Rep Power: 0

Ok... I had a pioneer amp, when it got installed I had engine noise which I later found out was due to my own stupidity, as I'm sure this problem is too. Now I added a Lightning Audio B200.2 amp to power my infinity components up front and I'm using the other amp to power the rear speakers and will add a sub eventually. Ok, so I haven't changed any wiring in the rest of the car only in the trunk. I cut the wires going to the speaker level input on the pioneer and connected them to the new connector for the lightning audio amp, and plugged the rear inputs into the pioneer amp. I spliced the power to the new amp, and added a new ground cable to the new amp (ground is in the same spot as the other amp), and for some reason I'm getting alternator whine out of the front speakers (powered off the new amp). The rear speakers work wonderfully, the fronts suck [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/IMG]. Ok... So I have checked everything I could think of. When you unplug the input going into the lightning audio amp the noise goes away. The amp is still on and the speakers are still hooked into it and all, but the input isn't in anymore. So I also have now tried a Line-out Converter to take the High level inputs down to RCA level and bought a good insulated RCA cable to connect it to the new amp thinking that maybe the amp didn't like the voltage or whatever of the speaker level input. Still hasn't fixed it. I'm at a freakin' loss here cause I don't know what the hell is wrong. One thing that is curious, the pioneer amp's speaker level input has four wires for each channel. Front +/- and Rear +/-.... the Lightning audio amp has 5 wires, Front +/-, Rear +/-, and a black ground wire. I have tried grounding that wire to the chasis and everything else. I just don't know what else to do. Should I buy some sort of noise filter or what? Somebody PLEASE help me!!! THANKS! (Sorry this was so long [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/IMG])

 
Rep Power: 0

A noise filter won't do squat....your still using the stock HU to send the signal to the amps??. are your spealer level signal wires running close to the ground , or power wire at any point? This can cause a very minute amount of noise. Is your poer or ground wires running anywhere close to the amps..like have a ground wire running under or right along side an amp?? this can add mondo noise in an amps with a low s/n ratio....Did you use a distribution block to plit the power wires to the amps?.. or did you daisy chain them??..also how are you gains set... remember that higher the gain..the more amplified the noise will be....this is why the stock HU really sucks..it adds noticable distortion at such low volume levels..and you have to set the gain high or you'll never get music loud enough with amplifiying all that heavy distortion too..

 
Rep Power: 0

No distribution block, daisy chained cause the guy @ car toys told me I could do it with the small amount of power I'm using. what is s/n ratio? Haven't heard that.... but anyways, no the wires are not any closer together now then they were before and I've tried to keep the apart at that, and yes I'm using my stock HU and gains are turned down really low. I'll check the positioning of the wires again to make sure they are apart and all, but I think that is all fine. Also, from everything I have read I thought that speaker level inputs were not effected by power wires like RCA is, but I don't know for sure and I'm sure you know more than I do! But anyways, I'm almost positive all of that is correct, except the positioning of the wires, so I'll go double check that. Anything else?

 
Rep Power: 0

Daisy chaining an amps power is NEVER good..this could be the cause of the problem....is there any reason your retaining the stock HU?..amping distorted sound just makes things louder...not sound any better

 
Rep Power: 0

yeah I'm mostly retaining the stock HU because I like how it looks in the car, plus I'm worried about an aftermarket radio getting stolen. Right now if somebody looks in my car they see a stock radio and move on, but if I replace the HU and they decide to get into it they will also find infinity speakers, 2 amps, and soon a sub. I think the stock HU is just safer I guess. But, I posted another message on here, I would probably consider replacing my deck with the Nakamichi MB-75? (6 disc in-dash cd changer). But then my only worry is being able to see the display on it in the sun which I'm pretty sure I won't be able to. But then I started thinking maybe there is a way to design some sort of small little cover that would kind of shield the sunlight off of the display? I dunno, but I would be interested in that Nakamichi HU because it looks VERY stock (compared to others with Organic EL's and all), and its the 6 disc, and it would sound very clean wouldn't it? Well, I had bought a separate wiring kit but a friend told me that I could just splice the existing power wire, so we cut the sire that was there (as well as some wire from my amp kit) and spliced it two ways to the pioneer and the lightning. So you think the power wire is the problem? Cause it only does it with the lightning amp not the pioneer.

 
Rep Power: 0

the power wire could be a problem....but splicing the wire like that isn't all that safe so your better off getting a distribution block anyhow...

what are your amps mounted onto?

 
Rep Power: 0

back of the back seat. I have the pioneer screwed down into wood blocks, and the lightning audio is tied w/ zip ties to the bars in the seat. Before I got them on the back seat, they were just screwed down to the bottom of the trunk.

 
Rep Power: 0

the whine might be caused by a defective amp then..Unhook the power wire to the pioneer amp and see if the noise is still there..if it goes away, it's ot the amp, but your wiring somwhere...if it stays..the amp might need to be returned.

 
Rep Power: 0

Alright, I'll check it out and let you know, I'm leaving to go out of town today, so I probably won't get to it for a while [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/IMG]

 
Rep Power: 0

how long are ur ground leads this can cause noise and get a 4gauge ground lead hook it up to ur battery ground and the chasis under the hood

 
Rep Power: 0

you want ur ground leads as short as possible under 12" for sure. Adding that big ground under the hood should help. Could get a remote head unit for under ur seat .

 
Rep Power: 0

right now I have both amps ground to the same location. They each have their own wires running directly to the same bolt, as oppose to one wire split into two. Is that ok? Somebody else told me I should run one wire with a distribution block because having two wires going to that will create more resistance and keep from having a clean ground.