car audio problem
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2003
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From: IL
Rep Power: 320 
car audio problem has anyone had a problem with engine noise? I had system installed at circuit city and I had it in for a good day and a half trying to fix a noise problem, with the system off i can slightly hear a small whine.. (normal im told.. let me know if no one else has this noise, maybe its not?) anyway, it seems to be coming more from the rear speakers, although both are wired up to the same amp, different channels tho so it seems possible to me, anyway, circuit city ordered me a new amp to switch it out and see if thats the problem, fine by me.. a new amp couldn't hurt! So does anyone have any tips, ideas or anything to help me out? (or rather help them fix it, im not sure what they're planning to do next if the new amp doesnt fix it) they suggested I make this post and see if anyone else has similar problems.. so if anyone can help me out, i'd appreciate it!
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 10,632
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From: Harker heights Tx
Rep Power: 387 
what you hear is alternator whine and it is not normal with a correct install. Ways to help fix the problem is to:
1. Have a good quality Amp
2. Have the correct gauge power running to the amp (4 gauge, 8 gauge) depends on the size of the amp
3. Have the same size ground wire as the power wire and close to the amp the shorter the distance for the ground the better.
4. check your battery leads to ensure they are grounded to the car
if all else fails look for a noise loop isolator its a filter basically
1. Have a good quality Amp
2. Have the correct gauge power running to the amp (4 gauge, 8 gauge) depends on the size of the amp
3. Have the same size ground wire as the power wire and close to the amp the shorter the distance for the ground the better.
4. check your battery leads to ensure they are grounded to the car
if all else fails look for a noise loop isolator its a filter basically
one thing I learned, its going to sounds crazy. If your head unit has a crossover and you amp has a crossover and both of them are turned on, I found that it has a lot of engine noise. I had the same problem, I destroyed a few panels in anger trying to figure it out and after I had checked all the wires I started looking at the amp. Well I decided to turn everything off on the amp, and turn the volume all tha way down, you know just like when you are first tuning it, and when I did that I noticed I had no engine noise, so I played around a little longer and turned the crossover back on and boom, noise was back. Same thing as you have, louder in the rear then in the front. No lie, it worked for me, I know it sounds crazy but its true
Originally posted by FaLKoN202
My friend told me that the ppl at Circuit City suck at installs, but maybe that's just in the Bay Area. (or where u are, too)
My friend told me that the ppl at Circuit City suck at installs, but maybe that's just in the Bay Area. (or where u are, too)
i actually went into curcit city or best buy ( i dont remember cuz it was like a month ago) and i asked them random car audio questions that a basic car person would know. well as it turns out all they do is bs there way outta the questions... for example this one guy didnt know why you need the proper size power wire for an amp. there totally stupid. thats why i got to excessive audio or tweeter around here for not only my componets but my installs if i cant do them.
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4,773
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From: IL
Rep Power: 320 well I know that some chains have people who are dumb, bestbuy for example when i went there they didn't know a whole lot about what they were doing, the guy I deal with at circuit city let me check out his system and im very happy with the work he does, i would do all this myself but im not experimenting with my new car, so i leave it to people who know what they're doing (or atleast have insurance from a chain :P)
the 2 guys who did to my knowledge all of my installs are VERY knowledgeable and have never said anything or done anything to make me doubt their expertise, which is why I am a repeate customer. I know it's better to do it yourself, but I don't really have the experience or know how for this. btw, if you want to see pics of my system they're posted on sounddomain.
http://www.sounddomain.com/id/shmik1 <<< check it out (I definitly am happy with how things have turned out)
targetpractice: I'm going to check it out right now my head unit and both my amps have crossovers. So i'll see wut i can do
i'll prolly do that soon and post another msg, let ya know if i could get it or not.
the 2 guys who did to my knowledge all of my installs are VERY knowledgeable and have never said anything or done anything to make me doubt their expertise, which is why I am a repeate customer. I know it's better to do it yourself, but I don't really have the experience or know how for this. btw, if you want to see pics of my system they're posted on sounddomain.
http://www.sounddomain.com/id/shmik1 <<< check it out (I definitly am happy with how things have turned out)
targetpractice: I'm going to check it out right now my head unit and both my amps have crossovers. So i'll see wut i can do
i'll prolly do that soon and post another msg, let ya know if i could get it or not. 
I wish I was asian
iTrader: (1)
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 5,083
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From: chantilly, Virginia, US
Rep Power: 336 also, you might want to ask them where they installed the RCA wire and power wire. They SHOULD be on seperate sides of the car, as the RCA can pick up interference form the power wire which causes the whining noise.
its probebly the wires, there should be no whine, i got my system installed at futureshop ( the equivalent of best buy in the states) and there is no niose, buzz or noise of any kind, it probebly the location of the wires and the connections.
i boogie for the raindrops
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 4,497
Likes: 1
From: Jackson, Mississippi
Rep Power: 0 Originally posted by eye_see_you
what you hear is alternator whine and it is not normal with a correct install. Ways to help fix the problem is to:
1. Have a good quality Amp
2. Have the correct gauge power running to the amp (4 gauge, 8 gauge) depends on the size of the amp
3. Have the same size ground wire as the power wire and close to the amp the shorter the distance for the ground the better.
4. check your battery leads to ensure they are grounded to the car
if all else fails look for a noise loop isolator its a filter basically
what you hear is alternator whine and it is not normal with a correct install. Ways to help fix the problem is to:
1. Have a good quality Amp
2. Have the correct gauge power running to the amp (4 gauge, 8 gauge) depends on the size of the amp
3. Have the same size ground wire as the power wire and close to the amp the shorter the distance for the ground the better.
4. check your battery leads to ensure they are grounded to the car
if all else fails look for a noise loop isolator its a filter basically
2 - wrong - power wire gauge has nothing to do with noise intereference either. Too small of a power wire causes 1 of 2 things, shutoff due to low voltage, or teh wire melting.
3 - hes right on this one
4 - if teh battery leads werent grounded to teh car, the car wouldnt turn on
i boogie for the raindrops
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 4,497
Likes: 1
From: Jackson, Mississippi
Rep Power: 0 Originally posted by targetpractice
one thing I learned, its going to sounds crazy. If your head unit has a crossover and you amp has a crossover and both of them are turned on, I found that it has a lot of engine noise. I had the same problem, I destroyed a few panels in anger trying to figure it out and after I had checked all the wires I started looking at the amp. Well I decided to turn everything off on the amp, and turn the volume all tha way down, you know just like when you are first tuning it, and when I did that I noticed I had no engine noise, so I played around a little longer and turned the crossover back on and boom, noise was back. Same thing as you have, louder in the rear then in the front. No lie, it worked for me, I know it sounds crazy but its true
one thing I learned, its going to sounds crazy. If your head unit has a crossover and you amp has a crossover and both of them are turned on, I found that it has a lot of engine noise. I had the same problem, I destroyed a few panels in anger trying to figure it out and after I had checked all the wires I started looking at the amp. Well I decided to turn everything off on the amp, and turn the volume all tha way down, you know just like when you are first tuning it, and when I did that I noticed I had no engine noise, so I played around a little longer and turned the crossover back on and boom, noise was back. Same thing as you have, louder in the rear then in the front. No lie, it worked for me, I know it sounds crazy but its true
ive installed countless amounts of systems and ive never heard **** like that before
i boogie for the raindrops
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 4,497
Likes: 1
From: Jackson, Mississippi
Rep Power: 0 alternator whine is a weird thing.
sometimes you try and try and try and try and you keep getting it, no matter what.
i had one guy, not only did he get whine, but everytime he hit the brakes he'd hear a pop because his amps were grounded too close to the taillights.
if you really cant get rid of it, youve just gotta eliminate components down teh line.
take a little portable cd player with a headphone to rca cable and plug it into the amp, see if you get nise, you do, its teh amps grounding, you dont, its not
move over to teh radio, plug the little cd player into your rca cables on the front side of the car, so you can see if the noise is coming somewhere through where teh rca's are.
noise, reroute the rca's,
no noise, move on.
finally, plug em back into teh deck.
noise, reground your deck, rearrange your wires behind teh radio, no noise, no noise.
if its your amp ground make sure teh area is bare metal. sometimes though you just get to an area where the metal is just straight up weird and you cant seem to NOT get noise.
sometimes you try and try and try and try and you keep getting it, no matter what.
i had one guy, not only did he get whine, but everytime he hit the brakes he'd hear a pop because his amps were grounded too close to the taillights.
if you really cant get rid of it, youve just gotta eliminate components down teh line.
take a little portable cd player with a headphone to rca cable and plug it into the amp, see if you get nise, you do, its teh amps grounding, you dont, its not
move over to teh radio, plug the little cd player into your rca cables on the front side of the car, so you can see if the noise is coming somewhere through where teh rca's are.
noise, reroute the rca's,
no noise, move on.
finally, plug em back into teh deck.
noise, reground your deck, rearrange your wires behind teh radio, no noise, no noise.
if its your amp ground make sure teh area is bare metal. sometimes though you just get to an area where the metal is just straight up weird and you cant seem to NOT get noise.
what teh f*ck is wrong with your stereo.....
ive installed countless amounts of systems and ive never heard **** like that before
I hear you one that one, I have installed countless stereos as well. strangest thing I have ever seen. It drove me nuts, I tried changing the ground location, ground wire, then I moved to the RCA, ran RCA's right from the HU to the amp, still noise, took inside and hooked it up to my power converters and still got noise. I went through everything possible it could be, and as a last act, or prayer, I turned the crossover off on the amp and it worked fine. Everything is working fine now, and no I know its not the amps, for mids and high, I have an Xtant and for the subs I have an Rockford X-7, all the wires were high grade monster cable and the HU is a Kenwood Excelon 969.
ive installed countless amounts of systems and ive never heard **** like that before
I hear you one that one, I have installed countless stereos as well. strangest thing I have ever seen. It drove me nuts, I tried changing the ground location, ground wire, then I moved to the RCA, ran RCA's right from the HU to the amp, still noise, took inside and hooked it up to my power converters and still got noise. I went through everything possible it could be, and as a last act, or prayer, I turned the crossover off on the amp and it worked fine. Everything is working fine now, and no I know its not the amps, for mids and high, I have an Xtant and for the subs I have an Rockford X-7, all the wires were high grade monster cable and the HU is a Kenwood Excelon 969.
i boogie for the raindrops
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 4,497
Likes: 1
From: Jackson, Mississippi
Rep Power: 0 Originally posted by targetpractice
what teh f*ck is wrong with your stereo.....
ive installed countless amounts of systems and ive never heard **** like that before
I hear you one that one, I have installed countless stereos as well. strangest thing I have ever seen. It drove me nuts, I tried changing the ground location, ground wire, then I moved to the RCA, ran RCA's right from the HU to the amp, still noise, took inside and hooked it up to my power converters and still got noise. I went through everything possible it could be, and as a last act, or prayer, I turned the crossover off on the amp and it worked fine. Everything is working fine now, and no I know its not the amps, for mids and high, I have an Xtant and for the subs I have an Rockford X-7, all the wires were high grade monster cable and the HU is a Kenwood Excelon 969.
what teh f*ck is wrong with your stereo.....
ive installed countless amounts of systems and ive never heard **** like that before
I hear you one that one, I have installed countless stereos as well. strangest thing I have ever seen. It drove me nuts, I tried changing the ground location, ground wire, then I moved to the RCA, ran RCA's right from the HU to the amp, still noise, took inside and hooked it up to my power converters and still got noise. I went through everything possible it could be, and as a last act, or prayer, I turned the crossover off on the amp and it worked fine. Everything is working fine now, and no I know its not the amps, for mids and high, I have an Xtant and for the subs I have an Rockford X-7, all the wires were high grade monster cable and the HU is a Kenwood Excelon 969.
but thats also because headunit crossovers tend to be shitty as hell to begin with.
also, personally, i use radio shack $5 rca cables with absolutely no noise to tehm...
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4,773
Likes: 0
From: IL
Rep Power: 320 they mentioned that they swapped the deck to see if that was the problem, and it's not so thats not it... i tried last night to turn off the amp crossovers to fix it, strange tho, it seemed like it helped a little, i could still hear it, but didn't seem to be as much, then as i was driving around i noticed i heard a different noise more in the front so i just switched it back and im gonna let em know about everyones suggestions... so hopefully we can get this fixed soon 
[they ordered me a new amp if i didn't mention that - i dont think its the problem and i dont think they think it is either but they ordered it for me just incase... since that would make it easier]
[they ordered me a new amp if i didn't mention that - i dont think its the problem and i dont think they think it is either but they ordered it for me just incase... since that would make it easier] 
Registered!!
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 960
Likes: 0
From: New York, US
Rep Power: 0 Make sure the ground is very tight and clean. No paint or anything in there.
Also make sure the RCAs and the Power Cables are run on opposite sides of the car. Keep them as far apart as possible. Never have them side by side.
Also make sure the RCAs and the Power Cables are run on opposite sides of the car. Keep them as far apart as possible. Never have them side by side.
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