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Whats the best location for the ground for a system. Right now I have two amps hooked up and im getting engine noise through the speakers. I have the ground on the bolt right behind the seats. Please let me know if there is a better place to put where I won't get engine noise? Should I use two different grounds because right now I'm using one ground then a dist. block to split to the other amp same thing with my power cord. Im running rca cables and remote down the driverside. Is there a better setup?
Posted by: n8bachelor
Your best bet is not to use a bolt to ground a system. Since the LS has the battery in the trunk you should ground your system close to the place where the battery's negative joins the car's chassy. I believe my two amps are grounded separately to the spare tire well, about 2 feet from the battery's connection point.
When grounding audio be sure to scrape off the paint so you get a good connection (this might be your problem with using the bolt). Also when drilling/punching a hole in the tire well be sure not to puncture the gas tank.
Posted by: rickztahone
if your gettin' noise through your mid or high speakers it can also be your rca's. if they're not quality ones sometimes you'll get the noise when accelarating. go with monster cables
Posted by: Mexican3001
The best spot to put a ground is always on the bolt by the eat belts I've done it on multiple cars, as I am an Installer, your problem may be due to your rca's you should get some that have a thick shielding not the cheapy ones. Also make sure your power wire isn't being run with the rca's, it shouldnt since the batter is in the trunk, but hey just a suggestion, hope this helps you
Posted by: cpgoodman
I have the same problem. Im using the monster cable silver series(i think that is what they are called). Anyway i can't get rid of the engine noise for the life of me. I installed car stereo for a living untill last year and i have tried every trick in the book. New RCA's, better RCA's, ground loop isolators, grounding straight to the battery, grounding the amp to the radio and still nothing. My last resort was turning the gains down on the amp which helped but is still around. So on this one i dont know what to tell you for i have spent countless hours trying to figure it out. If you get it let me know.
Posted by: Mexican3001
have you tried grounding the rca's ground (the outer part of the rca not the inner) to ground, sometimes that does the trick, but you said you tried every trick in the book so you may have already
Posted by: n8bachelor
I make no statements of being a professional installer. I have installed all my own systems (4 previous times) except the LS and helped friends on at least as many occastions. I had the system in the LS done professionaly at the shop where I bought the parts (Alpine extends the warranty if the authrorized dealer installs it). All I can do is provide an example of my noise free system.
I have experienced no noise in my system since I have had it (1.5 years). I am running 2 amps (350 rms to one type R 12 and 70x4 rms to my 6.5" type R door speakers) with a total of 630 watts rms. Not a huge system by any means. The 3 sets of (quality) RCA's and 4 sets of speaker wires run from the trunk to the head unit in one combined tube down the driver's side. Again I have the amps properly grounded to the car and have experienced no feedback noise.
I have never heard of grounding RCA cables to improve sound quality. I have heard of cables 'grounding out' and that was a bad thing. But again I am no professional.
Good luck with your noise problems.... have you checked your alternator? It may be going bad.
Posted by: shorty10
well I have tried different locations and my alt. is good. I never had this issue with my other LS I had. So right now I have 4 channel amp and and I have switched it to the "front only" is my 4 speakers inside are running off the front channel only. It sounds louder then if I run it the other way and the noise is not bad can only hear when I turn the volume all the way down. It doesn't get louder when I press the gas. I just hate engine noise no matter how loud it is. It's annoying.
