hello all,

i've gotten a stereo, new speakers & an amp installed recently.
it was grounded properly but there was a whistling sound, i installed the filters that are supposed to stop the sound & i still hear it (a bit less but it's still there).
What else do I do in this situation?
Like I said, I only have an amp with speakers. No sub or anything.

- Jay

 

Reground all your equipment, make sure all your stereo components are grounded in the same spot. Make sure its grounded to bare metal, i.e any paint is scraped off.

 

i have the same problem and i got them installed (supposedly)professionally. my whistling sound is alot louder when i have my a/c on. A friend of mine told me the same thing, that its the grounding. He also told me that the filters dont solve the problem and that they lower the amps volume a little. im gonna try and ground them better and also get a ground kit just in case.

 

Did ay of you guys check your battery? I had my battery replaced last week and my alti noise disappeared.

 

First off, for the guy in which it was installed "professionally" there should be no need for you to think about this issue. Bring back the car, have an attitude, and tell them you have alternator whine. No shop (even if you got a system done at say a best buy or Circuit ****ty) should ever be able to send out a car with alternator whine. However, it's likely they ran your RCA's by your AC power cords....(did that myself and had go back and fix that...thats a qucky) .

Noise filter should be the dead last thing you try cause it's prolly an install problem. From what I've seen, 80% of the time its either a bad grounding somewhere or RCA's picking up noise from a power wire somewhere.

Anyway, I'd start by triple checking all grounds, and RCA;s......if it's still there, then you gotta start the systematic method of troubleshooting this problem.....eliminating one component of the equiptment at a time till you figure out whats cuasing the whine.


I'll do the quick and dirty version....
muting plug the amp (Take cheap RCA, cut cord, strip wires and tie them together, then plug the RCA end into amp? Is whine there? if so its amp most likely (or later in the signal chain) If not, which it prolly will not be it's earlier in the signal chain....RCA's or HU

To remove RCA's from equation, take HU out of dash, place right on/near amp in the back (put a shirt in between them though...no metal touching metal type of activity) and use eitehr dual male RCA plugs or the shortest RCA's you can find. Hook up HU back there and turn on....if whine is there, then your looking at a HU problem, if not, it was the RCA's...rerun or try new RCA's....


So theres the quick verson....do all this. PITA I know, but if you just randomly try stuff, you may never find it...If this doesn't work, come back on and well see what we can do. Prolly be fine though.

 

I think the RCA running against the power cord is a myth of audio installs. I run a 0 guage wire right next to my RCA's andI have no type of whine at all. It was all my battery. Sometimes the amp may just give out the amplifier whine if it is one of the cheaper brands due to bad circuitry.

 

Maybe somehow it's not creating a problem for you, but I promise you it's not a "myth". VERY common. Do a search on any car audio forum of people who are having alt whine problems.I'd be willing to be bet at least 25% are a power wire/RCA problem.

 

Power wire and RCA next to each other they both pick up feedback no Myth

 

It could be because I use monster sheilded wires also

 

Please don't get me started on Monster Cable.

Makes me think you almost deserve the whine for supporting their screwy business practices. (j/k)

If you follow those steps I gave and it still doesn't work, come on back and post. We'll get the problem solved....even if you do use Monster.

 

Oh I just saw that was the "battery/not RCA" guy that posted that comment about Monster, not the original poster....

LOL, think they're better than other, similarly priced (or cheaper) cables?

 

Bboy u dont understand what kind of Extensive Troubleshooting i have done

1. Soldered every wire comming form headunit
2 ran RCA'S directly thru the seats to the trunk
3. Regrounded amps in trunk(Scraped off paint)

Does anyone know what else can cause the whine???

 

Hey man:

Did you bring HU back, or you know what....make it simpler, use an ipod/walkman with a little (forgot?.5mm) plug to skip RCA run AND hu altogether. Couldn't be a cold solder, could it? No offense to your soldering skills, just something to keep in mind. (I'm not a good solderer at all )You got other RCA's to try?

Wait....you're the dude in Owings Mills. I'm not the quickest worker, but why dont you just come on out to Parkville one day. I'll fix it for ya. Shouldn't take more than a few hours.....worst case scenario...if I really gotta think, a second day, but I really really wouldn't count on it.

Lets get er done, huh?

 

Yeah... i will prob come by when you are free hwo far is parkville form Om

 

Well I'm a teacher off for the summer and 95% done my install, so I have time. Weekends coming up are bad and I'd like to straighten up the place next few days.

Wed or Thurs sounds good. IM me as it gets closer.

Whoah I thought you were 19? You graduated HS? God I feel old.

Parkvilles 20, 25 minutes tops without traffic....just past towson on 795.

Did you solder the RCA's yourself or are you talking about small power wires?