I finally got my new amp, an MTX404, it replaces my old SOUNDSTREAM 305. All I did was swap it out, now I hear a whinning noise. I thinik that it's alternator noise. My previous problem was not the "GHETTO WIRING" as someone put it. The Soundstream was nearly 10 years old, THAT"S RIGHT 10 years and still WAS going strong. My new question is how or what do i do to eleminate the alternator noise? Should I replace the RCA cables or check for a faulty ground from the head unit? Please advise....
THANKS IN ADVANCE

 

well,, you can alwayz go to radioshack and buy a noise filter.. it connects to the back of your HU.. for me it works 80% of the time..

 

Try a different ground.

 

when there is a whining noise a very good percent of the time it is a ground problem. do like you mentioned and check your hu ground. if it's not there try cleaning and retightening all of your grounds. since that doesn't cost anything i'd do it first then try new rcas, and make sure they're as far away from your power wire as possible. you shouldn't need a noise filter if you do those things since they're usually the problem.

 

if the noise gets louder as you are increasing speed then you might have to run the wires seperate.(wires from head unit that go to amp cannot be together) try running them on seperate sides of car. (one on driver the other passenger.) oh and try a different ground as well.

 

Thanks. I will try to do just that this weekend.

 

just need a better ground

 

Ever since I started running a ground wire from the head unit to the amps ground, I havent had this engine noise problem. If you ground your devices in different spots on the chassis, they can have a voltage potential. That can introduce the noise. As a practice, ground all your active components at the same spot(away from other wiring).

Good luck
Spy