Whine.. and will not stop

[ShagggDiesel 25]

I have a really bad alternator whine. I have a JVC HU with only ONE RCA output. I'm running 2 separate amplifiers: 1 for Sub, 1 for Mids/Highs. Since my unit only has 1 pre-out, I bought some RCA splitters and just ran 2 sets of RCA's from the HU to the rear, sharing the signal between the 2 amps. I then found that there was quite a bit of whine.. However, when I would unplug the RCA's from the bass amp, the whine would disappear. "Ok, bad cable." So I switched the RCA's to see if that was the case, to find that there was still a whine whenever the bass amp RCA's were in. Which makes no sense because the signal plays fine from the mid/high amp without the bass amp RCA's in, no matter which cable was in. So confused, I made the assumption that maybe splitting the signal was somehow "straining?" the unit by doing so. So I cancelled the splitters, and just ran 1 set of RCA's to the rear into the sub amp, then used the outputs from that amp to run the other set of RCA's over to the mid/high amp. (I would have done this in reverse but my mid/high amp does't have pre-outs). Crossing my fingers, I turn on my car, only to hear that god-awful whine.

At this point I'm just beyond confused. The only time I have whine is when the sub amp has RCA's connected, even though the signal from the sub amp has nothing to do with the signal going to the mid/high amp. Does anyone know where to go as far as troubleshooting from here?

[Shogen 325]

I think this will get said alot.. But did you check your grounds??

[Kanaworm$ 292]

What is your sub amp?

[Kanaworm$ 292]

Try adding another ground from your HU chassis to a bolt or spot on the vehicle body metal. Sometimes the factory ground can have multiple oem electronics using the same point and can cause a ground loop.

[ShagggDiesel 25]

Sub amp - Hifonics Brutus 2610

I will try a new ground.. but that still doesn't really explain why this only happens with the sub amp plugged in I don't think?

[Kanaworm$ 292]

Might be a problem with your amp as well, Something internally may have gone bad. Double check the ground connection on the amp and RCA input jacks.

[ShagggDiesel 25]

I've checked the ground. Secure. How do I go about testing the input jacks?

[Kanaworm$ 292]

Wiggle them lightly on the amp to see if the whine gets better or worse. Same with the ground.

[Elton 2]

for fun try grounding the rca's at the deck

[wizart72 0]

have you tryed re routing the rca wires? make sure the rcas are not running close to a electical harnes or you pos cables from your amp. its worth a shot.

[kotyk 0]

hey man...do you have the rcs'a and your power wire side by side? if so run the rca's on the opposite side of your power wires!! this will stop the whine!

[mariobjones 5]

Check RCAs on amp, shake em to see if it changes. Also, I would with an different amp!! Might be an problem inside amp also, experienced that myself. And if you believe it's the RCAs behind head unit, you may wanna ground them. Can I ask what type of RCAs your running, and highs amp?

[ShagggDiesel 25]

RCA's are ran on opposite side of vehicle. Nothing changed when I wiggled them at the amp inputs. The head unit is grounded securely, not stock location. I'm pretty sure they are monster RCA's. The mid/high amp Is a temporary 400 watt dual until my 100.4 comes through. I've used it for a while with no whine until this hifonics was installed. It will play a clear signal without whine when the sub amp is not connected to RCA's. My only guess is that something in the amp is wrong.

Question: how do you ground RCA cables?

[ulrisa 26]

RCA's are ran on opposite side of vehicle. Nothing changed when I wiggled them at the amp inputs. The head unit is grounded securely, not stock location. I'm pretty sure they are monster RCA's. The mid/high amp Is a temporary 400 watt dual until my 100.4 comes through. I've used it for a while with no whine until this hifonics was installed. It will play a clear signal without whine when the sub amp is not connected to RCA's. My only guess is that something in the amp is wrong.

Question: how do you ground RCA cables?

When I grounded my RCA's I used a couple of couplers. I soldered a wire with an ring terminal on the other end to the coupler, securely grounded the coupler, and plugged the coupler into the head unit and rca into the coupler. Another crude way of doing this is looping wire around the rca output on your head unit and plugging the rca in so it makes a snug connection between the shield and the head unit chassis. You can also ground near the amp, but if the head unit is causing the noise it's better to ground at the output. It sounds like the bass amp might be your issue however. For a quick test, just take a piece of wire and touch it to the rca's shield and then to some sort of ground. Hope you get your issue fixed, I absolutely hate alternator whine and it plagued me for a while (damn pico fuse in pioneers).

[ShagggDiesel 25]

Well I've tried pretty much everything now.. Just got a ground loop isolator to run my RCA's through hoping that would help. but nothing. I'm guessing there's just a problem within the amps inputs. *sigh*

[Dictator1992 6]

hey man...do you have the rcs'a and your power wire side by side? if so run the rca's on the opposite side of your power wires!! this will stop the whine!

hm...might be the problem with my sedan ran all my rcas next to my 1/0 guage wire