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Whining noise coming from front left speaker

690 views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  wallopsri 
#1 · (Edited)
In the cavalier i've installed my new amp and subs in the boot and now the passenger side speaker is making an odd whiney noise. It's there whenever the head unit is powered on and the noise increases and changes a bit whenever i rev the engine. Now i'm assuming it's an earth fault (cause it usually is from what i've read in the past :p) although the earths are all fine in the boot and i never had the problem with the old amp/sub.

I'm gonna try disconnecting the amp and powercap to see if it makes any difference but other than that any suggestions? I wouldn't think it was anything other than the amp or powercap that could have caused this to start happening unless it was a large coincidence.

The only other thing i thought it could be was the new power cable is running down the passenger side of the car next to the door/speaker although even when the door is opened and the wire pulled away from it quite a bit it doesn't help so unless it's interferring somewhere else (next to the grommit and wires where the rest of the wires go in to the interior of the car?) i'm not sure what could be causing it.

Cheers

Edit: just to say i've removed the power cap and it didn't help, but when i disconnected the amp just by pulling the remote wire out the noise stopped coming from the one speaker and it was working normally.
 
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#2 ·
a little more info required;

is it a pioneer headunit?

are front speakers driven direct of the headunit?

position/location of the amp earth?

have you replaced speakers or been behind the door cards and disconnected/reconnected the speakers?

try in the meantime;

disconnect rca leads from headunit, switch on system, interference still present?

check all connections behind the headunit.
 
#4 ·
It's a panasonic head unit, CQ-5xxx something not sure of te exact make off the top of my head.

Front speakers are powered directly off the head unit.

Speakers and doorcards haven't been touched at all since they were first installed and never caused a problem till the new amp. Also the headunit hasn't been removed or pulled out, as i already had an amp in the boot from my old sub i used the RCA and switch wire that were already connected rather than running identical replacements. Only thing i had to change was the power cable and general setup in the boot (power cap, bigger earths etc)

The amp's earthing wire goes from a power cap and the amp (2 seperate wires0 to a connecting block, with a huge wire going to the petrol cap/tank screw thingy which screws into the metal work quite deep so it appears to be grounded well. :confused:

I'll try yanking the RCA leads out and seeing what happens in a minute. Don't think i've got the removal keys to hand though so might have to get inventive lol. Shouldn't make any difference if i just pull them out from the amp though should it?

It could be getting interferance form another cable. Is you Amp bettery cable running along with your speakers cables? Most people recommend running speaker cables away from big power cables. Also do you have a supressor connected to your alternator? That could cause wining noises through your speakers as well
Just had a word with my neighbour who suggested the alternater suppressor might be the problem.

The power cable is on the passenger side of the car and RCA/switch leads on the drives side to keep interference dow, unless the higher power being drawn from the amp is causing the problem where it goes in to the interior where the rubber grommit is (following instructions from vxon guide is how it's installed) although i'm not sure if that's close to the speaker wires or not as i don't know how it's wired up internally :confused:

Other thing i've just noticed is that the subs are also making a slight noise when theres no sound being played as well. Not sure if it changes when i rev the engine cause i can't reach the pedal and have my ear in the boot at the same time lmao

Cheers!


Edit: Disconnecting the RCA leads and the amp still turns on etc but whiney noise has stopped from the front speaker... What does this mean then lol
 
#3 ·
It could be getting interferance form another cable. Is you Amp bettery cable running along with your speakers cables? Most people recommend running speaker cables away from big power cables. Also do you have a supressor connected to your alternator? That could cause wining noises through your speakers as well
 
#5 ·
ok, in basic terms your earth for the amp is inadequate,(reads cr-p).

earth should be made to the boot floor,(clean area back to bare metal, once connection is made and is tight, treat against corrosion). at present your amp could be trying to earth through the rca's,(lower resistance blah blah lol). does this new amp have more power than the older one, hence the need for a new power cable? have you also upgraded the amps earth to match? and have you fitted an extra batt earth to match your new power cable?
all the above steps will reduce resistance in the circuit and help avoid voltage drop.

now try it, if problem still persists then it would appear you have an earth track fault.

basically either your headunit or amp is earthing through the rca lead,(causing feedback).

to locate which channel is at fault, remove one lead at a time,(don't remove or replace rca's whilst system is on), once you locate which channel it is, turn the system on and whilst its playing hold the faulty ch's rca plugs outer sleeve,(earth), and the amps chassis,(steel bit, not the plastic cover if fitted), and note any change in the interference.

in the past i have come across a number of pioneer units that have required a modification to the headunits earthing to prevent noise promoted by earth track faults,(or you could pay to get it repaired).

to rectify this type of fault;
remove headunit from car, fit a direct earth from the headunits ISO loom to the cars bulkhead,(don't use the cars audio loom earth). on the rear of most units there is a mounting point for a rear support post/bracket, connect an earth from this point to the same bulkhead earth,(now the headunit has two earths).
the rca plugs outer sleeve,(on the faulty channel), should now be earthed to the headunits chassis,(but don't connect it direct to the chassis to bulkhead earth connection).

if you get to this point and your unsure of how to proceed, post again and i will attempt to explain it better.

HTH
 
#8 ·
Head unit is the panasonic CQ-5400n. Amp is a much larger upgrade from my old one, 300W RMS bridged to 2x 1000W RMS each channel. Thats why i used the larger power cable (didn't fancy setting car on fire) and also used the larger earth cable that came with it.

I just tried connecting a jump lead i used to start the cavalier earlier today from the earthing block to the nova, and added another lead from the earthing block to some metal in the boot and it was still making the noise.

When i disconnected each RCA from the head unit it still made the noise when either RCA was plugged in, when they were both unplugged it didn't. Could it be trying to earth on both RCA's?

The stuff i bought is viewable in this thread:
http://www.vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk/showthread.php?t=125745
and the leads and stuff i got are in this thread
http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/ice-security/314265-power-lead-puzzle.html
 
#9 ·
ah, your the one who questioned my response regarding your little wiring puzzle.

will now need to know how you decided to wire it up, and whether you heard it before you bought it?

just kiddinglmao

play the system and try touching both rca plugs outer sleeves with one hand and the amps chassis with the other hand,(use a metal part of the amp), does the whine change in pitch, or stop.

now in your situation i would fit the old amp using the new wiring,(i reckon you have a blown earth track in the amp), some can be remedied, the ones that can, will stop whining when touched in the above manner.

if the problem persists with the old amp i would imagine its a wiring issue,(ASSUMING YOU HAVEN'T REMOVED ANY RCA'S WHILST THE SYSTEM IS ON, headunits don't like this).

with regard the earth connection, again you should earth using the boot floor, this minimises the number of welds the current path has to pass through,(each weld adds resistance).
 
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