subwoofer grounding problem

**megagoo** · 12-23-2005, 07:05 PM

hi. i am having some noise coming through my subwoofer that i just hooked up. im not sure if i have my groundings correct. my amp is a kenwood kac-608s

manual here: ftp://docs.kenwoodusa.com/manuals/OM...-1999-KUSA.pdf

my problem is it sounds like im getting hard drive noise coming from the computer through the speakers. like when i do something on the computer the speakers make a low popping rapidly. i dont get any obvious engine whine

.. i hooked up the power wire to the battery terminal connection on the amp.. ground wire from the ground terminal what i think looks like a decent ground point on the car.. and the remote wire to the remote terminal. but on the other side of the amp theres a screw labeled ground. manual says it is rca cable ground lead. i am running an 1/8 to stereo RCA. then from one of the channels (the subwoofer channel. not the "center speaker" channel unless the guy that did it did the wrong one) to a stereo male rca to stereo male RCA plug. this way i can plug in two RCA cables and it should be inputting just my subwoofer channel coming through the soundcard. well i dont hear any bass. or anything except for the popping. i tested the output jack with headphones and it works fine.

but i dont know what to plug into that rca cable ground lead since i dont have one on my rca cables.

any help is appreciated

thanks
eddie

**Osiris** · 12-23-2005, 11:20 PM

If your using 5.1 sound output, I would go into your sound software settings and see if selecting the sub/center setting works (if thats available). If not try switching the rca plugs but that didnt work for me. Also to try to equalize some of the PC ground noise you can try connecting a ground to the power supply of the computer.

**Quattro** · 12-23-2005, 11:26 PM

I have a similar problem with my subs. I get music out of them but I also get a continous rumbling sound out of them. If I hit mute you can hear it clearly, it gets lounder as I put up the volume. But if I hit pause the rumbling sound stops. I'm guessing its a grounding poblem, haven't figured it out.

**megagoo** · 12-24-2005, 12:41 AM

i saw in another thread someone ran a ground from his PC case to a ground somewhere and that fixed it

but i solved the prob. it was that i had not plugged my 1/8" jack completly into the input on my soundcard. i had to push it in pretty hard and the computer is not mounted in the car under the seat, so it slides back when you push in

but now some kind of way i blew my sub. the power line still sparks when i touch a screwdriver to the line then to the amp case, but the red light on the amp does not come on. this may be because i had undone the main ground wire while the amp was on. the red light went off then but came back on when i put it back. possibly when i put it back on the connection wasnt very good. maybe it came loose and ran without ground for an extended period of time. i hope that was it at least. i dont know why an amp would die besides that. i checked the fuse and its good.

after all of this, i discovered i have no sound from subwoofer channel on soundcard anyways. at least not when playing mp3s. sound comes through when i speaker test.. i'll have to research this and make another thread if necessairy

eddie