Stereo help

D

Dmaup

94m5 wanna be
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I'm getting some serious feadback ever since I installed my component kit in the doors.

I know I have a good ground. I have a feeling that the interferance is comming from the new wires I ran to the new speakers. I really have no way of making the power wires and speakerwires not be on the same side since there are speaker wires running to both doors. So basically I am wondering whats the best solution.

Shielded wires? Some sort of filter? Or try to re-run the wires in better spots?
 
chicken said:
wait you drove it? or is this a problem from last year lol
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yes and yes.....It doesnt have ins or a valid plate but I took it out anyway..


I tried the foil but It was a pita and not sure how much I had to wrap in foil.
 
What I did was run the speaker wires just under the door, and I took the 4 gauge wire and shoved it way further down on the bottom. In order to really get good separation, you're going to have to take out the seats to run the wires properly. I also took my RCA's and wrapped them in electrical tape. Just my own technique. Don't know if it does any good or not.
 
My power and signal wires are on opposite sides. Wasnt a big deal eaither. As far as feedback what exactly do you meen? Is it a constant buzz? Is it a whirring sound that changes in pitch with the engine RPM?
 
LaserSVT said:
My power and signal wires are on opposite sides. Wasnt a big deal eaither. As far as feedback what exactly do you meen? Is it a constant buzz? Is it a whirring sound that changes in pitch with the engine RPM?
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The noise changes pitch with the rpms of the engine.

My rca's and remote run straight down center. Power down the right.

The problem came when I added a componet kit to the doors and I had to run speaker wire up each side. I'm almost positive that the problem is on the drivers side.
 
A bad alternator (or going bad) could cause engine whine, old plugs could cause it, a bad ground WILL cause it and you have probably always had it or have had it for a while but now that you have components, you're going to hear things you have never heard before.

Try grounding the stereo directly to a solid piece of metal and not use the ground on the wiring harness. Mine was doing that in the 94 and all it took was coming off the harness with the ground and just grounding directly to metal right behind the deck. It's good to separate your power wires from the RCA's. What GMAN done works and is fine and one rule to go by when doing a stereo install. Never use cheap RCA's and or cheap wire period. RCA's should be twisted style and go with a brand that's known.

I would have to see pics of what you have done before making any suggestions really.
 
You need to move your speaker wire away from the power cable. Some other things that cause that whine are a poor ground on the deck, poor ground on the amp or a failing RCA wire. If you nudged the wires at all then you may have hurt one. I have done that enough times. With the car running and making the alt whine go to the amp and jiggle the RCA wire and see if the noise goes away briefly. Also make sure no corrosion has built up under the amp ground to the body. Dont let the RCAs run with the amps hot wire AT ALL. They can cross once if needed but not side by side........ hey, what was driving the front speakers before? What kind of amp? Was it already running other speakers in the car just not the doors?
 
Dmaup said:
My rca's and remote run straight down center. Power down the right.
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That may just be your problem right there. Run them on opposite ends of the car. My power wire is running down the drivers side of the car and remote/RCA's run down the passenger side. Never had any problems. Speaker wires are running right next to my power wire too. The big concern is getting the RCA's as far away from the power wire as possible.

Why would your power wire be running down the passenger side of the car anyway?
 
Dmaup said:
The noise changes pitch with the rpms of the engine.

My rca's and remote run straight down center. Power down the right.

The problem came when I added a componet kit to the doors and I had to run speaker wire up each side. I'm almost positive that the problem is on the drivers side.
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That's a new feature Audable Tach!
JK
disconect the front speaker wires and see if the sound still comes through the system. then you will know if you nicked a wire or crossed something that is giving you feedback.
if the sound is still there get a cheap pair of RCA's, disconnect the ones in the car. connect your RCA's and just run them over the top or outside of the car and check for the noise.
it can be a PITA going through the motions but pretty easy to track down in the end.
 
LaserSVT said:
hey, what was driving the front speakers before? What kind of amp? Was it already running other speakers in the car just not the doors?
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It, was the factory speakers in the doors, I had the same amp running my subs. It's a 4-channel and I just ran a new set of rca's back to it and then the new speaker wire back to the door speakers.
 
Just a suggestion, I like to run a ground wire from the headunit to the amplifier ground along with the remote and rca wires. This puts a common ground between the HU and the amp and will help eliminate alot of noise/popping issues.

But it's always a good idea to seperate power and signal wires as much as possible.
 
So what I'm thinking I'll do is switch the rca's around and see if that gets rid of the noise and if not then I will reground the deck and finally if I have to tear everything out and re-run it.

Hope its not the last thing but, I do know I could use some better wire management in some areas so it might be best to start over.
 
A bad RCA will make the noise no matter where its connected on the amp. I would dissconect the new RCAs and put the old RCAs on the front channels and see what happens.

Also I have never heard of grounding the deck to the amps ground..... the chasis ground is the chasis ground and is common throughout the car. Running a long ground wire will only hinder performance.


Oh yeah, you can also unhook the side speaker wires from the amp. The ones that run with the power wire. That way you can eliminate that too. Usually you dont get noise from speaker wires as their signal strength is above that or the RCAs and its an already amplified signal.


But introducing new RCAs to the mix would be my guess. I learned long ago to ONLY run twisted pair RCAs in cars. I have over $200 in Monsters RCAs in my car.
 
LaserSVT said:
Also I have never heard of grounding the deck to the amps ground..... the chasis ground is the chasis ground and is common throughout the car. Running a long ground wire will only hinder performance.
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My installer does it every time, on every install. While I agree that chassis ground is a common ground, it's not always a good ground. The extra wire just guarantees that the two are on an exact common ground. I still have a ground at the head unit and a ground at the amp but the ground between them, keeps the amp from pulling a ground across the RCA's and prevents noise and the annoying on/off pops.

My installer is certified and has been working in the car audio industry for 20+ years. I trust his judgment and listen to his suggestions, he's never failed me yet!

I was merely making a suggestion, not everyone will do it, if anyone will.
 
96hotrodlincoln said:
My installer does it every time, on every install. While I agree that chassis ground is a common ground, it's not always a good ground. The extra wire just guarantees that the two are on an exact common ground. I still have a ground at the head unit and a ground at the amp but the ground between them, keeps the amp from pulling a ground across the RCA's and prevents noise and the annoying on/off pops.

My installer is certified and has been working in the car audio industry for 20+ years. I trust his judgment and listen to his suggestions, he's never failed me yet!

I was merely making a suggestion, not everyone will do it, if anyone will.
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Ah, then he has me beat by 3 years or so as far as install experience. :p

Just cause I never heard of it dont meen its not common practice. Every installer has their unique touch to things. Some make you scratch your head and some you really like and adopt as your own.
The reason why that would eliminate noise is because eaither the deck had a bad ground or the amp did. Usually when I ground something I pick my spot and test its resistance to the batteries ground terminal. Also I rarly ever use a factory deck ground and make my own.
 
LaserSVT said:
Also I rarly ever use a factory deck ground and make my own.
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Word! Factory deck ground using the harness sucks. I stay away from it completely because too much wire is involved from the harness to where it is finally grounded. The shorter the ground wire to a good solid spot, the better.

Amps should all be grounded at one good solid point. Not here and there.

Where Laser uses Monster twisted RCA's, I use only JL Audio twisted RCA's. You can't use WalMart RCA's and expect good sound without interference. Cheap wiring does not pay off in the end.
 
I just hate how much money they get for those name brand rca's seems like a bit much to me. Almost bet that it might be my problem then.
 
Dmaup said:
I just hate how much money they get for those name brand rca's seems like a bit much to me. Almost bet that it might be my problem then.
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Shop ebay. I found my front channels Monsters for $7 and they are $105 cables. :)
 
First off I thought I would bring this thread back instead of starting a new one so people not familar with my problem can catch up...Anyway..

I ended up figuring out that It was my rca cables that were giving me problems. So I went onto ebay and fetched me a set of twisted pair JL Audio cables. That took care of 90% of the problem.

At this point I don't know if I'm being picky or what but I am still picking up a slight noise in my component kit.

The wierd thing is now it is happening when the car is off and the key is in the on position. It also no longer changes pitch with the rpm's of the engine. If I shut the car off and leave the car in the off position it doesn't do it (just so someone doesn't think im an idiot the radio is still on cause I havent opened a door). Which to me is very wierd.

I'm looking at ideas of what could cause this..Maybe some accessory getting power and causing the issue?

I still havent ran a new ground to the deck yet. I think thats my next step.

Anyway looking for some new ideas from people who have more audio experience than I because I have never ran into anything like this before.
 
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