RCA cables matter?

polil0

Junior Member
Hey, I have a clarion touchscreen deck and a 90W rms X4 4 channel amp running my JL audio C2 speakers. I understand that I am overpowering my speakers a bit but I don't really think that affects anything that I am having issues with. So first, when I turn the deck on there is a staticy sound which takes the volume turned up to about 8 (1/5 what the volume goes up) to cover the sound with music. I actually used some old stinger cables that I happened to find in my shop to go from the deck to the amp. Is this what is causing the static sound? thanks.

 
I'v went through all my connections first to see and everything looks good. No, my battery is in the rear of the car therefor the power cable don't go near the RCA's. And how would you go about grounding an RCA? I'v seen some with little connectors coming out of the ends beside them..is that the ground? Mine don't have that so is there anyway to ground them? or should I invest in better cables...

 
he's suggesting you take a wire and ground the shield on one of the RCA's at the head unit. This is a "fix" for Pioneer head units. if the RCA shield loses continuity with signal ground inside the head unit, you can get noise from the amplifier losing it's reference. Only Pioneer is known for that problem.

when the car is running, do you get an alternator whine or does the noise change pitch or volume with different engine speeds?

did you ground the head unit to chassis or factory wiring harness? i ground head units to chassis when installing amps.

if the RCA's are compromised, they can cause issues. you can use your DMM to measure resistance between the center pin and the shield on each RCA (disconnected on both ends).

you can try giving the amp a signal from a portable mp3 player to verify if the issue is a ground loop or the head unit or amp.

are these new or used components? make/model of the amp?

 
The components are about 6 months old. And I have the deck grounded through factory ground. So basically ground the **** out of everything and go from there? Ill try plugging my ipod straight to the amp and see how it sounds. Oh and my amp is a Clarion XH5410.

 
I'd say ground the headunit better my car has the stock harness and a ground strap, at first I used just the harness ground and noticed some noise then used the strap in combination with the harness and the problem was gone

 
Oh, and no, my alternator seems to be holding out well, and no volume issues or dimming until its turned right up with the 900W rms subs playing too.
He's not asking if your alternator is going out, he's asking if you're having alternator noise, basically asking if the noise is gone when the engine is off but music is playing, or if when you rev engine up a little bit (basically alternator putting more power out) if the noise increases

To ground RCA's, do this:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/iipcache/76310.jpg

So the power lines running to the rear battery are on other side of car as the RCA's? As in, power line going to battery on passenger side, and RCA's on driver's side? or vice versa?

I agree with dumple, ground RCA's, and if that doesnt do the trick, plug a mp3 player or something straight into amp in the back to rule out headunit/rca cable/etc

 
Well then no, the sound does not differ when the engine is revving. Nothing changes that sound. And my amps are mounted on the back of the rear seats and the battery is in the very rear of the trunk so the RCAs go a different direction then the power wires. nowhere near each other. When I get home tonight, I will ground my head unit and the cables,

-thanks

 
cool, grounded the headunit and the sound is gone! I have no idea what the difference between the factory ground and your own ground could possibly be but it worked! thanks guys

 
Yeah grounds are always a problem if they are not good. RCAs do make a difference in sound quality and they are one of the few things that you can purchase quality gear and it doesn't cost all that much. Might be worth your while to invest 20$ in some nice RCA/patch cords.

 
the factory ground wire is small and goes to a thin piece of metal in the dash with a lot of other grounds. the noise you had was the result of a potential difference between the head unit and the amplifier - i.e. too much resistance.

glad that worked for you.

 
on a side note...

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/iipcache/76310.jpg

That is not an elegant solution.

Now it looks like i need to provide an image worth linking to... and this is pretty much only for Pioneer head units. It's not a fix for everything and not a good idea unless you specifically have an open circuit on the RCA shield. You shouldn't recommend this blindly.

I buy RCA's with good head shells that are two pieces. i avoid molded RCA cables. I want to be able to get in there if necessary. Streetwires has some RCA's with nice, small headshells that are easy to use. I recently installed a Monster Cable 6 channel RCA (one common body for most of the run). And straight from the factory, one of the sets had the center pin and shield connected. poor quality control.

 
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