Engine Noise/Interference through Tower Speakers

Anyone know how to diagnose or fix this problem? I hooked back up my tower speakers this weekend and the interference is so bad that I had to unhook them while out on the lake. It did this last year and still does it, thought it might have been my connections on the speakers so I cut out some clean wire and hooked it up, sounded great at the house without the engine running but on the lake it's just horrible. Anyone know how to fix it? I'd heard there was a cheap fix but not sure what it is or how to do it? I have the standard Kenwood stereo that came in the '05 Supra's. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks everyone...

Usually that type of sounds is feed back coming through a ground wire. Im not sure how savvy you are with stereos but I would check all your grounds first. You will probably get even better advice from jonyb or someone.

Usually a ground.

Is this something I should check at the amp or at the head unit? Have recently been thinking about replacing the head unit with the new one they're putting in the Moomba's.

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Originally Posted by iwakeboard

Is this something I should check at the amp or at the head unit? Have recently been thinking about replacing the head unit with the new one they're putting in the Moomba's.

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Check your AMP ground wire..its the big black one ;-)

Could be that the amp has gone bad. Try powering the tower speakers with another amp, or power different speakers with the same amp.

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Originally Posted by jonyb

Could be that the amp has gone bad. Try powering the tower speakers with another amp, or power different speakers with the same amp.

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jony, wouldn't surprise me if it was the amp, was a salt water boat and when I bought the boat the amp had salt water spots on it.

kody, appreciate it, I'll check out the wire. I'm horrible at most anything electronic, you all should have seen me trying to crimp LED wires, it's ugly stuff.

iw I have heard this is a common problem when running your POWER wires near your SPEAKER wires, you can hear the electric signal thru the speakers (this is called crosstalk). It could be something else too but I would check this first.

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Originally Posted by 87SunSportMikeyD

iw I have heard this is a common problem when running your POWER wires near your SPEAKER wires, you can hear the electric signal thru the speakers (this is called crosstalk). It could be something else too but I would check this first.

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If it's so bad that he had to unhook them, there's a problem with the amp.

Did it not have that noise before you unhooked them? You said "hooked them back up". If it wasn't there before, and it is now, check any wires you've moved for pinches or the amp is bad.

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Originally Posted by jonyb

If it's so bad that he had to unhook them, there's a problem with the amp.

Did it not have that noise before you unhooked them? You said "hooked them back up". If it wasn't there before, and it is now, check any wires you've moved for pinches or the amp is bad.

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I have four speakers on the tower, I only had two at the end of last season. It would make that noise more towards the end of the season but it never was completely unbearable. Well, it is now. I haven't changed any wires (other than to hook up the other tower speakers which already had wire ran). It may be the amp then. Do you think that maybe unhooking the connections at the amp, cleaning them up and reconnecting would make a difference?

Cleaning them up?

Try to move the wires to another amp. Is there any noise in any other speakers?

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Originally Posted by jonyb

Cleaning them up?

Try to move the wires to another amp. Is there any noise in any other speakers?

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No other speakers, just the tower speakers. I didn't know if cleaning off any possible corrosion on the connections would help or be a possible cause?

Don't have but the one amp, and it's the factory Kenwood. May come down to me buying one though.

There are really three kinds of engine noise:

1) The kind that is created inside the component due to poor power input filtering. The AC coming in the unit's power wires somehow ends up on the audio output. This is usually bad design. This is rare, and don't assume bad design, cause it's usually bad installation. This can usually be addressed by filters on the power wire. This is only the case nowadays with crappy gear. BTW - if the head unit diodn't have noise before, and it has noise after you add an amp, you can pretty much tell that this isn't the problem. If you have a signal processor (Xover, EQ, etc.) sometimes they need more filtering.

2) The kind that is picked up by your RCA or signal cables between two components. This is called inducted noise. (Technically, you an get inducted noise on your speakers too, if you place one of your speaker crossovers next to a power wire and the coil of wire in the crossover is next to the wire and acts like a super-long antenna, but that's pretty rare.) This is fairly common in Honda-based vehicles, and all the kinds of "shielded" RCA's never helped one car I ever saw. However, twisted-pair signal cable works great! I can't tell you how many cars had their noise eliminated with this simple addition. It's all I use now - even the entry-level twisted is better for car use than the most expensive straight-conductor RCA's.

3) Ground loops. I will not even try hard to explain ground loops (they basically mean that there is a difference in how easy it is for electrons to loop back to the battery - for one of your components, fewer electrons can make the trip. The electrons look for a way to get home - back to the battery, that is - and they end up making the trip on some audio signal cables somewhere. There, that's all you get - if it didn't make sense, too bad : ) Here is how you go about getting rid of them:

Ground all components to the same point, with no paint under the connection, and under a bolt rather than a screw if possible. Bad grounds are the single biggest cause of engine noise.

Make sure your battery is in good shape. Weak and low batteries fail to do their job of buffering like they should.

Try RCA's that are only grounded at one end. (Hey, it might work...) Also, if you have a signal processor, try lifting the ground for it and see if it makes a difference.

Try a ground-loop isolator. Most of these make your system sound worse, especially in bass response. They often get the noise out though. I usually use them for troubleshooting more than for installations (the one in my tool box has been there for years).