been hunting down the reason for my alternator whine and came up with an odd thing....
if I gound the 'outer' connector of the RCA jacks at the amp...the noise gets much worse. HUH?

the old post is here...
http://empeg.comms.net/php/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=empeg_tech&Number=110685&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=

I assume when you grounded the amp's RCA that it was with the signal lead (along with it's ground) still connected? If so then I would imagine the earth loop becomes more complex at that stage. For curiosities sake, you could slide all the AMP RCAs back until they don't ground and try again and see what happens.

BTW, did you get any mileage grounding an AC RCA at the empeg end like I previously suggested?

Have you carefully, methodically, and without skipping steps, gone through every single one of the diagnostic steps outlined here, here, here, here, and here?

Have you re-done the wiring from scratch, using only your own wires directly to the battery instead of using the car's wiring harness?

Have you removed all components from their mounting locations so that they are floating free and not touching the vehicle frame?

Have you tried increasing the wire gauge on all of your ground wire runs?

Have you tried grounding all components to the same point (preferably the battery neg terminal) using heavier-gauge wire?

Have you double, triple, and quadruple-checked each possible wiring connection at all places (your docking harness, the amp, the battery, all connections in between)?

Have you checked to make sure your battery isn't simply low and not charging well?

Have you tried a different set of RCA audio cables?

ok, big ass cables to ground and power at battery (for empeg and amp).
switch rca cables.
held everything up in the air just incase leather conducts (haha).
grounded then ungrounded the sled.
pulled sled and checked all leads.
checked for voltage drops at each connection.

one thing I really wanna know is just how much noise (alt, ignition or empeg HD) do other people get?
should i expect even a little?

Assuming that your amplifier gains are correctly set (i.e., your maximum "normal listening" volume of the empeg is 0db max), then you should be able to have essentially no noise. Or at least, so little noise that you can't hear it at all when the car is running.

If it's too loud for your speakers when your empeg is set to -20db, then that's the problem: Your amps are turned up too loud.

Also, is the unit a Mk1 or a Mk2? If it's a Mk1, then you're probably going to get some noise. Sorry, forgot to ask that question at the beginning.

mk2 i guess, it says riocar on the top of the unit.
the amp gains are cranked to max, any lower and the noise get worse. is this all backwards or what?

Yes that sounds very strange. The fact that you are getting more noise with the amps getting turned down makes it sound like the amp is malfunctioning, or that there is some kind of a grave wiring mistake somewhere.

No noise. And I'm anal.

Calvin

I have two Rockford Fosgate amps and a 1 farad cap, although I have tried to isolate alternator whine I still get some noise, but not really noticable with the player at -30 db. One thing I have noticed is that the riocar seems to isolate some noise on its own as well. I have less noise with the rio, than I did with only my kenwood deck installed, maybe the player or maybe some wiring changed. I would imagine some noise is normal. Im curious what is normal or acceptable noise level with a "good" install.

I don't have even a bit of noise. I can crank it up to the max on a zero bit track and not hear noise. As it should be.

Calvin

i had an interesting situation involving interference also. I would have a slight static sound/hum that was extremely noticable at low volumes or on pause etc. This became noticable after I bought and installed a new Pheonix Gold amp (which is running all brand new interior components and two 12'' subs). In my case the sound was present whether the engine was on or off. I have a brand new 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee and installed everything myself. I didn't think it was the empeg because it worked fine in my house. After taking a pair of house speakers out to my car and hooking them up to the amp directly, there was no noise. It turns out that (at least this is my hypothesis) the wires in the door for the electrical systems for the power windows etc. were most likely causing the interference. I ran all new wiring to each of the door speakers using 12 guage wire and my problem went away. ....however, a couple of times the sound came back, it would go away if i tapped the door, or slammed it closed. Even with the speaker, in my hand out of the door, by hitting the door, the sound would come back and go away. Doesn't make much sense to me, but I haven't heard it but once since i rewired the door speakers. If you have an amp I suggest running a separate pair of speakers from it just sitting on your seat or something and see if the sound is there. Hope this helps

-george the animal steel

Not sure if this will help but I had some alternator/engine noise when I installed some component sets a few months ago. Had them running off a rf 400a4 and when on low volume, pause, or when I gave it gas you could really hear the noise.

The solution for me was a Filter box. Local shop here hooked me up with it and charged me $18. It hooks up to the power wires coming from the battery and then goes on to the amp. I never seen anything like it before but it works well. No more noise.

40GB Blue mkII

think i have that same amp... it was the one giving me the noise. Ive been playing with my setup mostly because of this thread. I disconnected the rcas that go into amp and plugged in another source, noise was gone. Then I didnt allow my rcas to go through signal processor, noise was reduced, guess something isnt grounded correctly.

In reply to:

---

The fact that you are getting more noise with the amps getting turned down makes it sound like the amp is malfunctioning

---

This was my experience with the amp and its problems. Could this be you?

I came to the Tech. page to ask about noise and found this post. I get a constant noise form my speakers at home and in the car. It isn't quite the usual audio hum, but is quite annoying at silent parts of the tracks. I have tried different amps and cables but no improvement.

Any ideas or similar problems
Sorry if i am repeating something said earlier

Ian

Mk2a 20Gb Blue/Green/Orange/Red - Nova 1.2 ( ! )

For noise on the home system, first thing is to try an alternate power supply.

For noise in the car, make sure to completely and methodically go through all the steps in the FAQ entry on this topic.