Okay... so I installed an amp for my stereo the other day and I'm getting engine noise outta my speakers. I read that you want to keep the power cable away from the rca and speaker cables... how far away? Can they cross at all? I have them seperated by about 4 inches. They do cross shortly before they hit the amp. The speaker wire and RCA cables were a little long so I coiled up the extra on one side of the amp. Should I get rid of this extra length?

 

...that kermit is the evil spawn of satan and he's casting RF distortion waves through your whole system! Get rid of him now while you can! Screw the 10.67876948 hp gain!
*duck*

 

They need to be more like 2 feet away if you can manage. If they cross it is best if they cross at right angles. I'm pretty sure yours are too close.

 

Rule of thumb. Have speaker wire on oposite side of car to power wires. This will keep the noise out, and its the way the pro's do it.

 

Not to be a ***** Russ, but...

Usually speaker wires are ok next to power wires, its the low voltage RCA signal wires that are prone to interference. This is just a function of the voltages in the line. But your really right, all signal wires, irregardlessfully of voltage should be kept away from power wires...makes me wonder why I even wrote this post.

 

And yes...I know "irregarlessfully" isnt a word...one of my profs uses it and it cracks me up every time. I'm a big geek that way.

 

Aww man.... guess I can't just take the lazy way out...

Thanks guys.

 

Check all your grounds, make sure they are all making good contact with bare metal. If you have them screwed into a painted surface you need to scrape the paint off where they make contact.

 

Thanks... I need to double check this. I drilled a hole for my ground but I dont think I did the scrapey scrapey. Time to get out the dremel!

 

first off, you can put them 20 ft apart and still get the noise. Get your self a noise surpressor. And make sure you are grounded to clean bare metal. You can also try balanced inter-connects

 

Where does one find a noise supressor?

 

Use caution when selecting a noise suppressor, lot of junk on the market. As for the wiring layout run the rca cables down the passenger side of the car and the power down the other or vice versa, this will help to reduce interference. The ground for the amp needs to be very secure, I have always located the rear frame rails on the car and drilled a hole and bolted the gound tight against the frame. What type of amplifier/head unit are you using? Some are notorious for generating unwanted noise. A properly installed audio system will not require a noise filter!

 

its a fosgate 150a puncha amp and an aiwa cdc-mp3 amp (see my sig). I definately have to fix my ground. Simply moving the power cable made a large improvement. It may be that the ground will fix the rest.

 

95% of the time the ground is the culprit.