TommyJ25

Alright,

So I live in Philadelphia, and I had my two amps, MB Quart QSD213's and sound deadening all installed by StreetEffectz a few weeks ago. However, I have this whine in my stereo, even when the volume is down to -- on the stock headunit. Ron at Street Effectz ran RCA's from the stock headunit to the 300/2 and 500/1. The sub sounds like crap and I have that whine in my front speakers. Plus, my front speakers sound like they aren't being used down to the 75Hz cutoff at 12dB/slope.

Does anyone else have a 300/2 in their TSX, and do you know where all the switches are supposed to be placed at? Plus, I need to know where all the switches should be set for my 500/1. It is running a JL 10W7 Prowedge.

I need help quick, this is driving me crazy!!!!!!!!!

Thanks

Tsx536

Just take the system back and have Street Effectz fix it.

elduderino

As a general rule, it's a bad idea to mess with your adjustments if you don't know what you're doing with them, IF you have a good resource.

Have you called Ron? I am confident that he would support your situation. How far is it from Philly to South NJ?

As far as the whine goes... my best recommendation is to lower the 300/2 gain (input sensitivity) to minimum and retest... all the amps I've done at minimum gain had no noise, but noise appeared as the gain went up. Aain, my preference would be for Ron to check it out. The RCA's are exactly the way that that is supposed to get done, and we know that 300/4 s, 450/4's, and others have gone in with no noise at all, so I am confident that yours can be noise-free too.

As far as the xovers go... first get the noise out, then tune. You didn't say what your xover was, btw.

elduderino

I mean your subwoofer ...

TommyJ25

I read the whole JL manual. There were a few setting in the amp that were bad. The sensitivity was all the way up. I quickly turned that down to minimum, which helped out a lot, but I still had the tiniest bit of background noise at low volume. Don't get me wrong, I can turn it up to 25, and it is clear as day and sounds awesome, but at low volumes, when there is no singing or instruments, I can hear the tiniest bit of background noise. I want it to be silent. My last system had the same setup, but I had an Eclipse CD8454, with 8v preouts, and that headunit was unbelievable. There was no noise at all, and it barely had to be turned up before it was crazy loud.

Am I expecting too much from the Acura stock headunit? I am wondering if I need a ground loop isolator to get rid of unwanted interference.

Well, I am getting a JL 10W7 Prowedge this Saturday. I hope to have all the setting correct before I put that baby in. Right now, the 500/1 is hooked up to about an almost 6 year old Infinity Perfect 10.1 in a sealed 0.66 cu ft box. I need to find out what is making it sound so bad before I put my actual sub in there.

StreetEffectz is about an hour and 15 minutes from me. However, I can only go up there on weekends, and I have to work this Saturday, and my brother's graduation from JMU is next Saturday. So, pretty much I don't have any time.

elduderino

OK, first off, I spoke with an IASCA-winning installer / competitor at the shop that did sergeremi's TSX, and in his opinion the TSX HU was the cleanest output of any factory head unit he'd ever seen.

He confirmed that he had no noise once he improved the inferior ground installed by the first shop that sergeremi went to. That guy has a 300/4 and a 450/4.

I have no noise with a 300/4 (soon changing to a DLS - update coming: ) . Mader has no noise with an Alpine F-450. There were a couple of 300/4s and Alpines last year too... memory fails.

Joerockt had no noise with a Kicker 4-channel with the gain at minimum, but had to turn up the gain to get enough volume, and he then had noise. He ended up installing a Visonik line driver and that handled it (w/gain on the floor again).

All that is to say, no, you are not expecting too much from the Acura HU.

One possibility is that the installer MIGHT have put a GLI in the center console to address the noise actually caused by the gain setting. If this was the case, the GLI internal transformer coil could be picking up noise from the Airbag ECU, a known transmitter of EM interference that has caused this problem in the past.

The other solutions that come to mind are all wiring oriented... grounding the OEM amp ground with the 300/2, lifting the HU ground and doing the same thing, moving the 300/2 ground to a better location if possible, and othes, are all install items I wouldn't do at home if not the installer. That's why I'd talk to him directly.

BTW.. have you made sure that the noise goes away with the system OFF?

TommyJ25

Well, StreetEffectz is the installer. Ron did the install. Their work is great. When you turn off the power to the headunit in the car, it goes totally silent.

I don't think they would have put a GLI without telling me. I might need a line driver though. I have a 500/1 and a 300/2. I have one four gauge power wire running form the battery to a distribution block, then splitting up into two 4 gauge wires, one to each amp. I then have 4 gauge grounds coming out, heading to a d-block, and then running a 4 gauge ground to the chassis. I had an older alpine amp in there before these two amps, and there was no noise, so I don't think its a bad ground.

Plus, I have static on my front right speaker when I go over bumps. Must be a loose speaker wire in back. I am getting frustrated trying to solve all these little quirks.

Lastly, I need to set up my 500/1 correctly before connecting my JL 10 W7 Prowedge. The switches on the back are confusing, and I have read the manual three times now. Doesn't anyone else have a W7 hooked up to a 500/1 or 1000/1? Where do I put all the switches and filters, etc.....?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

elduderino

I haven't heard noise with the gain all the way down, so I hesitate to say you need a line driver - don't throw spaghetti at the wall to see if it sticks.

Does the signal from up front to the 300/2 go THROUGH the 500/1, or does F go the the 300 and R go to the 500?

Input voltage switches on both amps should be at Low.

Signal Sensing should be OFF.

Infrasonic Filter OFF (to start at least).

Bass EQ off to start.

Amp LP Filter at 24dB, set to 80 to start.

Input gain at minimum to start.

Tune first with input gain, then with Bass EQ, finally with xover point (if needed).

TommyJ25

The signal does not go through the 500/1 first. There are two separate set of RCA's, one to the 300/2, and the other to the 500/1 (one for front, and the other for the rear).

I will make those changes to my 500/1.

Yeah, if the gain is all of the way down, I shouldn't have any noise. Do you think there is interference coming from the actual wires that were run? I think they were run on opposite sides of the vehicle, so I find that hard to believe.

I will literally start to cry when this all works properly. I hope I can get rid of that static as well.

Thanks for the help so far.

elduderino

I doubt that the noise is being picked up inductively. If it is, it is being picked up from the factory wiring harnesses, which can emit noise. Using twisted pair RCA cable takes care of that - if you used twisted pair RCA, no noise is being picked up with them.

If the points that the installer tapped into the OEM wires are now sitting on top of the Airbag ECU, that might be the problem... or a GLI sitting on it.The GLI is often added by an installer at the last minute as an attempt to banish noise, and others in the shop wouldn't even always know it was there. It might have been forgotten.

if a 300/4 doesn't need a line driver, I doubt a 300/2 does. I think it's something else. But I could be wrong...

TommyJ25

Yeah, I didn't see the install, so I don't know if a GLI was added, or where it is sitting. That would be a question for Ron or StreetEffectz. I just want it gone, along with the static in the right channel.

Tonights festivities are going to make sure all the wires are snug and secured. Second, I am going to check all of the switches on both of the amps. Then, I will go from there, and see how things are sounding.

Thanks!

962.5tl

i would say give them a call im sure they will fit u in whenever they can to assess the problem.

StreetEffectz

Wait wait, before I even answer this or read the whole email - let me say that when I first put the system in, there were NO PROBLEMS at all. You failed to mention the amp was changed due to a problem with your original amp due to wires being pulled out from folding the seats down the wrong way. You also failed to mention that you came back to me to have the new equipment installed and as I finished the install, there was a problem and that NO WIRING was changed. You also failed to mention that I plugged in my own amp and the system worked fine and that I also ran your headunit to my stereo with no problems.

There is not a GLI in there, nor are there any LOCs. The signal is coming directly off the factory headunit preout. The original system, which I installed, sounded GREAT, and had NO NOISE what so over - something that was never mentioned above. The only thing I can figure is that the JL 300/2 doesn't like the factory headunit signal and may need a line driver, which we have discussed already.

The install is 100% PERFECT, I can guarantee that.....let me know!

TommyJ25

The install is perfect, and the way Ron put in the mono amp is really nice looking. StreetEffectz has done a great job on my car. He is right, it sounded great!

For some reason, some noise is being introduced into my system due to some unkknown factor. The 2 channel amp that Ron tried it on a few weeks ago worked perfectly, so we know that its capable of having no noise.

I will have to see if a driver might be needed for the 300/2.

The only thing that I have the tiniest complaint about is that there is static and the right speakers are going out, and I verified that the connection at the back of the car to the amp is secure, so it looks like there is a loose speaker wire inside the right front door. It must have worked loose. I guess the only way to find out is to take off the door panel, but I don't trust myself doing that. I am going to leave it to a professional. Plus, there is a rattle when I am driving in my right front door, sounds like a loose piece of plastic, or a washer is down in there towards the bottom of the door.

I highly recommend StreetEffectz, and if you live anywhere near them, the quality of their work is amazing, and they follow up with you and help you out even after you have everything done with your car.

StreetEffectz

Do you happen to have a portable CD player or something that you can plug into your amp? Unplug the RCA connections coming from the headunit and plug the CD player in and turn it on - see what kind of sound you get.

StreetEffectz

Oh, and by the way, I know it's hard to read a persons demeanor in a text message - my above message wasn't meant to be nasty or anything, just wanted to clear up the issue of there being a problem from the beginning or not

elduderino

You were nicer than I would have been...

TommyJ25

Ron,

I will try that as soon as I get home. I have an IPOD that I can hook up. That's a great idea. Too bad I am at work right now, but I am anxious to try when I get home. I still need to solve the loose speaker wire (it's just the tweeter speaker wire, the mid is fine). That will have to wait till tomorrow, because its raining, and I don't have a garage to work in. I think its supposed to be nice tomorrow.