Took out the stock amp, and am getting a ton of noise!

[sfarris]

I replaced most of my stock speakers with MD Quarts and Alpines. The stock amp wouldn't drive them, so i put in six channels worth of Kicker Amps- one two and one four. Now the system has a horrible whine from the alternator, and i have to turn off the system when the headlights are on to get rid of the scream through the speakers.

Today, we added a remote radar detector, and now the speakers scream with the headlights on, even if the stereo is turned off! I had to unplug the stereo to drive home.

Any suggestions would be helpful. I took the stock amp inputs and ported them into a six channel RCA translator. The RCA plugs go to the amp inputs. I took the speaker outputs from the stock amp plug and attached them into the amp outputs. Good so far! There were two wires left in the stock amp output- one 12 v positive, and one which i couldn't figure out. Which might match up with the two wires on the input side of the factory amp I couldn't decipher.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

[far972]

What you *might* try is removing the translator from the mix for testing, and creating your own RCA inputs by cutting a set of RCA cables in half, then splicing them onto the stock amp inputs.

If you still get the same level of feedback, then it has to be a problem with where you ran your power/ground to the amp, poorly shielded RCA's, or something to that effect... this seems like it might be the problem as once you added another 12v power draw with the radar detector and the problem got worse.

On the other hand, if it goes away, you know it is the translator.

It's a cheap and fairly quick test and it will narrow down your problem.

[atmorris]

I replaced most of my stock speakers with MD Quarts and Alpines. The stock amp wouldn't drive them, so i put in six channels worth of Kicker Amps- one two and one four. Now the system has a horrible whine from the alternator, and i have to turn off the system when the headlights are on to get rid of the scream through the speakers.

Today, we added a remote radar detector, and now the speakers scream with the headlights on, even if the stereo is turned off! I had to unplug the stereo to drive home.

Any suggestions would be helpful. I took the stock amp inputs and ported them into a six channel RCA translator. The RCA plugs go to the amp inputs. I took the speaker outputs from the stock amp plug and attached them into the amp outputs. Good so far! There were two wires left in the stock amp output- one 12 v positive, and one which i couldn't figure out. Which might match up with the two wires on the input side of the factory amp I couldn't decipher.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Where did you mount the amps? How did you route the power wires ? Did you use sheilded, high quality RCA cables? Is it an inexpensive translater? Sounds like a shielding issue.

Edited July 20, 2006 by Andy_M