in before the amps.

HTH and makes sense too.

[Reverend_Ezekiel]

I did the RCA trick, and the noise disapppears when I do that. I must have a done bad install, time to rips everything out and try again, I suppose. Any tips or anything??

[v6maro]

replace the rca's and run them on the other side of the car, you never know. Run the stuff all out of the car and move things around until the sound goes away. it could just be from the HU?
-Steve

[Reverend_Ezekiel]

I highly doubt its the HU. It's an Eclipse 5441 that was professionally installed(I wanted the warranty).

I pulled my HU out and ran my short pair of RCA's from the HU to amp straight throught the car, just layin on the rear seats. The noise was still there, but it wasn't as bad. On top of it all I'm now getting some alternator noise coming in... :mad: this is frustrating!!

[Backfire]

Hey Rev,
Not that I will guarantee a fix, but I could stop by tomorrow or this weekend and take a look. I could even bring my old Head Unit or other spare parts to try. Let me know if you'd like a hand.

[DrMilhouse]

Reference ground from the deck to the amp's ground might be one possible solution. Just run one 18 guage ground from decks regular ground wire to the same place that your amp is grounded to. That might help and might not. It has in some cases.

[Reverend_Ezekiel]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Reference ground from the deck to the amp's ground might be one possible solution. Just run one 18 guage ground from decks regular ground wire to the same place that your amp is grounded to. That might help and might not. It has in some cases. <hr></blockquote>

I did that, ran it straight through, out of the car. I also used different sets of RCA's and the noise is still there. This thing has got me stumped. The whole thing where turning "balanced inputs" removes the sound but creates a sort of echo is wierd!!

Backfire - I'm gonna rip everything out tomorrow and try and re-run some stuff. If the noise is still there after i do that then I could definetly use your help. I'll send ya an e-mail if I still have the problem. Thanks!

[ May 31, 2002: Message edited by: Reverend_Ezekiel ]</p>

[massivefirebird]

I have a similar noise in my system. It isn't very loud, but when I turn the volume really low, I can hear it.

I've asked many people on this, I've been to the shop that installed my HU years ago because the guys there are cool. Even they couldn't figure it out. The Power and RCA's are on the opposite side of the car, I tried re-sanding and moving the ground to another spot, baught better RCA wires, I even tried RCA and power-wire noise filters and ground loop isolaters... those things weren't working. I've just accepted it. I'm not competeing, and it isn't noticable unless the volume is almost off.

Did you install your amplifier's power wire on the left, or right side? Which side is your rca's on?

[predator5100]

Same problem here famous ion f body's according to the shop so here's what we did we bought an inline filter from radio shack 19 dollers Sets in lien with rca's it was a grounding loop problem so we installed and walahooooo it's gone ;)

[v6maro]

just for kicks, try a different HU, new ground, new power.
it sounds like you have a wire crossed somewhere else, and it may be affecting the whole car.
-Steve

[Reverend_Ezekiel]

I don't happen to have a spare HU just lying around, but I think that i might be able to borrow one. As for the ground, I've changed ground points twice. Made sure is it was a good gound by scrating off all the paint, even went so far as to use a dremel tool.

I'm gonna keep trying to fix it, but I might just break down and buy a noise filter. Hopefully that will work! Thanks for all ya'lls help, keep the ideas coming, this noise is driving me crazy!

[ June 03, 2002: Message edited by: Reverend_Ezekiel ]</p>