Happy new year to all!!
I just finished installing a set of 6.5 components with the q-logic kick panels, and a new amp to power them. My problem is I get an annoying whining type sound when its on. even if i turn the volume down. It almost appears to be some kind of interference, but with what? any ideas?? Thanks

I do so declare I am not an expert but, the only thing that comes to mind is that your input(speaker) wires are run too close to your amp power wires.

make sure no wires are touching it almost sounds like that. I have 6X9's in the back and every now and then one of the prongs will unhook and it will rest on the other wire in the speaker making a bad noise. also Check for good tight connections.

xbeasleyx is correct, your amp power wires and the signal (rca) wires need to be ran seperate from each other... ie down each side door strip.... another possible cause is a bad ground.... using good wire? ground location? but most likley its the first...

Thank you all wire wise, i am running all monster cable. I paid through the nose for it though. I will check the wires..i do run them under the door sills right on top of each other. One other thing I noticed when i down shift, the whinning gets louder, and maybe even higher pitched.

Maybe that means it's interference with the spark plugs then? I don't think it would be, but if it gets louder when the revs get higher (down shifting) that could be it. You probably have the plugs that prevent this though, don't you? All I can come up with. Does it make the noise when the engine is off?

Haven't tried it with the engine off, but that gives me something to do at lunch today.... :D

Sounds like your getting engine interferance noise. Easiest way to get rid of that is to get a noise suppressor from Radio Shack. Costs a few bucks and installs in the power feed line to the deck, if I'm not mistaken. Also, check your grounds, make sure you have a GOOD ground, preferably to the car frame and not on some painted sheetmetal. Check your "monster cable" routing too. If your running it under the hood from the battery, make sure your not close to the distribtor or the spark plug wires.

Where is your amp mounted? Check around the area where you mounted your amp and look for anything that might cre8 a cross-signal. Then, trace your wiring and check for other sources of current. Also, if you grounded it to your floorboard or center console, that could explain the louder whine when downshifting and would be why you're getting a cross-signal.

One other thing to check if everything else is fine, be sure your wires are run to the correct positive and negative terminals. I know that sounds like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many people screw that up. 8O

Lots of great advice..Thank you all...
I mounted the amp for the speakers in my subwoofer box, in the smugglers compartment. I drilled a hole through the floor board of the smugglers compartment, to connect the ground to the frame in the hole I put a plastic insollator with some silicone to fill in the gaps so it won't leak water. As for the power, i t goes from the battery. under the heater core into the fire wall, with the same type of plastic insolator and silicone, from there I run it under the dash, down the kick panel, under the door sill behind the sub box, and to the amp....nothing but net :lol: just had to throw that in there.
when the car is not running I do NOT get that whinning noise, it sounds so b-e-a-utiful.
Thanks again
Josh

no offense rombisoid... but a noise supressor is just masking the original problem.... and i'll even lay odds that it will not fix his problem in this situation....... his problem i'm 99% sure is his routing.... and the noise is created by his altenator....... change the routing of the cables (seperate rca from power) and you'll be fine...

How do those Q-Logic kickpanels work? and do they crowd the leg space and take up a lot of foot room for the driver and passenger?

Never said it was the prefered method, just an option :)

There is a Capacitor (Noise suppression RFI) in the distributor and one on the Fuse Box under the dash. They are there to help eliminate Ignition RFI and do a pretty fair job of it too. They don't however, last for ever. When they go bad they can cause a whole range of weird problems. They cost nothing compared to the problems you could have because one or both went bad. Generally if one is bad you could pickup a buzzing sound in the stereo and the pitch will change with the RPM of the engine.

I am not saying that is your problem but it is still something to look at and replace. Also I'd suggest using Spiral Wound Spark Plug Wires to help assure that you don't get RFI from that source. Check all your grounds. Not just the one going to the Stereo or Amps. Check to make sure all grounding straps on the engine to chassis are there in good condition. Someone else mentioned this too. The engine should be tied to the frame as well as the transmission and the frame should be tied to the negative terminal of the battery.

Just some thoughts.

Its called alternator whine, you can get noise filters that you install between the signal cables and the amp. they cast about $10 each, I think.

Thank you all again...
It turns out that my problem was a routing issue. I ran the rca under the drive door sill, and the power under the passenger door sill, and that seem to do it. before they were all run under the driver door sill, it was an extremly tight fit.
As for the kick panels they do take up some room, but all i did was move my seat back, and gained it all back. Another issue I had was the e-brake
you have to bend it out of the way, but I just removed it all together.

So thanks to all of you and your suggestions, i can cruise with some non whinnig music..... :D

Josh

Just some more info from personal experience. This can also be caused by what is referred to as a ground loop. That happens when you use the body of the car as a ground path instead of using a single grounding point that goes back to the battery. It makes your amp act like a radio receiver and you pick up alternator whine, directional signal blinkers, everything. If you mount an external amp don't ground it to the body or you will end up with a ground loop. Run a separate grounding wire back to a common ground point that leads back to the battery.

Just my .02

:cool:

NOw I don't understand the last post about grounding. The battery is grounded to the engine block in most cases, which is directly hooked up to the frame, correct?

I've read that one of the best gounding points on a car, are the seatbelt bolts becasue of their size (if ofcourse, your mounting your amps or whatever behind the seats), it allows you to use a larger size wire/lug and you don't have to make ANOTHER hole in your ride. In this case, bigger-is-better. This also includes grounding capacitors.

Just correct me if I'm wrong because I'd like to know this too.

The problem with setting up a sound system in a car and using the body to pass ground back through is that you end up picking up all the noise that shares that path if you don't ground it properly. If you believe the electronic model of current flow then everything flows in a circle from ground through the circuit and back through the positive post of your battery where it starts over again. Electrical theory says the same thing but in reverse (namely that current flows from source to ground)

Either way current passing through a shared conduit like a car body is going to pick up signals from every other electrical device installed along its path. The problem comes about when there is more than one path to ground available to a single powered device.

(Believe it or not there is such a thing as negative voltage. :) )

The classic definition of what usually causes this is called a ground loop where there are two different paths back to a common ground point which can cause a difference in potential voltage at those two ground points and induce a signal that can generate interference.

That's because one ground path may have passed through the alternator while the other went straight through to the negative battery post. The path that went through the alternator has picked up a signal from the alternator in the form of a voltage level. That level is different from the other ground path. Not a problem except that the ground paths have a common source and are now connected together by way of the signal wires from your deck to your amp. That difference between both grounds will show up as a signal in the form of an annoying hum.

When you hook your signal wires from your deck to your amplifier both units are expecting to be at the same ground potential or rather they are both expecting that there will be no difference in voltage at their respective grounds. When there is a difference that extra voltage is going to find itself a path right through the inputs of your amp where it will be amplified and produce an unpleasant hum or alternator whine or blinker thump or anything else that gets in the way of the separately run ground paths. That's because voltage not only has a size but it also has a frequency and if that frequency is audible it ends up being amplified through the amp and out your speakers for your listening pleasure 8O


Hope that makes sense. :)