Engine Whine

I just read the FAQ on the subject.. I didn't route the RCA's seperate from the power leads because of issues with my car.. I know that can add noise, but will it add engine whine? Also, how do I filter the power leads and is it even recommended (will a filter degrade the signal?)

THX!

12gig Mk. II BLUE
Detroit, MI USA
www.PfeifferBeer.com

Mine are routed close to each other.. (couple inches apart) I used some decent shielded monster cable.. (middle grade) and I don't have any noise problems. the fan in my xtant is more noticeable.

12gig red mk2 -- 080000125

I know that can add noise, but will it add engine whine?

Most definitely.

Noise == Engine Whine == Pops/Clicks == Etc.

All of these things can be caused either by ground loops or by inductive noise. Did you get those PDF documents? Did they help?

Also, how do I filter the power leads and is it even recommended (will a filter degrade the signal?)

I use the heaviest-duty power line noise filter that Radio Shack sells (20 amps). It's on the power line that feeds my amplifiers directly from the battery. Before installing the filter, I put a 20-amp fuse on that line and cranked the amps and tested it for a while to make sure the amps wouldn't draw too much current. I still have the 20-amp fuse in place, too.

I also have the Empeg itself feeding off of that same filtered power line.

If you have more than one amplifier, or particularly beefy amplifiers, you might need to find a bigger filter or use a separate one for each amp.

A power-line noise filter will not degrade the signal, since it doesn't filter the signal cables (it filters spikes out of the power line).

___________
Tony Fabris

All this time... across two cars, and it was the AMP!!!!

I've pulled my hair out wiring and RE-wiring everything, buying every doo-dad out there and every trick in the book. Finally tonight I ran to Circuit City, bought a new amp, swapped the two and my engine whine was gone! The grounds were fine, the routing was fine, the empeg was fine, the alternator was fine and the wires were fine...

Finally, my two favorite toys - the WRX and the empeg, can be enjoyed together!

Congratulations!

I remember going through something similar once. Getting rid of an old cheap amp got rid of the ground loop.

What did you replace the amp with?

A shoe box with a brick in it. No more engine whine! !

Okay, okay, I was lying, I didn't put a shoe box in place of my amp!

I used the Noise Troubleshooting link you provided and figured out that my headunit and speakers had nothing to do with the noise. So the only thing left was the amp, selfpowered sub and a distribution block. They were grounded straight to the battery, so I knew that they couldn't be the issue...

In a fit of stress, I headed up to Circuit City and Best Buy to look for a good "test" amp that I wouldn't mind keeping if it fixed the problem. Surprisingly, there are not many 4 channel amps to choose from there (and not surprisingly, both stores sales people added to my stress level).

I ended up finding an "Open Box" MTX 4-channel amp, but it was only $2 dollars cheaper ($249) than a new one listed at $251 (they had some sale going on.) I talked the lovely Circuit City sales lady into looking up the cost on the item to see if she could lower the price of the Open item. She confirmed that the sale price was only 2 dollars more and then offered the amp for $209.

Hmm... I'd rather have a new one for only $40 more. But then she tells me that there are no new ones in stock. What am I wasting my time for?? This amp probably won't fix my problem anyway, so why not just get the Open Box one?

OK, deal, so she begins ringing me up when we both look at her monitor... OOPS! We weren't even talking about the same amp (hard to see the model number when it was locked up in the case). Ends up, she just gave me a price of $209 on the MTX Thunder 564 which sells for over $400! I think that she may have thought I pulled a little scam on her, but it was truely a mistake on both our parts!

I get home, swap the MTX for my RockFord Crapgate amp and my whine is gone! Yippie!

It gets better too! Ealier this fall, I upgraded my friend's empeg by adding a 48GB drive, hijack, 2.00 final, etc etc and I even re-structured his playlists and fixed his database info on most of his music. Then I replaced his old MusicMatch rips with LAME VBR copies I had. In exchange, he gave me a 1 farrad capacitor and offered to install it for free. Having just pulled out my backsteat and trunk to install a new fuel pump AND having just ripped out my old amp, the timing was perfect. As we were sipping on some New Castles talking about the install he was going to do, he offered to dynomat my whole trunk and backseat area for free too! (He is a NVH engineer for Ford Motor Company so he and his buddies have this stuff piled around their homes).

So I miss my car, but I'm getting a sweet new install and no alternator whine!

PS - Loren, keep us up to date on your install, I have another empeg buddy who has a WRX and wants advice on the doors... My install was a horror, so I'd rather point him to your thread.

We had a pretty hellish time with the doors. I'll post details tomorrow... I'm tired. The doors and trunk are both dynamatted though... or whatever the dynamatt lookalike stuff is called the circuit city has laying around.

Rest up my WRX comrade and report tomorrow!