Subs making thumping noise only on the highway?!

[steve101]

Hello everyone I had to make an account just for this problem in hopes you can all help me before im forced to take it to a professional and spend more money on the system.

Anyways, a few weeks ago I started getting a thumping noise from my subs similar to a heartbeat rhythm. It only happened when i maintained speeds higher than 60mph. I have a manual car and when I put it in neutral while on the highway the noise stops; put it back in gear and it starts again. After a few days it still persisted and at one point it even started thumping when the rpm rose over 2,000rpm regardless of speed. First I simply made sure all connections were tight. I moved the ground to another location on bare metal and finely secured it. This seemed to have helped it a little bit because the thumping noise is not as loud as before and it only happens again on the highway.

I have volt tested and ohm tested the grounds and battery. Everything checks out. I unplugged the RCA's and the noise still continues. I have the power wire separate from the RCA cables. I have no idea where this noise could be coming from and my worst fear is that the amp has gone.

What do you guys think : /

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[DubstepOCE]

I don't think its your amp. It sounds like a ground problem to me. I would say spend the money to do a big 3 upgrade (if you haven't already) and reground your battery and engine block. And while you're at it re ground your amp. Be sure to take a wire brush or get a drill attachment with a wire spool on it and clean off any paint or gunk off the surface you are grounding to otherwise you may keep having this problem. Best of luck and hope I might of helped!

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

IF you unplugged the rcas from the amplifier that is connected to all the subwoofers in the system, then a quick test would be to get some jumper cables and connect the ground terminal of your starting battery to the ground location you are using for that amplifier.

Make sure you are using the same cable since you are only doing ground to ground.

 

[steve101]

I will be upgrading the big 3 soon hoping that will help. I did reground the Amp to the chassis and stripped all the paint with a wire spool so the Amp ground is solid. Im thinking the problem is somewhere else in the car if the amp isn't the problem.

shizzzon can you clarify on that method? My amp is in the trunk with the subs, do i just put the black clamp on the negative battery terminal and the red clamp all the way in the back to the amp ground? What am I looking for when i do that?

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

No.. You are not connecting a battery, you are connecting a single polarity.

Connect the Ground clamp to ground terminal on battery and other Ground clamp to ground location of amplifier.

When you said you pulled the RCAs and it still makes noise, that means either the ground is bad or the amplifier is bad.

It's getting no signal so it can only be one of those 2 things.

(This is of course assuming you are not using a lineout on your amplifier either)