Why do I have speaker noise???

wickedwake 05-29-2005, 9:05 PM

I hooked up 4 tower speakers and an amp up in the boat this weekend. When the volume is down you can hear white noise coming through the speakers. I have the power and RCA cables seperated so I dont think that is the culprit. I do have the speaker wires budled with the power and ground cables for about 3', could that be it?

Other than that are their any other things that could be making the noise? thanks! Clay

(zaner1) · (zaner1) **Join Date: Apr 2004** 05-30-2005, 4:38 PM

I had same thing with mine and it was the amps. Luckily still under warranty.

(jklein) · (jklein) **Join Date: May 2001** 05-31-2005, 8:51 AM

I would run an extra ground cable from your battery negative terminal directly to the chassis of the head unit.

wickedwake 05-31-2005, 12:55 PM

Yes I was told that the ground directly to the battery would cause noise. Problem is I cant really find any metal to ground to. It seems that most metal just connects to fiberglass. Can you ground it to somewhere on the engine?

(l1spoogy) · (l1spoogy) **Join Date: Jun 2004** 05-31-2005, 2:01 PM

Clay - You need to make sure your amp and head unit are grounded in the same place. What you are hearing is cause by a ground loop. All grounds are not created equal and any voltage difference between them will cause the noise you are hearing.

Ground your amp and head unit in the same place and the noise will disappear.

wickedwake 05-31-2005, 2:27 PM

They are, both are grounded to the - terminal on the battery. Any other suggesions? Is the battery a bad spot for a ground? Any other ground we have tried does not work.

(chas) · (chas) **Join Date: Feb 2002** 05-31-2005, 2:48 PM

Clay,
Have you ran a dedicated power to the head unit? Might help.

(l1spoogy) · (l1spoogy) **Join Date: Jun 2004** 05-31-2005, 2:49 PM

Clay,
Do you have anything else in your system that is not grounded in the same spot. Another amp or equalizer maybe?

wickedwake 05-31-2005, 4:11 PM

Nope. 4 speakers going to the RF 500.2 amp. Amp and H/U are grounded to the - terminal on the battery. Would having the speaker wires and ground/power wires touching affect anything? The sound is DEFINETLY not coming from the RCA's.

Where do you find metal ground on a boat???

(l1spoogy) · (l1spoogy) **Join Date: Jun 2004** 05-31-2005, 4:16 PM

Clay,
Very interesting. Usually there is a ground bus somewhere under the dash where all your electronics are grounded. Follow one of the negative wires from one of your gauges and you should be able to find the ground bar. It should have one terminal straight from the battery connected as well as a bunch of smaller wires connected to it.

I would try grounding both your amp and head unit to that.

Also try running your HU power to the same place as the amp.

Your speaker wires should be going to the amp and not ground.

(Message edited by l1spoogy on May 31, 2005)

wickedwake 05-31-2005, 4:19 PM

10-4. I will be going to the lake this weekend so no looks until then. The boat is an '84 model. So I hope it has a ground bar LOL.

Thanks for your help! Clay

(jklein) · (jklein) **Join Date: May 2001** 05-31-2005, 4:46 PM

I have my HU and my amps all grounded to the auxilary battery's negative terminal. I also added an additional ground wire that runs from the auxilary battery's negative terminal to a screw on the back of the HU chassis. I did this because some head units run the HU ground through the FM antenna expecting that the FM antenna will be bolted to the automobile's metal body. There's no metal in a boat, so the HU's normal ground through the FM antenna connector does not work well.

I was having trouble keeping my HU up and running reliably until I ran the extra ground. Now I have no problems. It's certainly worth a try. Just run an external wire as a test and see if it helps.