well i have an alpine head unit and an alpine 4-chan V12 amp.when i skip a song it will make a quick "pop" noise.it mostly happens when the volume is up pretty high.i want to know if there is any way to make it so it does not "pop"?any help/suggestions on how to make this go away would be greatly appreciated.thanks

 

make and model of the car, interconnects, power wire to the amp, speakers.

 

OK, what is the MM&Y of car?

What are the makes and models of Alpine HU and amp?

What speaker(s) is the amp driving?

What speakers is the "pop" coming from, all of them or just some of them, is it only coming from the speakers the amp is driving?

"Switching noise" is almost always a grounding problem, [as most noise problems are] the first thing I would check is the grounding of the HU.

A good ground for the HU would be the stock radio harness ground for the HUs ground lead, [black] and a good chassis to chassis ground, chassis of the HU to the cars chassis or grounded dash sub frame, on most Honda/Acura the stock rear support or ISO brackets are a very good ground.

There are other possibilities, a problem in the HU itself, poor ground on that particular circuit, [if skipping a song is the only time it does it] a poor connection to a capacitor on that circuit.

If the pop is only on speakers driven by amp, check the amp ground, if the amp chassis is grounded to the car, [amp screwed to cars metal body] remove the screws and isolate the amps chassis from ground and see/hear if pop is still there.

You can also try a "dump ground", using 18ga-16ga wire, connect one end to the HUs chassis, [ring connector on back support screw hole] and the other to the amps chassis, run this wire from HU to amp over carpet and seats until you know if it makes a differance or not. 94

 

its a 94 honda prelude.the HU is model CDA-9853 and amp model is MRV-F345.it ONLY makes the noise when i skip a song.it doesnt do it when i turn it on/off or any other time. i dont think it is the HU ground or anything with the HU because it never did it in till i installed the amp and replaced all 4 around speakers with component alpine speakers. all the speakers are connected to the amp.the noise i believe comes from all of the speakers.the amp sits on the opposite side of the trunk that i have it grounded to.the amp sits on the driver side right behind the rear seats,and the ground is on passenger side at the rear of the trunk.
the patch cables i am using are streetwires zero noise5 4-chan cables,and streetwires multi-amp wiring kit.4ga.power to the distribution block,and 8ga from there to the amp.the distribution block is at the end in the trunk.

 

First question is, why the distribution box?
Second, is the amp chassis grounded to the cars chassis?

The amp ground should be as short as possible.

I would also try a "dump ground".

It is still possible the problem is in the HU itself, more so because it only happens with that one function. 94

 

i have the distribution box because i plan on installing a mono amp with a sub sometime in the near future hopefully.yes,the amp ground is grounded to the cars chassis.it is pretty much as short as i could get it, its only about 2-feet away from the amp but the ground wire is probably 3 to almost 4-feet long.
ill try the "dump ground"and see what happens.
man,i really hope is not the HU i think it is still covered by warranty hopefully.i dont recall it making the noise in till after i installed the amp and speakers tho.so that kind of makes me believe its not the HU, but who knows it could be any of those things.

do you think making the amp ground shorter can eliminate the noise?

 

Shortening the amp ground may or may not solve your problem, however it is way too long,, there are seat belt bolts and rear seat mounting bolts on the drivers side, use one of them for the amp ground.

When you add the sub amp ground it to the same place as the 4ch amp, [as long as the ground lead is not too long, also, for best performance out of both amps, get rid of the distribution box, connect the 4ga directly to the sub amp and run a new power lead for the 4ch, you can easily get away with an 8ga. 94

 

the reason i have it grounded on the passenger side is because i have all the patch cables and speaker wires running on the diver side.i have the power cord running the passenger side.so i didnt want to ground it by the speaker wires and such to make sure i dont get any interference through the speakers.

so you wouldnt recommend having the main 4ga power going to the box then running an 8ga for the 4-chan amp and a 4ga for the mono amp out of the box?

and when i get another amp i can use the exact same spot for the ground that i am using for the 4-chan amp?as in i dont need to drill another hole for another ground spot?
i wasnt sure if i would be able to use the EXACT same spot for two amp grounds or not.

i was messing around with my stereo today when i was coming home.it ONLY makes the noise sometimes and the volume has to be up a good bit.i have it to make a beep noise when i switch songs and i think if i turn that off it may fix the problem.i believe when the volume is up soo much and it tries to make the beep sound it ends up making a distorted pop kind of noise when switching the songs.which would mean it is something with the HU i guess? haha

thanks for all your help.i really appreciate it.

 

The drivers side of your car is the power side, rear harness runs down drivers side, the best place for RCAs is down middle of car. 94

 

i know,but the battery is on the passenger side so i could just run it straight down that side.i really didnt wanna run the RCA and speaker wires down the middle.a lot of things are grounded to the center console chassis.

i know that would be the right way of running the wires,but this is just what worked for me.it obviously worked out pretty good because i do not get any interference or noises.except the "pop" deal which is probably the damn head unit.

so i can ground two amps to one exact same spot right?i wasnt sure if i could or not.

 

Yes you can ground amps to the same spot, ideally both amp ground leads would be the same length and grounded to the same point, however you gain nothing if one or both of the ground leads are too long. 94