speaker install in an ek.

[munkaii]

Hopefully someone here can help me out as I've been doing my head in for the last few days trying to simply wire up a set of Jaycar 6.5" splits + Jaycar 4x100 response amp to an EK.

This is what I've done/tried:

1. First time around, I wired up the speakers and tweeters to crossover, ran wiring to the back for the amp. RCA cables down one side of the car, power cables and remote down the other side of the car.

When the ignition was turned 1 click, the amp worked like a charm. When I started the car I got heaps of whining noises that matched revs.

Checked the power/memory/remote wiring between the car and the head unit. Checked that amp was grounded properly. Looked okay to me.

2. Tried a ground loop isolator filter. Plugged it in and had a very big deterioration in signal strength, though slightly less noise. It filtered out all my midbass so I was practically hearing tweeters only.

3. Took it to an audio shop to get it rewired and got it back a few hours later. The whine was still there but they had made it more bearable. They said the amp I had was probably faulty. RCA + Remote was run down the middle of the car, power run along the side and grounded to chassis.

4. Took it all home and played around with it for a while. Speakers were whining even without a signal source in when the car was started. Eventually found that boost settings were way too high, put them very low and so on idle without a signal source, the amp is fine. Large amounts of noise occur when a signal source is plugged in. I tried the Pioneer headunit I had and then I tried a RCA->3.5mm adapter to a mp3 player. Pioneer unit gave off lots more whine than the mp3 player. However, even if I plugged in an RCA without a source on the end of it, the noise level increased slightly. (my theory is that the remote wire from the head unit is triggering the noise and I think it may be HU at fault but not sure).

Anyone able to help out? sorry for the long read. It's a massive pain in the arse.

[Bludger]

http://www.the12volt.com/

have a look on there, lots of useful information, not sure if you'll find what you're after, but they would certainly be more helpful than here.

[integraz]

Is the jaycar amp used?

I'm guessing it's a faulty amp.

[OzSir2]

A lot of the noise problems are related to poor grounding. Is the amp grounded to a very bare metal surface? If yes, perhaps your RCAs are crap. There is info on the net about grounding your RCAs if you don't want to try using better RCAs.

Also is the head unit grounded to metal rather than using the existing negative wire?

[d_ice]

if you're positive your ground is good and you're using appropriate wire size for it (ie if you have a 4awg cable powering the amp, use a 4awg cable for ground). if you're positive your amp and headunit are good then it's most likely your RCAs especially if they're cheap ones, they're prone to faulting... i say buy/borrow a decent 'thick' set $30+ to just see if they make a difference or not, basic fault finding

[euro_tr4sh]

your earth track on the head unit is fried.... common fault with pioneer head units, wrap a peice of bare wire around the rca outputs on the back of the head unit and it should cear up any noise, that or take it to have the earth tracks repaired, should be roughly an hours labour for any repairer

[zeus_civic]

From your description, sounds like both your amp and the headunit are faulty. If the amp's under warranty then take it back to Jaycar.

If your Pioneer is a model before 2006, then the chances are your pico-fuse inside the headunit's blown. You can either get it repaired from a Pioneer dealer or google 'Pioneer Pico-fuse' and you can find a fix that's suitable for you. The method euro_tr4sh suggested is the easiest way without opening up the headunit but it didn't work well for me when I tried on mine so instead I opened up the headunit and replaced the pico-fuses with 2 resistors. Now no more engine whine of any kind.

[munkaii]

Thanks for the tips guys. I will try them as soon as I have time. For now, I managed to get a weaker amp working with the sound system and only get a small buzz from the headunit, no actual alternator whining noise. Though the amp being used is about 1/4 as powerful. Will try all tips and get back with answers.