Anyone installed an aftermarket stereo

96 Vortec · May 27, 2003

I have a 96 K1500 and have gone to extremes to combat the problem, but to no avail. The problem existed in my 92 K1500 with a similar setup. Just wondered if anyone else has beaten the problem and how did you do it?

I have gone as far as running 4 awg power and ground from the battery to the distribution block. The head unit power and ground even come from the distribution block to eliminate the possitility of ground loops. The rca's run up the a-pillar and above the headliner to come down the back panel and wrap around the rear window to stay away from all power wiring.

I have custom built cross-overs for my front speakers. I have a Focal home audio 7"dvc and a Focal T120K for the fronts and 4 JL 8W6's under the rear seat. Power comes from a Punch 200 and a Punch 400x4. Between the signal and the amps I have an Audio Control EQL and a 2XS. And finally, my signal comes from a Premier DEX-M88 with the add-on GEXT70 Tuner pack.

I love the sound I've got but that d**n whine exists and drives me crazy.

tmf6902 · May 27, 2003

if you have a whine when you accelerate, chances are something isn't grounded quite right. Make sure you have a really good ground from your head unit and check the ground on the amps. Make sure where every your ground goes to, there is no paint on the metal or something like that. Try to stay away from grounding it straight to the battery too, that can cause a whine sometimes.

Also what kind of head unit is it, I had a blaupunkt(sp) and the SOB sucked, with the whine, when I swapped it out for a sony it went away.

MarkD · May 27, 2003

Do you have it all of the time? Just with radio? Just with CD?

Wingnut · May 27, 2003

Try this, it should do the trick.

EMC'S Z · May 28, 2003

Besides what has been mentioned, another source is the plug wires. Cheap or old wires or a high powered coil can cause noise in the head unit. GM is worse for this because the distributer is very close to the head unit. Good wires and cap will eliminate this.

96 Vortec · May 29, 2003

tmf6902 - The ground directly to the battery was used to eliminate the possibility of a bad chassis ground. The head unit is a Premier DEX-M88. It was made in the mid 90's as Pioneer/Premier's top of the line unit. I can attest to the quality of the signal output based on personal experience tuning the stereo with an O-scope.

MarkD - All the time. Non stop drive me crazy noise.

Wingnut - Where exactly does that install? Does it sit directly behind the alternator?

EMC'S Z - It occured to me the other day that my power wire travels from the batter down the passenger fender and across the firewall to enter the cab under the master cylinder. Is that close enough to the coil and distributor to cause any interference? Is there any kind of sheilding that can be placed behind the radio in the dash to prevent any interference emited in the close proximity of the radio?

EMC'S Z · May 29, 2003

It occured to me the other day that my power wire travels from the batter down the passenger fender and across the firewall to enter the cab under the master cylinder. Is that close enough to the coil and distributor to cause any interference?

I would say that this is your problem.

Are your AUX terminals on the engine bay fuse box in use? If not this is where I would pull power from. There should be 2 terminals each good for 30 amps.

That should run at least the Punch 200 what is the internal fuse on the Punch 400x4?

Also where is the head unit grounded?

Worst case Run the power wire across the radiator and back to the firewall.

Also the shorter the ground the better.

Another check to see where the Whine is coming from:

Unplug the rcas from one amp(leave amp powered up) at the amp?

Goes away= not that amp, head unit or RCA problem.

stays (in speakers from that amp)=problem in power supply to that amp.

Repeat with other amp.

If it goes away with either amp, to check RCAS:

leave rcas pluged in to amp and disconect at supply.

Stays = RCA routing.

Goes away= source.

Repeat process untill at the head unit or you find the source. Then You can Isolate the cause easier from that point. Trying to guess on the whole system is a stab in the dark and can be frustrating and very time consuming.

Let us know what you find. I am positive that we can fix your problem without one of those noise suppression thingies .

As far as Shielding the radio should not be required. Proper wire routing and GOOD wires and cap should not cause this wine.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

Eric

Wingnut · May 30, 2003

Wingnut - Where exactly does that install? Does it sit directly behind the alternator?

It installs in-line, between the alternator and the battery.

I used one on the neighbors truck, after he did most of the wiring half-a$$ed. I wasn't about to track down all his wiring mistakes, and correct them. So I threw one of those on there. Worked like a champ.

That said, there has been a lot of other things mentioned in this thread that could be the culprit, and you would be better off in my opinion, to find the problem...Not put the band-aid on the power wire.

It all depends on how bad of a case of the lazies you have when it comes to pulling apart your truck 93 times to find that whine....I had to redo about half my wiring to fix it.

Hope this helped.

-Nut

bigmack · June 6, 2003

Try installing a $15 ground loop isolator on the RCAs. Got mine at Radio Shack.

I has the same problem and spends hours playing with wiring as people have outlined above to no avail. (the truck was a dodge). Bought the isolator and noise problem was gone. There appeared to be no sound quality loss. If it a competion stereo the hours of agravation may be worth it to find the source but for the regular joe like me (maybe you?) the GLI will work just fine.

When I install my next stereo in my Yukon and if the whine is there, the thing I'll do will be to buy and try the GLI to save the hours of hassle. Obviously it won't solve the problem if the whine is power side related and not signal but it is a cheap place to start and could save hours.

02denali · June 14, 2003

I RAN THE POWER WIRE AND GROUND UNDER THE CAB.I FOUND WHERE THE REAR SEAT BOLTS WERE AND PUT IN A STUD.I PUT MY GROUND WIRE TO IT.RAN THE HOT WIRE THROUGH THE VENTS IN THE CAB.I GROUNDED MY AMP,CAP,AND EQ TO THIS.THE STEREO IS GROUNDED TO THE FACTORY HARNESS.TURN ON POWER FOR MY AMP RUNS DOWN MIDDLE OF CAB.RCA;S RUN DOWN PASS SIDE. YOU CAN RUN SPEAKER WIRE AND RCA;S TOGETHER.IF THEY MUST CROSS POWER AND SIGNAL CABLES THEY NEED TO CROSS AT 90 DEGREE ANGLES.YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK WHERE YOUR RCA CABLES RUN IN THE DASH.

Race18 · June 20, 2003

I had the same problem and never could get it out with the KOSS MP3 player I had. It went bad and I replaced it with a JENSEN MP3 player and the problem went away. I think some of it has to do with the radio.

vortec4800 · August 7, 2003

I have a Pioneer 8400MP deck with alpine speakers in the front and boston accoustics in the rear, and there was no whine. When I recently installed my Rockford amp and sub, I got the same whine. I think it has to do with the power cable running to the amp, but its possible that its from the RCA's... I'm using all high quality rockford cables, and my wiring job is good, just got unlucky I guess. The same thing happened when we installed an amp for rear speakers in my friend's VW Golf GTI, the whine only happens in those speakers.

I think the alternator noise filter sounds like a great idea, think I'll pick a couple of those up for my truck and my friend's Golf.