I have a 5-ch Infinity Kappa and I get the "whine". I just haven't gotten around to getting the filter yet. I think I'll get it from Crutchfield. Does it install right off the alternator? Thanks

 

Infinity Kappa amps should NOT whine. They may not be the best amps out there, but they're certainly not bad, and as long as the install is good, they should never be the cause of system whine.

Running signal cables next to the power wire isn't good, but usually doesn't cause whine. (Other problems, yes. Whine? Not usually.) The EM field generated by the remote turn-on lead isn't enough to do any serious interference, though.

I'd say that most of the time, if you're getting whine in your system, it's a poor ground. Either the deck or the amp is not grounded properly. A potential voltage difference between the amplifier's ground point and the deck's ground point will also cause the ground to act as an antenna and pick up all kinds of noise, the most prominent being alternator whine. If you drive under high-tension wires, you may also pick up that 60 Hz hum.

 

Dan useually I concur with most of your replies but this one is way off RCA's running next to power and ground wires will cause wine and 45% of the time that is the problem same with the remote wire no matter what the size of wire it carries the same amount of power just the rate it travels is slower due too the size (gauge). Poor grounds yes do cause wine but so does everything I stated above and there should be no need for a filter no matter what kinda amp you have even if you bought one from Wal-Mart for $50 unless the install is bad or the amp is bad from jump. So again I do concur with your post about the ground wire but strongly disagree with your statement on the RCA's

 

Well, seeing as how it's been more than 10 years since I've run signal cables anywhere near power cables, I'll admit that my memory on the matter may be clouded.

But the remote turn-on lead isn't running the same amount of power. A few miliamps at most is all that the remote lead should ever be running. In terms of noise, we treat wires at radio antennas, and the amount of POWER (ie: wattage) is what determines it's broadcast strength.

The power lead is "broadcasting" as a function of the power of the amplifier draw, and usually is broadcasting a "signal" that is an analogue of the music material that is being amplified. If a stiffening capacitor is used, the signal is buffered somewhat. Theory (and what I remember) is that you should get a muted feedback loop to the signal wires running in close proximity to the power wire. This is different from alternator whine, which varies in pitch with engine RPM. The sound is similar, but does not vary with engine RPM. With 50A average draw, at 12V the broadcast strength is signifigant enough to cause about 0.0125V feedback signal strength. With 0.5V RCA outputs (Does anyone actually use those anymore?) that amounts to subtracting about 20 dB from the S/N ratio. (Yeah, it sucks!) With 4V leads, it subtracts 11 dB from the S/N ratio. (It still sucks!) -- By the way, this is why high voltage pre-outs are better than lower voltage ones! smile.gif

The remote turn on lead does not carry the same amount of power, so it does not have the transmission power to make such a large impact on the voltage levels within the cables. Minimal sheilding should take care of it.

Still, you're right. I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that. Chalk it up to a brain fart.


The remote turn-on lead, by comparison

 

You have a very nice deck. good quality for the buck. I also have one and it does alot more than decks with more money...

As system goes .. check out jlaudio.com . i spend three days at that web site before i spend another penny on a sound system. amp your speakers and subs with good amps.. ALWAY BUILD YOUR SYSTEM AROUND GOOD AMPLIFIERS.. my personal choice is the jl 300/4 for speaker and jl 500/1 for subs but that lots $$$$ ... i have the jl 250/1 and an alpine 307 amps . i am very happy with them. less money but i love the sound in my car. DO SOME READ AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF . it is your money and it should be spend well the way you want with some knownledge. GOOD LUCK !!!!!! HAVE FUN PUTTING A SYSTEM TOGETHER !!!!

 

ok,... im going to tear my car up soon.
i have a first gen

Whats the proper way of doing this???
I have 2 legacy 1000 watt amps
a pre amp (brand unknown)
2 12" pioneer 800 watts
2 6x9 pioneer 260 watts
2 6" pioneer 260 watts
plus,... you guess it pioneer head unit

ok im going to be running four cables from the head unit to the preamp on the drivers side (on the doors side).
4 front speaker cables on the passenger side running parallel with the remote and power wire.

Will the front speakers give me a whine??? or is it just the amp cables that are effected??? Do i really have to switch the remote to the other side???

one more question,...lol
My 12 inch speakers are 8 ohm and 2 ohm. They have a possible of 2 connections (2 positives and 2 negatives)

I heard that if i use just one of the connections on each speaker and bridge them they will become 4ohms??
Can you enlighten me on this
i currently have everything at 4 ohms
thanx
jaws99
(i know you will probably respond to this first)

 

Ok I will do this in a couple of post since there are so many questions and I can't remeber them all j/k just bare with me. As far as your wires go here is what to do.

1) Keep rca's at least 3 feet away from power and ground.

2) Try to keep the remote wire away from the rca's it's not as big as the main power but is recommended if you could try to run the power and remote toghter.

3) Keep all wires away from stock wiring since the stock wiring is not well sheilded it will pick up signals produced from the ground and power so keep them away.

4) Do not cross the power and ground wire if you do have to only cross them at a 90 degree angle to eliminate noise

5) Make sure your ground is a really good one and to bare metal sand paint off if you have to to obtain this and contrary to beleive you don't have to run it all the way up to the battery where evr you can find a great ground is fine I grounded mine to a bolt underneath the back seat on the driver side.

6) If you have the time electrical tape over the metal at the ends of the rca's that conect to the radio I found by doing this it elimates some added noise cause there are so many wires and electrical components in your dash this just gives extra sheilding so plug them in to the radio and then tape over the top.
Ok not what do you mean you have 2 preamps in your car do you mean an eq, x-over I am not sure what you mean so I don't want to respond with the wrong answer and screw you up. Well, that's it for this post no I will read and respond to the rest, Sorry I have a bad memory.

 

Ok the subs have 4 connections 2 on each side this is because the subs you have are dual voice coil and the positive and negative on each side is to power both voice coils. You could either wire the sub to give you a 4 ohm load out of each and 8 or a 2 or you can wire them in series to also give you an eray of ohm options if you need help wiring them I will help you cause it can be tricky. but again please let me know what you mean about the preamps.

 

thanx for responding
by preamp i mean that thing that goes before an amp that allows you to adjust the bass, treble, power, ect

its weird cause my legacy amps allow me to do this as well.
The preamp also allows me to split the REAR RCA cables (2 for 6x9s and 2 for 12")
i can also adjust the bass, treble ECT,... on each of them

ok i got the hang of the wiring. Im going to pass on the passenger side (the power, and remote)
drivers side (4 rca cables, 4 front speaker wires, and,... thats it)
My ground is a 3 screws that are just bolted into the trunk (yes its ghetto), previous owner did it.
ok as for the ohm thing
I have one amp (4channel) just for the 2 12"s
i was planning to have 2 extra 6X9's by now, but a stupid tree made me change my mind.
So the amp is dedicated to 12's for now. Should i, use the amp as 2 channels, (500watts for each) or should i just use 2 of the 4 channels and supply 250 watts to the 800 watt speakers.

by the way, these 12's are the 2ohm and 8 ohm
I HAVE NO CLUE how to wire these.
i currently have them connected on one side of the speaker TO 2 channels of the amp
they are bridged so im using the amp as a 2channel amp, but just using one channel.
i heard that if you bridge an 8 ohm speaker it becomes 4

ok thats it, i know i lost most people along the way, its ok
im lost to
Mr Jaws, can you shed some light on this
BTW, you got mail