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Edit: Problem solved, it was the shitty EQ causing the whine.
Head Unit has been replaced with a new one (Pioneer FH-P800BT with built in EQ)
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The Setup:
- Pioneer DEH-4600MP deck
- Equalizer (I forget what brand, pretty cheap, bought off a friend)
- Pioneer 760W 2-ch amp powering the door speakers (stock up front, aftermarket pioneer 6x9's in the back)
- Twister 1250W 2-ch amp powering the subs in the trunk
- 2x 10" Premier TS-W1500SPL subs (1500W max, 600RMS)
- 1.0 Farad Stinger capacitor
- All power/ground wire is 4AWG
- Twister amp is grounded to metal in the trunk, amp sits on sub box in trunk.
- Pioneer amp is grounded to the seat belt bolt on the driver side, amp sits under driver seat
- RCA cables are all StreetWires Zero-Noise
- Power runs from Battery to a 150Amp fuse, then to my capacitor, then to a distro block which splits to each amp. Twister amp and Capacitor share a ground, Pioneer amp has its own ground.
- Power runs along the passenger side, RCA cables and remote wire run along the driver side
The Problem:
I'm getting alternator whine through my speakers (Mostly noticeable when I accelerate, of course) after upgrading my stereo. Self-installed.
When does it happen?
The moment I wire up my Equalizer I get alternator whine. If I unhook it and run directly from the deck I have no problems at all.
The EQ currently shares power and ground with the deck on the wiring harness.
What I have tried:
Ground Loop Isolator
Adjusting wires to try and separate power from RCA further
What I'm going to try:
Running the ground from the EQ into the ground on one of my amps to let it share that instead of sharing with the gound on the deck's wiring harness
OR giving the EQ its own ground entirely.
What I want to know is simple:
Does anyone here have any ideas/suggestions for me to get rid of the alternator whine?
How far apart do RCA cables have to be from power wire to avoid unwanted noise?
Can RCA cables be run along side remote wire without picking up noise?
Please let me know if you need pictures or more information.
And I did search the forums, hopefully I didn't miss a solution to this problem that's already been posted.
Thanks!
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Last edited by vsTerminus; 07-23-2009 at 02:43 PM.
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Well sounds like your rcas are not getting a good ground, the cause can be that cheap EQ. What I would do s take a long peice of wire wrap it around the rcas going into and out of the EQ and ground that that should take care fo the noise. If it dose not than it is the EQ itself.
Thanks for the reply, I just got inside from trying a few things.
The EQ has its own ground now, still getting whine
I did notice that the whine gets significantly quieter, if not totally disappears when Air Conditioning is off, but I suppose that has to do with how much the alternator is working at the time and AC would cause that.
I'll try the wire solution, and if that doesn't work maybe I'll just look into a new EQ.
The whine is present all the time, but the pitch increases as I accelerate and decreses when RPMs drop down again.
It goes away if I unhook the Equalizer, but is present when the EQ is wired up, regardless of whether I have it set to actually process the signal.
I've tried unplugging the radio antenna and that does nothing as well.
It's definitely coming from the 6x9s in the rear deck. I don't hear anything from the subs in the trunk.
Tomorrow I'm going to try unhooking the deck entirely and running my iPod directly into the EQ to see if it's the EQ itself, or maybe has something to do with the amount of power I'm drawing from the battery.
It goes away if I unhook the Equalizer, but is present when the EQ is wired up, regardless of whether I have it set to actually process the signal.
i think you've already found the answer. you said in the first post it was cheap. to me, you've already troubleshot the problem. get rid of the cheap EQ.
I have to agre with him also I am not talking about the EQ's own ground ou have to ground out the rcs outputs somtimes pioneers and chaper stuff do not have the best rca grounds. Wrap a peice of wire aroudn them and ground it. If not than just take the EQ out. Here is a pic of what I am talking about.
Also, I'm looking into a Pioneer DEQ-7600 15-band DSP equalizer. I'd need a double-DIN dash mount for it, but it looks good if I can find one for a decent price.
Most Pioneer headunits get that alternator noise if installing the unit with the battery plugged in. Try grounding the rcas as mentioned.
my Pioneer does not. not from either set of RCA's.
there's no noise without the cheap EQ plugged. plug in the cheap EQ, and there's whine. maybe it's simple logic, but my bet's on the cheap EQ being the culprit if the Pioneer doesn't make noise to the amps without the EQ.
lol hes right, my old pioneer deck never made whine. throw away the eq, you dont need it anyway when the pioneer deck has its own. most have 15 band eq with lots of frequency ranges.
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So it turns out it was the EQ.
I ran the EQ directly without the Pioneer deck plugged in at all. There was whine.
The deck (Pioneer DEH-4600MP) Only has a 3-band EQ, which doesn't allow for great enough separation. You end up with a muddy sound if you turn up the "low" frequency. This is the whole reason I wanted an EQ in the first place.
So I settled on buying a new Double-DIN deck with a built in 7-band EQ, iPod USB support, Bluetooth handsfree support, and no annoying preset buttons (I never listen to the radio, what do I need 4-8 useless buttons for?)
'02 Coupe Alternator whine troubles 
