Well, because wiring a stock stereo to an amplifier seemed a bit out of my level, I resorted to using best buy to install it. That may have been my first problem, I dunno. I read the FAQ stick already in this forum and its been helpful but..
1st, my problem. I have alternator whine and loud hissing. I tried to use a ground loop isolator for the hissing to no avail. I'm going to try and jery rig a short an RCA short and find out if the problem is the amp or not.
Well, I told them that the whine and hissing weren't cool and if he grounded the amp right. He said of course. He then goes and tells me that the problem is that I'm using a stock headset. He told me that someone else had this problem and that when they changed over to an aftermarket headset, the problem went away. Is he full of it or not? I went from a perfectly quiet cabin w/ a decent 120 watt sound system to a hissing, squealing, 440Watt sound system that sounds okay if you turn it up loud enough to drown out the hissing and squealing.
What kills me is that I paid $250 for installation fees.

 

how did the ppl install it? does ur amp have a speaker-level input or did he have to use a line level converter to convert ur speakers into rcas?

 

There are a number of reasons that you have noise when wiring an oem HU to an aftermarket amp, however it can be done without any problems.

I will need more info.....

1- What kind of amp, [make and model]?

2- What is the amp running?

3- Where is the amp mounted?

4- As imadigitalgod asked, was a "LOC", [line output converter] used or does the amp have speaker, [high level] inputs? Are there RCAs plugged into the amp?

5- How and where is the amp grounded?

6- What gauge power and ground cable is being used?

7- How much did the install cost, [including parts]?

8- Can you tell how and where the power and RCAs, [if any] are run?

9- Is there noise only when the car is running. [you mention "hissing"]?

Answer the above and I may be able to help. 94

 

Thanks for the quick replies. Heres what I got.
I have a Infinity reference series 7541a 4 channel amp. It has speaker level inputs. There are RCA's plugged into the amps, line out to speakers.
I'm using 16 gauge speaker wire, and I think it was 6 gauge wiring for the amp. The amp is running 692.71 Infinity Kappa's (6x9) and Alpine 171A component 2 way speakers, type S (6.5")
The amp seems to be grounded underneath the back seat somewhere, I haven't taken apart to check yet. I'm fairly certain that they ran the speaker wiring and power together...seeing as how everything is tie wrapped together in the back. The amp is drilled onto the back seat. Not touching the ground. The ground cable I'm not too certain about the gauge, but its fairly thin compared to the power wire. I believe that a line out converter was used, I bought something kind of conversion box, about 3" by 3", so that might have been it. There is hissing noise when the radio is on, off when the radio is off. The whine is there regardless if the radio is off or on. Install cost w/ everything was $450 or thereabouts. I hope I got all the info you guys needed.
I've been hearing conflicting stories about the power wire next to the speaker wiring. I hope its not true as I will have to undo everything I just paid for. Speaker wiring was the braided exensive kind. Thanks in advance.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jkswiss &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks for the quick replies. Heres what I got.
I have a Infinity reference series 7541a 4 channel amp. It has speaker level inputs. There are RCA's plugged into the amps, line out to speakers.
I'm using 16 gauge speaker wire, and I think it was 6 gauge wiring for the amp. The amp is running 692.71 Infinity Kappa's (6x9) and Alpine 171A component 2 way speakers, type S (6.5")
The amp seems to be grounded underneath the back seat somewhere, I haven't taken apart to check yet. I'm fairly certain that they ran the speaker wiring and power together...seeing as how everything is tie wrapped together in the back. The amp is drilled onto the back seat. Not touching the ground. The ground cable I'm not too certain about the gauge, but its fairly thin compared to the power wire. I believe that a line out converter was used, I bought something kind of conversion box, about 3" by 3", so that might have been it. There is hissing noise when the radio is on, off when the radio is off. The whine is there regardless if the radio is off or on. Install cost w/ everything was $450 or thereabouts. I hope I got all the info you guys needed.
I've been hearing conflicting stories about the power wire next to the speaker wiring. I hope its not true as I will have to undo everything I just paid for. Speaker wiring was the braided exensive kind. Thanks in advance.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'd look at that being the culprit first...

 

You say the amp has speaker level inputs, [high level inputs] but you also say there are RCAs, [and I'm not sure I understand] "plugged into the amps, line out to speakers."
I assume they sold you a LOC, something like this... http://www.scosche.com/scosche...=SLC4
If this unit is installed behind the HU and RCAs and power and speaker leads are all run together, that could be causing the problem, also if there is a lot of "hiss", [system noise] the gains on the LOC and/or the amp may be turned up too much.

You also say there are RCAs plugged in, how many are there 1 or 2 sets?

Also try this, start the car, turn system on so it is easy to hear the alt. whine, then start turning on things, start with head lights, then high beam then rear window defog, then step on the brake a few times, what you are looking for is....

Does the whine get louder? Can you hear a "click" through the speakers when you turn switches on and off, [step on brake]?

I would pull the rear seat to see where the ground is and how it's done, it should be replaced, it should be the same gauge, [at least] as the power cable.

Check the gains on the amp, where are they set at, [1/2 way, 3/4 of the way or all the way up?

You will also need to see where the gains on the LOC are.

"$450 or thereabouts" what did that get you?

Unless there was custom work we would have charged 2hr for the front speakers, 1hr for the rears 2hr for the amp and 1hr for RE&RE @ $40 per hr, = [$240] + 6 shop mat. @ $4 each = $24 for a total of $264 + tax's for labour, what else did they sell you besides the LOC, [RCAs, speaker and power wire]? 94

 

Well, I bought that LOC thing, I bought the power wire set, which was I think 4 gauge and came with a bunch of other stuff in it. I think that costs the most, over a bill I believe, closer to $150. I'm not quite sure how this works but heres how it is.
One side of the amp has 4 RCA cables, 2 pairs. The other side has the ground, power supply, and 8 speaker wires. As far as the whine goes, its not audible enough so that it can be easily heard on idle rpm. Its only pronounced upon accelerations and decelerations. The gains are set so low that I might as well not have an amp, seriously. Its like a little over 1/4 gain for the front set and a little less than that for rear. I imagine that the LOC's gains are set too high..I'll have to figure out where they put this. Wheres a good place to put the LOC then??

The labor costs the same as about what you quote me. The extra was for the stuff I bought. I'll have to troubleshoot this when I have some time. I got some exams coming up this week. The whine and hiss is not so bad....I guess it was a shock from what I was used to. What kind of gets me is that I can't turn off the radio and have silence when driving, i.e. chit chatting with someone.

 

what does it sound like if you disconnect the 4 RCAs from the amp? what does it sound like then? Obviously no sound, but is it still making the same sounds?


Modified by imadigitalgod at 12:54 AM 6/5/2006

 

Absolutely no sound when rca's are disconnected.

 

no sound as in completly noise/hiss/whine free? If that is the case im thinkin its the way they installed it caused by a ground loop. check the grounding cable first.

 

im guessing its fixed now?

 

Its a little better. My friend and I took off the back seat(breaking the plastic retaining thing in the process) and checked out the wiring. They just kind of plopped all the wiring in a coil. I seperated the power cable and speaker cabling and the whining seems almost unnoticable now. I intend to do a more thorough troubleshoot on Saturday to get rid of the hissing. My friend has some spare 4 gauge wire so I'll replace my ground with that.
Or, could me another thing, might be because I'm blasting my music so loud that I just can't hear the alternator whine anymore, seriously.

 

Where and how was the ground connected. "coiling" power and RCAs and speaker wire, is never a good thing, the lock is probably behind or under the oem HU, it may also have a chassis ground wire on it, it may or may not be connected to the HU, if it's connected, disconnect it and have a listen, if it's not connected connect it and listen, if the gains are up on the LOC turn them down and turn up the gains on the amp.

As rcurley55 mentions, check/replace the ground first.

Are the speaker leads that are run from the amp connected directly to the speakers/x-overs or are they run up to the HU and connected to the oem speaker wires behind the oem HU? 94

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jkswiss &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">They just kind of plopped all the wiring in a coil. </TD></TR></TABLE>

even ppl that get paid for a living dont know how to install crap. if i were you, I would go back and try to get ur money back, or atleast some back since the person said it wasnt the install at all tat was causing the noise, but yet it turned out to be the install

 

i installed a cd player in my 2005 honda accord on the bottom where the storage cabinet is. after installing i turned on my lights and now my climate control lights do not work. does anyone know why? did i just accidentaly unplug something i shouldnt have? answers please anyone?