Static in my tweeter...sometimes

[dsw1204]

I am having an intermittent problem with my system. I am getting static out of my left front tweeter. I am not sure if I am getting static out of my left front midbass driver. The static is not constant and only happens for a short period of time, then goes away. This happens maybe once or twice a day.

My system consists of an Eclipse 55040 head unit, Morel Tempo Ultra 602 two-way component speakers for the front stage, Eclipse 6x9 speakers in back, and an Arc Audio KS900.6 6-channel amp. I am running passive and have no subwoofer.

I changed out the head unit with a NOS Eclipse CD8051. I was planning on doing this before the problem started to occur. I was hoping that maybe there was a short in the head unit and this would take care of the issue. At first, this seemed to solve the problem. But, yesterday, I started hearing the static again.

The Morel speakers are two months old, so I certainly hope they are not the cause. But, you just never know. I re-cabled my car with 12 gauge tinned Knuconceptz OFC wires about 5 years ago. I bought the amp about a year and a half ago. It was recently reconditioned by Arc before I purchased it.

Can anyone give me some ideas as to why I am getting this intermittent static? Your help will be greatly appreciated.

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[Massive spl]

Shlt I've had this problem for like 7years in my truck. Swapped amps/rca's. Tried grounding rca's and everything, nothing works lol I just deal with it because it will go away lol mine is only passenger side.

 

[dsw1204]

Are you still experiencing your intermittent static? Or, has it gone away?

 

[xr650jkallen]

I've got the same problem with my passenger side tweet. Mine only does it when I change songs though.

 

[dsw1204]

I've got the same problem with my passenger side tweet. Mine only does it when I change songs though.

What have you tried to alleviate the problem?

 

[xr650jkallen]

Grounded rcas, checked amp grounds, gave up after that lol

 

[dsw1204]

Well, I haven't been able to figure out the intermittent static problem in my left front tweeter. So, I acquired another amp. The amp I purchased is an Eclipse EA4000 that I paid $100 for. It is a new, unused amp that I found on Craigslist. I went with this amp mainly because of it's input sensitivity of up to 8 volts. My Eclipse CD8051 head unit puts out 8 volts, so I thought this would be a good amp. About the only drawback I could find on this amp is that it is not 2 ohm stable. But, I don't plan on bridging the amp or dropping down to 2 ohms in any scenario, so I figured that was a moot point (not being 2 ohm stable). But, I am just wondering how important it is to have my amp's input sensitivity to 8v since my head unit is 8v. Does it make that big a difference if my amp's input sensitivity was only 4v?

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

yes, if the previous amp had a 4V input max, you couldn't use higher HU volumes (>4V) without clipping. having an amp with an 8V input is a good thing. now you can use the full HU volume.

 

[dsw1204]

I figured it would be better to have the 8v input that the Eclipse amp has. What I find weird is what Arc Audio says about 8v head units and their amp which only has 4v input sensitivity. This is what they say:

"You're worried that your 8 volt output head unit will be too much for Arc Audio's 4v input stage?

Don't be.

Arc Audio's input stage is rated at 4 volts RMS at 1 Hz without clipping.

Music is very dynamic. Nothing like a 1KHz test tone. It would be rare to see a peak as high as a test tone. Furthermore, your head unit produces its output at full volume, but when you tune your system you always set the head unit to 70% to maximum volume."

Maybe my math is incorrect, but even at 70% that would turn the 8v output of the CD8051 into 5.6 volts, right (8v x .7 = 5.6v). So, the amp would still clip, wouldn't it?

Well, I never pushed the amp into clipping, anyhow. I play my music loud (when I'm alone in the car), but not crazy loud. I just thought Arc's explanation of using an 8v head unit with their amps was a little "off".

I'm just hoping this cures the intermittent static problem I am having.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

What arc is saying is that unless you use full volume on the head unit, the input signal is less than 8V. And because music is dynamic and has headroom, the individual frequencies are much less than full signal.

However, plenty of modern music is compressed and uses the full available bandwidth. Arc's explanation offers clipping in dynamic passages and things like cymbal crashes - which isn't a good idea.

You have the right thinking that you want to match the amp and hu.

Rich V.

 

[dsw1204]

What arc is saying is that unless you use full volume on the head unit, the input signal is less than 8V. And because music is dynamic and has headroom, the individual frequencies are much less than full signal.

However, plenty of modern music is compressed and uses the full available bandwidth. Arc's explanation offers clipping in dynamic passages and things like cymbal crashes - which isn't a good idea.

You have the right thinking that you want to match the amp and hu.

Rich V.

Just curious, what are your thoughts of the Eclipse EA4000 amp I just purchased? It's not overly powerful (75W x 4 RMS @4 ohms) but powerful enough for me. The only specification that seems on the weak side is the Damping Factor of >50db figure. I am not quite sure what damping factor is all about, but most reviews I've read on the EA4000 have been very good, regardless of that damping factor spec.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

sounds like an output might be going bad or somthing is bleeding into the output signal

 

---------- Post added at 12:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:58 AM ----------

 

Just curious, what are your thoughts of the Eclipse EA4000 amp I just purchased? It's not overly powerful (75W x 4 RMS @4 ohms) but powerful enough for me. The only specification that seems on the weak side is the Damping Factor of >50db figure. I am not quite sure what damping factor is all about, but most reviews I've read on the EA4000 have been very good, regardless of that damping factor spec.

not as good as the arc decent though

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Don't get to worries about specs. How does it sound?

Rich V.

 

[dsw1204]

Don't get to worries about specs. How does it sound?
Rich V.

Haven't installed it yet. Probably won't until after next week...Have a Florida vacation coming up in a couple of days.