Just had an aftermarket sound system put in and ever since the amp was hooked up to the speakers I've been getting alternator whine. Tried a ground loop isolator and it still didnt solve the problem. Any suggestions? Alpine speakers in the door and rear, with 12in subwoofer in the trunk and a 4 channel amp powering the sub and speakers. Still have the factory radio in.

 

Are your signal lines or amp signal wire run next to your power wire? This can cause interference, with you signal wires and give you feedback through the amp/speakers.

I've always run mine on seperate sides of the exhaust tunnel to make sure this never happens.

 

Yes the RCA's and the power wire is ran on separate sides of the car

 

What about the wire that gets the signal from the radio to turn it on?

 

You also might want to check the ground connection. Make sure it's connected to bare metal.

 

A couple things:
-GROUND is 90% of the time the problem with induced noise like that. Make sure the terminal on the end of your ground wire is on tight, and make sure it is very tightly bolted directly to BARE metal on the chassis.
-Bob, the signal wire that turns the amp on is a very very low voltage wire(hence why it can be so small), that simply sends a signal for the main power circuit in the amp to kick on. I highly doubt that is inducing any kind of interference.

 

Trust me, I've seen that wire cause problems before. Just like the power wires next to the RCA's.

Ps. I work a Polk Audio ;-)

 

That wire is also ran with the power wire. The only two things I can think of that is not mentioned here so far; bad RCA's or the head unit is causing the disturbance. I've read somewhere that the head unit in the mini puts out a balanced ground and the amp may not pick that up. Now I've only read that in one place so I'm not completely sold on the creditably of that statement.

 

Congratulations, I work for the city planning department, that doesn't mean I know how to build sky scrapers, "account manager".

I don't know your real world installation experience any more than you know mine. Don't throw **** like who you work for around like it means you know all and I'm an idiot.

I personally have never seen an instance where the low voltage remote lead would cause any kind of interference.

And in today's world, if you're using quality interconnects, you should, in theory, be able to run the main power wire right along side the RCA interconnects with absolutely no noise induction. Any quality wire nowadays is shielded properly to prevent this.

Now that I've replied to Mr. Polk audio himself, more to contribute to the actual post:
-ground ground ground(yes I already said it lol)
-Low quality or bad RCA cables/ends
-Possibly an issue with the solder joints on the RCA connector in the amp itself
-possible issue with the Line Output Converter or it's connections, or where and how it's connected (I'm assuming since it's been mentioned, you're using the factory head unit with a converter)

 

Congrats on being rude for no reason, not sure what stunk up your day. I was just stating the fact that I work there to note some sort of credibility and I'm not taking stabs in the dark.

Most "kits" that places use to install these systems are crap wiring, hence the reason why I suggested that. It is 100% a possibility.

Now take your internet attitude elsewhere..... :-)

 

Was that really necessary Mr GT?... Take your angst somewhere else.

 

I took "I work for Polk" as a pretty cocky, "I would know better than you" kind of statement. Sorry if I misread.

 

I work for Boeing.. BFD! I think that there is a level of decorum that needs to be adhered to, on forums such as these.

 

HEY!!! I don't work at all, so I've already learned everything. Lol

Seriously, take a hard look at the RCA's and the amp.

 

Messed with it more today. Replaced the RCA's. re grounded, put every filter and ground loop isolator known to man on it. Nothing worked. I'm assuming if I just hook my speakers back up to the headunit and take them off of the amp it will solve the problem. Or do I assume to much?

 

What brand of amp is it? Model number, etc would help.

 

I'm with Bob on that one, what amp is it?
If you've done the troubleshooting to rule out everything else:
-bad interconnects
-bad ground(I don't recall you mentioning where it's grounded and how?)
-bad line output converter
-noise induction from power sources

then the next culprit to look into would be the amp. I've seen bad solder joints inside the amp where the receptacles solder to the board. It could be other internal components as well, obviously, but I can't stress enough on triple checking the ground.

 

Those line out converters are goofy, maybe it's faulty. Even a slight malfunction in it could cause the amplification of interference.

Where is your ground located and how long is the wire? Also what gauge are you running and what is the power rating to your amp?

The last thing we really need to know is what amp your running. Unfortunately, some companies run lower quality components to cut costs.