Got a problem maybe some of you sound system gurus can solve. Recently my subs have been picking up some nasty distortion. Its wierd to say the least. Its most noticable when the car is on ACC and and the engines not running. In this situation the feedback is horrible. When the engines running the feedback is noticable but it goes away after a while. The amp is brand spanking new, so I hope thats not the problem. Any ideas what it might be?

 

Did you check all your wiring to make sure that nothing came loose or went bad? Also did this distortion occur as soon as you hooked up your system or just recently?

 

It starting occuring recently, in the last two or three days. I haven't got the chance to check the wiring but I plan on doing that.

 

That sucks that you just got this system too right? Anyways yeah just check your wiring. If you can, see if a new speaker wire makes it sound any better and check all the connections. Another thing you can do is trouble shoot your amp with the directions it came with. If none of that works it'll be up to the "gurus".

 

your RCA cables... if they are running near any power wires or pretty much any other wire for that you will get noise

but most places run their power wire and the RCA cables down the same side to save time and cheap install .. i dunno if you did yours custom or not

its called road noise and yes it is random... dont know why

 

Check RCA cables and the plugs for damage and that they are in the input plugs instead of outputs if your amp has that. Check to make sure it has a good ground. Check the wires going to the amp to make sure they have not been pulled out some. Check the wires going to the subs. Check the connections on the subs itself. Check the fuse running to amp on the power wire (probably not the problem). Try fine tuning the amp to see if that helps reduce the problem.

Power too close to RCA cable can cause engine noise but I wouldn't think it would be that noticable with subs...more for the speakers.

 

yeah you can notice it with subs, it just makes them sound off beat

 

Okay, update. The wiring was custom. The power cable runs down the left side of the car and the RCA's run down the middle. I haven't had time to check the wiring in depth, but what I have checked seems to be okay. What I noticed yesterday is that I could cause the mosie by using the power windows, or hitting the brake or clutch pedal. Does this sound like "road noise" still? I'm at a loss. I won't be able to tear the car apart to check the wires thoroughly till thsi weekend.

 

yeah, anything using power from the car... like turn your air conditioner on all the way do the windows, things that use up alot of power

 

Last time I had that problem, I had a bad Ground. Make sure you get a clean ground connection. Good luck.

 

Well....figured out the problem on Saturday. Its the amp. We hooked up a spare amp my buddy had and the subs sounded fine. Didn't change any wiring. All we did is disconnect my amp and connect his. Then to be sure we reconnected my amp and the distortion was there. In less then 2 weeks a high end Kicker amp bit the ****. Anybody got any idea what would cause this?

 

Used the wrong terminals to bridge the amp?

 

Nah, it was a single channel amp with the subs wired in series.

 

did you buy it new, and what is the amp

 

It was a brand new out of the box Kicker 1000.1X amp.