Speaker "Noise", Poor-quality Amp the cause of it?

SuprchargdMazda · 06-01-2006, 12:23 AM

"Ground Loops:
Every piece of car audio equipment has some type of noise canceling circuit on the audio input circuit. These input circuits will, ideally, completely isolate the audio's shield ground from the amplifier's internal connection chassis ground. The amplifier's input shield connection (if properly designed) will have virtually no connection to the amplifier's power ground. It should take the signal from the RCA cable's center conductor, compare the center conductor's signal to the RCA's shield (the reference) and amplify the difference between the two. Remember the voltage generated in the body(voltage drop across the chassis from other electrical accessories)? Well if the amplifier used the ground in the rear of the vehicle (where the amplifier is mounted) as the audio reference instead of the shield ground (which is referenced to ground at the head unit's mounting position) as a reference, the voltage generated through the body would become part of the amplified signal. The amplifier would amplify the difference between the signal on the center conductor of the RCA cable and the amplifier's ground (in the rear of the vehicle). Some manufacturers use poorly designed input circuitry which allows the equipment's power ground to have too much of an influence on the signal (not enough isolation). This causes a small amount of fluctuating DC current to flow through the audio shield which allows noise (from the voltage drop across the chassis) to enter the signal path. The 2 ground paths create a ground loop."

So it could be possible that my ****ty Autotek 4channel amp could be causing noise in my speakers? If I hook up the Line Out to my Kenwood amp which powers the subs even with the low pass filter off to get the full range of sounds there is no buzzing going on. But with the LeadOut connected to the Autotek to the 4 speakers in the car I have lots of buzzing. This leads me to think its time to toss the Autotek amp. I don't want to spend another 100-200 bucks for a low-end 4ch amp if I don't have to but I don't know what else to do. Everything is grounded including the PC I've gone over that. An old thread I looked up one guy mentioned that possible the USB cable could be causing buzzing if run parallel with a power cable? What do you guys think?

Another thing, what am I doing wrong here with my connection? I'm running the basic setup with lineout->stereo->rca splitters into amps->speakers. I've got System, Master, WAV volumes down to like 5% almost zero and the music is still pretty loud even at like 10 volume on Winamp. Anything wrong with that or is everyones system volume set that low?

t0ffluss · 06-01-2006, 01:11 AM

Could be... I used to have a cheap BOSS headunit... and it would whine like there was no tomorrow... after replacing it with a Pioneer headunit, the noise went away!

horay!

Richard

ps: bear in mind I responded to this thread only reading your topic ;D, so if this was waaay off, im sorry... heh

2k1Toaster · 06-01-2006, 01:18 AM

Well you could try to lower the amp's gain (the volume thingy I believe), and then try turning up the PC so that there is less noise. I know this helps usually with really crappy amps that are set too high.

Same like if on your desktop, you have your speakers set to 100%, and then the computer to like 5%. You hear all the noise and the music. Compared to if you set speakers to like 30% and computer to 90%.

Oh, and on mine, I usually leave it at 25% master volume and like 2% winamp.

SuprchargdMazda · 06-02-2006, 01:59 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Well you could try to lower the amp's gain (the volume thingy I believe), and then try turning up the PC so that there is less noise. I know this helps usually with really crappy amps that are set too high.

Same like if on your desktop, you have your speakers set to 100%, and then the computer to like 5%. You hear all the noise and the music. Compared to if you set speakers to like 30% and computer to 90%.

Oh, and on mine, I usually leave it at 25% master volume and like 2% winamp.

Yea the gains on the Autotek are up high, problem is I cant lower them because the dial is broken/stuck, I ordered a new amp, Orion 4channel, hopefully itll satisfy me..

SuprchargdMazda · 06-27-2006, 06:23 PM

Just wanted to repost with the conclusion that indeed the Autotek was the source of ALL the noise I was getting, switching to an Orion amp has eliminated it.

RedGTiVR6 · 06-28-2006, 09:25 AM

and the lesson learned here folks?

that you get what you pay for, ESPECIALLY in car audio.

The orion amp is about 10x better than the Autotek.

Spend $200 on a crappy amp only to deal with these issues, or spend $300 or so on a decent amp and never have to worry about it....

glad to hear it all worked out for you!

SuprchargdMazda · 06-30-2006, 01:25 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Red GTi VR6

and the lesson learned here folks?

that you get what you pay for, ESPECIALLY in car audio.

The orion amp is about 10x better than the Autotek.

Spend $200 on a crappy amp only to deal with these issues, or spend $300 or so on a decent amp and never have to worry about it....

glad to hear it all worked out for you!

Yup totally true, to make matters worse it wasn't even a new Autotek, it was a refurb. Just to point out I wasn't the one that bought it, it came with the car when I bought the car and I didn't pay extra for it.

RedGTiVR6 · 06-30-2006, 07:48 AM

ahhhh

well then it's ok....maybe

proph · 07-03-2006, 10:32 PM

the lesson here is to have used equipment tested... Orion hasn't made anything worth a damn in years. I'd take the autotek any day, but thats my preference. If your done w/ that POS Autotek feel free to send it my way, I'll pay shipping.

Shadow · 07-04-2006, 09:29 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by proph

the lesson here is to have used equipment tested... Orion hasn't made anything worth a damn in years. I'd take the autotek any day, but thats my preference. If your done w/ that POS Autotek feel free to send it my way, I'll pay shipping.

Blah blah blah. DEI owns Orion and their build quality is excellent.

proph · 07-04-2006, 05:22 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Shadow

Blah blah blah. DEI owns Orion and their build quality is excellent.

As I said before they haven't made anything worth anything in years. Same goes for PPI... The company is known for their security products, IMHO there just living off the old name of the companies they bought. Their build quality is good but whos isn't.

Shadow · 07-05-2006, 06:34 PM

Quote:

As I said before they haven't made anything worth anything in years. Same goes for PPI... The company is known for their security products, IMHO there just living off the old name of the companies they bought. Their build quality is good but whos isn't.

Man, that must mean a/d/s and Definitive technologies is crap too. Better tell all those audiophiles...

RedGTiVR6 · 07-05-2006, 07:12 PM

lol - Orion/DEI/a/d/s/Definitive - all crap...yeup

all crap

****ty ****ty ****ty

proph · 07-06-2006, 09:19 AM

We were talking about Orion, and as I said before...

Quote: Originally Posted by proph

the lesson here is to have used equipment tested... Orion hasn't made anything worth a damn in years. I'd take the autotek any day, but thats my preference. If your done w/ that POS Autotek feel free to send it my way, I'll pay shipping.

Tim Lake · 07-06-2006, 09:40 AM

I think that may have been satire proph, directed at your sweeping generalizations!

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