White Noise from Speakers

[Tyler Fields]

Hey all, just put in some new JBL speakers to replace my HiFonics ones. Prior to this, i noticed some white noise coming from the speakers regardless of the input mode selected on my headunit, I thought this might be because my speakers were 4 years old and ready to quit.



After the swap the noise is still there, wondering what it could be.



My setup in case that has something to do with it:



JBL P8662 - 2 way speakers in front

HiFonics Zues - 3 way speakers in rear

Clarion CZ500 Headunit

JBL 770w mono sub amp

HiFonics 4 channel speaker amp (powering all 4 speakers)

Rockford Fosgate Prime R2's - 10" shallow mounts.

 

[Rick Shellenbarger]

My first thought is a bad ground on your head unit or amp. Whenever I do a stereo install, I don't use the factory ground, because its linked in with a bunch of other grounds and can create noise.



Check your amp ground first... Two things, first make sure the ground wire is bolted to the frame (I always use one of the rear seat bolts in a Sport trac because its a good ground source and its easy, no need to drill new holes, if it's just installed with a small self tapping screw it may not be grounding properly. Second, is your ground wire at least the same size as your power wire? I ask because I always see setups with a 4/6 gauge power wire and a 6/8 gauge ground. The ground should be at least the same size as the power wire, sometimes bigger. This helps tremendously with things like overheating and such.



Head unit ground are sometimes on the same ground as the power outlets, and they are dirty. If it's not your amp, try running the head unit ground to a bolt going into something metal (that is connected to the body, which pretty much everything metal under the dash is a decent ground for a head unit).



Anyway, that's where I'd start.

 

[Rick Shellenbarger]

If its not a ground issue, I'd tap my fingers around the amps connections and settings switches... Could be a dirty rheostat (sp?) or bad connections (solder) causing the noise. tapping them should cause the noise to get louder or go away if theres a weak connection inside the amp.

 

[Tyler Fields]

Both my amps are grounded to the passenger side 2/3 rear seat mounting bolts, I don't think its that. When I did the install I sanded and made sure there was bare metal connections, then after I grounded the cables and bolted the seat back up I sealed it all up with some silicon spray. That was 2 years ago. All my power wires are 2 gauge and same as the grounds...



I'll have to pic through the headunit wiring harness and find the ground and see where it leads and change it up. That may be the issue. I double checked to make sure my RCA's and power wires weren't near each other, I know that can cause road noise, and when I did the install I was smart and ran them down separate sides of the vehicle. So I ruled that out. Its weird, if I turn the volume up it doesnt get louder, but if it's just on one or really low I can hear it. When I turn it down to 0 it stops. It must be my speaker amp or something to do with that if its not a headunit ground..



Thanks for the input:banana:

 

[Tyler Fields]

Figured out my problem (I think). I was messing with my balance and fader the other day and realized that the right side speakers were the ones putting out the white noise. That tells me that there is interference from my power wires for my amps and the RCAs!

 

[EddieS'04]

I like white noise,,,soothing....:cheeky: