MisterT

Okay, I got every thing in. Today I just finished placing my door panels back on after removing them to place the 6 1/2" midbass in the doors. I have a problem with alternator whine though. Not as bad as can get, but definitely audible. I have power wires running on driver's side, RCA's on the passenger side. I have RCA from the amps running around the back of the amp rack towards the back of the trunk and to the rear seat where the crossover is. I did some rerouting of RCAs and nothing.
I did do a little other trouble shooting. I pulled the head unit out and switched RCA plug ins. It is all coming from the right side and not the left. So what do I do now? I even made sure the RCA's aren't coming near the ground wires nor where they are grounded at on the chassis.

I did notice on Crutchfield's site saying something about running remote wires on the opposite side of RCA's. I didn't do that. Could that be the cause?

Lastly, I saw XMen the other night with my girlfriend and love the RX8. That **** is a cool ride! You couldn't see much of the interior except for the radio, but the exterior and the sound of the engine was NICE! The movie was good, but not as good as the 1st. Esp. when kids are talking behind you. Even had one knuckle head talking in a cell phone. The father with the kids was making out with two different girls. DAMN, what tha **** is up with that? I told my girlfriend he wants to stay with both the mothers of the kids since he had 3 of them!

Any ideas on other causes of altenator whine? Thanks dudes!

Mister T

MisterT

It switches speakers from Right to Left when switching RCA plug ins from the deck. I just got through removing the passenger seat, rerouted the remote wires and thought I got rid of it, but after driving around, the whine came back. You can here it only at low volumes. I don't know if it has something to do with the head units right output or not. This thing is frustrating.

Also, I figured out the "crackling sound" in the speakers is coming from my Audio Control Overdrive. I have to turn it all the way down. The thing is useless. I bought it used years ago and finally put it in my current car. I guess I will have to get some butt connectors for the RCAs to bypass the Overdrive and uninstall it. That means I have to take the driver's side seat out again I am going to email the company about it before doing so. I have my gain to the amp all the way to the minimum setting so it gets loud, but not to the point of distortion.

When it rains, it pours!! I just wish I had one more day off to tinker with it!

Mister T

hihoslva

You've definitely got to neaten up some wires. Make sure everything is separated well.

The whine is a pretty sure symptom that the particular channel with the whine is too close to the power or ground wire.

When I recently re-did my system, I had some decent whine. I had REALLY cheap RCA's, so I ditched those for another cheap, but obviously better set. Cheapest line from Monster Cable - not expensive at all, maybe $6-$8 for each.

And when running the new cables, I made sure to keep them away from all power and ground. There is a very small area near the amps where all of my connections run (for sake of neatness), and I know the cables were a mess there. I made sure to keep the RCAs as far from the power wires as possible.

Cured the whine immediately.

Sometimes it can be a small power wire, too - like from the deck - causing interference. Do the best you can to route all the RCAs away from power/ground wires, and you'll knock that whine out in no time.

~HH

MisterT

Thanks for the advice. I am going to tinker with it some before going to work. I have to admit, I have a lot of length in my RCA wires because one came with an amp kit from before, and one from the one I got recently. If the problem with the Overdrive is causing a crackling noise, I can pull one of the two RCAs out. They are tucked away from the power wires as best as they can, but are some what "bunched up" under the rear seat and front seat's carpet. I bet that will help some what. Also, with the amps, I was able to run RCAs around the power wire, but with the crossover, it was difficult to do so do to the location of wires and RCA inputs. I am hoping or should I say probably will remove the Overdrive to clean up some of this mess and hopefully eliminate the whine. I will just have to get an early start. Thank God for me working 2nd shift this week. I want to correct the problems before going to day shift next week.

Mister T