What is this noise???

Lately i've been gettin a lot of ambient noise coming through my speakers in my car. It matches with the rev's of my car, like if the rev's are high it is high pitched and so forth. But, the thing is that it only happens randomly. One shop said that it mite be my battery but my batter doesn't seem TOO weak. Could it be anything else like speaker wires or amp and sub wires?? Thanx:bloated:

Originally posted by HookdUpTeg99
Lately i've been gettin a lot of ambient noise coming through my speakers in my car. It matches with the rev's of my car, like if the rev's are high it is high pitched and so forth. But, the thing is that it only happens randomly. One shop said that it mite be my battery but my batter doesn't seem TOO weak. Could it be anything else like speaker wires or amp and sub wires?? Thanx:bloated:

are you sure its the speakers?
one thing to try is to mute the stereo and listen for the sound.. if its there... it makes me think a somethign has a bad ground.

I had that happen once and I was told to replace my spark plub wires and that fixed it, or you can also get a noise filter from radio shack or something and that will work. :)

it could be a lot of things, check the battery ground, make sure you run your RCA's and speaker wires on seperate sides of the car, could be messed up spark plug wires also known as radio suppression wires, could even be your intake.

Originally posted by kicker1_solo
I had that happen once and I was told to replace my spark plub wires and that fixed it, or you can also get a noise filter from radio shack or something and that will work. :)

interesting..;)
yea, a noise filter should fix the problem. if not, then you bought a cheap filter:D :finger:

Uhhhh, dont buy a filter -- its a cheap "band aid" fix and a total waste seeing as your problem probably lies in something that is something you can do which costs you nothing -- so why pay to just "patch over" the problem when you can fix it for good?

First off you need to locate the problem... start by checking to see where the amplifier power wire and amp RCA cables are run -- they should be run at LEAST 18" apart but preferably on opposite sides of the car. If the power wire goes down the PASSENGER side near the ECU, have the shop swap sides as this can cause noise.

Now for the real test...

1. Turn your car on
2. Turn your stereo on
3. Listen for the sound, is it there? Rev the motor -- what about now?
4. if the sound is there, unplug the RCA cables on the amp
5. Rev motor again... can you still hear the sound?
- if so, your RCAs need to be moved or replaced with better cables
- also check the alternator, if it is only "temporary" or occasional noise, this could be a sign of impending damage -- make sure its giving out the correct current though all the RPM's
6. Check all your grounds and crimps -- a bad crimp can actually lead to noise entering a system :eek:


Good luck! :smoka:

or if you wanna go overrated..get one of those Rockford Fosgate "gamma riot" RCA wires. they claim to have no noise:rolleyes:
just do wat sparq said. if that doesn't work..then your only hope is to get a filter. and if it still doesn't work..take out your sound system and you should be fine:D :cool:

Originally posted by crxlvr
make sure you run your RCA's and speaker wires on seperate sides of the car.

I see that old wives tale is still alive and kicking. To disprove it is easy ...... Turn the volume ALL the way down - is the noise still there ? of course it is ! How much power do you think is going thru the power wire, the RCA's or the speakers wires ? Only what the car is radiating - which obviously NOT coming from any of the stereo components

Originally posted by PaulD's_revenge


I see that old wives tale is still alive and kicking. To disprove it is easy ...... Turn the volume ALL the way down - is the noise still there ? of course it is ! How much power do you think is going thru the power wire, the RCA's or the speakers wires ? Only what the car is radiating - which obviously NOT coming from any of the stereo components

what happen to your other username?:confused:

I have Riot Gamma wire, I think it only touts no crosstalk cuz of the way it's wired, not that it is shielded any better from other outside sources (apparently wires crossing at near 90 degree angles cause no crosstalk).

it wouldn't let me on with my old name :zx11pisse

the only (RCA) cables that work are the ones that have NO braided sheilding.

Originally posted by PaulD's_revenge
the only (RCA) cables that work are the ones that have NO braided sheilding. Oh the only ones that work are the ones with NO braided sheilding? Try telling that to all the people winning SQ tournaments with Definition II RCA cable....

we were talking about cars that had noise problems ........ some cars/installs don't have that problem, so they are free to use a wider variety of cables

Originally posted by PaulD's_revenge
we were talking about cars that had noise problems ........ some cars/installs don't have that problem, so they are free to use a wider variety of cables Um, you said that the only ones that work are the ones with NO braided sheilding... and so you know your CAT5 computer wire RCA cables is a crap idea too man. Stop giving bad advice to peeps :o

http://www.installer.com/tech/cat5.html
j00 my friend, have been OwNzEd! :finger:

Eddie Runner strikes again .......... I thought I had seen the last of the guy, but I guess he still lives - to anyone who will listen. The reason he was kicked off of carsound is because he flamed pretty much everyone in sight AND the sponsors (manufactures) got a little antsy. The sponsors axed the capacitor thread on there too .... cuz Clark proved certain ones were worthless (and yes, Richard can be rather arrogant in there). It's hard to say whether Eddie's research is genuine, but I have fixed a few cars with home-made UTP's (before I knew about CAT-5) that no coaxial RCA's could rid of the noises.

no, its not a wives tale, we did it to my freinds car. its called RFI, radio frequency interference. its when the electrical fields from high-voltage wires mess up the elctrical current running through the speaker wires. keeping the rca cables away from the power wires is very helpful.

the benefit was no doubt a result of moving the RCA cables away from another source of noise in the car. The term RFI is not a particularly good term here ...... the only thing in the car capable of frequencies that high is the ECU. Fortunately, you can't hear frequencies that high. There are also pulses on an amplifiers power wire from the DC to DC power supply but they are also out of the audible range. The chopping frequency is purposefully selected at like 50k-60KHz to avoid audible interference inside the amp.

The more I have time to think about Eddie's experiment, the more I realize how irrelevant it is to car audio. Those neon transformers put out like 2-5Kv (2000-5000 volts), and at a frequency of like 40K-50KHz. These levels and frequencies have nothing to do with car audio. If that's what he had to use to induce noise, it kinda makes me wonder about the validity since we only have 12-14V in a car and people are having problem with just that level.

P.S. notice that he used cheap RCA cables, that acually are better at noise reduction than the hefty ones, since the conductors are spaced closer together.

I have a similar problem, although as far as I can tell, the noise is only coming from my sub. When I turn my head unit on, the sub emits this strange growl/hum, then as the CD starts into the first few seconds of silence, it goes away. Unfortunately I haven't had much of a chance to check on it, since I'm working 2 jobs and trying to get my real car back from the shop (do you have any idea what it's like to drive a 92 Geo Storm for 3 months?!). A local shop recommended the ground loop isolator from Radio Shack, but I don't like to do those kinds of fixes. To me, that doesn't fix it at all, it just hides the problem. Like my friend who's engine started pinging, so he just played his music louder.
:D