Issues with stereo upgrade, need to fix it myself.

B..W..P,

First off, wouldn't the shop be responsible for taking care of the whine? After all, you paid them fora quality installation...

I'm sure others with more knowledge will chime in about the whine.

As for getting the head unit out, do a search for Eddie Bell's instructions for adding XM radio. He has very good instructions for pulling the dash pieces off and getting at the back of the head unit.

As for the beeps, are they louder than before? If so, ask the installers (or check your invoice) if they added Line Output Converters between the head unit and the amp. If so, these converters have potentiometers than can be dialed down to lower the beep volume.. I was able to determine that this is what caused my beeps to be louder with my non-JBL system.

Cheers,

 

There are many possible reasons for your noise, the first and most likely is a grounding issue, followed by your signal carrying wires (pre-amplification) picking up interference of some sort (often lack of isolation/separation of power and signal wires), followed by the amp itself amplifying mechanical noise (insufficient isolation/damping from the car's chassis). Since a shop installed it - it's really their problem. They might want to add an inline noise suppressor, but that should be viewed as a last resort, what you really want is to eliminate the cause.

As for the beeps, they are now being amplified by your aftermarket amp. If the beeps are a constant volume on the non-JBL (I believe they are, but don't know because I have the JBL), then you need the line converter to attenuate the speaker outputs from the head unit to a greater degree, i.e. be able to accept a higher volume signal from the head unit, so the volume of the beeps (constant) is relatively lower compared to the music (higher, because it's variable with the volume control). Basically, what bobc said.

 

OK, if that's the case

1) Grounds - both faulty/lifted and possible loops. Double check everything.

2) Lead dress. Check/isolate all potential spots where the wiring could be picking up noise. Check that no wires are coiled - especially power wires. All wiring should get away from the amp as quick as possible, i.e. don't wrap wires around amps.

3) Check the mounting of all relevant components - both the security and location (one thing I've seen that always makes me cringe is when someone mounts an amp to a sub enclosure. Obviously not your problem, but you get the idea)

4) Check that the amp itself isn't somehow at fault. Disconnect it from the car's power source, connect it directly to a battery (with a fuse, of course) and see if the noise is still there. If it's gone, then the amp is OK and your problem is with the car.

After all of that, get back to us with what you've found. If you can't eliminate the noise at that point you may want to look at a noise suppressor (which actually goes on the power line, not in the signal chain).

 

I'm no expert on this stuff, but I'm with Wilco that it's probably some kind of issue with grounding or lack of isolation.

The first thing I would do is figure out if you have a Line Output Converter... if your signal coming into the amp is via RCA cables then there should be an LOC between those RCAs and the speaker cables.

If you have speaker cables coming into the amp then you probably don't have a LOC, and adding one to the system might help because it has a transformer that isolates the head unit from the amp. I am happy with my Navone NE-774V:

http://www.autosound2000.com/adaptor_products.htm

Navone is offering a free auto sound troubleshooting trouble CD-ROM that addresses noise issues with every order, so if you don't have a LOC I'd order an LOC from him and follow the flow he suggests on the CD-ROM.
For your system the N-7V might be be a good one.

 

You can easily find out if the whine is a signal source or an amp problem: disconnect the amp's input at the amp. If noise goes away, then it's an input problem. Noise does not go away, it's an amp problem or the tweeters are very sensitive and transducing noise picked up by the speaker wires.

Beeps: yes, you could attenuate the amp input, but then why have the amp? Your max output with the amp would be the same as without, since you'd be adjusting your reference signal (the beep) to be the same on both sides of the amp. If you set the line input so that the beep sounds the same with the amp as without, you just achieved 1:1 amplification.

 

I've got some things to add to DanMan's excellent suggestions:

- Navone's site mentions how to make a muting plug, basically connecting shield to tip. (You might be able to just do it with a wire held with your hands to avoid soldering).

- There is a distinction between disconnecting the signal (e.g. pausing a CD) versus disconnecting the RCA connection (which removes the shield ground path that could be an issue). Make sure you try both.

- It's entirely appropriate to lower amp gain if you don't find you have a need turn the volume all the way up. The amp still may buy you less distortion at the highest volumes you actually listen to. Amp gain adjustment is a balance between max output and noise.

 

If the amp is taking its main power directly from the aux battery, then any DC-DC noise would be minimized.
If you are talking about the gray wire on pin 3 of the HU, yes, it is ACC.

 

During my last stereo install I had an annoying whine coming from the speakiers, as well. Maybe not the best fix, but I just turned down the gain on the amplifier (it was set all the way up so I set it at half-way) and then the whine went away, even when I played the stereo so loud it set off car alarms (and it wasn't even at full blast) Ohhh, those were the days... Of course, I'm half-deaf now...