Amplifier Noise

[parkertl]

I just installed a New JL Audio M600/6 on my 260 Sundancer. Its supposed to be a nice marine amp that has built in electronics to help reduce the noise caused by all of the little electrical things in the boat.

When the motor is off the stereo sounds amazing. However, when the generator or motor is running or any electrical items like the windlass or blower are used, there is a ticking or static emitted from all of the speakers (even the ones connected straight to the radio).

I ran new speaker, RCA and power cables (all monster cable). The ground is run back to one of the negative battery terminals (about 20' of wire) with 4 AWG Monster cable, the power cable is about 16" from the amp connected to the DC Panel and is 8 AWG with a 40A fuse.

I tried using the negative terminal on each battery with the same result. I avoided using the grounding block as I thought it would be noisier.

Does anyone have any other options that I might try; some sort of capacitor or power conditioner perhaps, or another way to ground the amp? Or is it a different problem altogether?

Thanks

 

[Kevinmcm]

Re: Amplifier Noise

Next question is, are you playing a CD, ipod, or radio when this noise occurs? Honestly, the answer will help determine where the noise is coming from.

 

[parkertl]

Re: Amplifier Noise

I tried all of the inputs including tuner, ipod, cd and aux and they all are doing it to the same degree.

 

[birdiee83]

Re: Amplifier Noise

i dont think the problem is the amplifier. you say the speakers terminated directly to the head unit are making the ticking noise also. the amplifier will play any noise fed to it threw the head unit. check you power and ground to the head unit, also check the antenna cable that also can affect noise. i would try running a new power feed straight to the battery, take your ground to a earth ground,(a piece of metal on the body somewhere)to see if you still have noise( not a permenant instal it will eat your batteries) if that does not fix the problem do the same to the amplifier. doing this should bypass all the interference created by running equipment. if the other equipment is earth grounded as well the noise will still exsist try moving you ground to the negative post on the battery.

 

[parkertl]

Re: Amplifier Noise

Thanks, the only reason I had suspected the amp was because the speakers connected to the stereo werent doing making the noise prior to the amp and addtional speakers being installed (the only thing additional I connected to the radio were the RCAs and Remote Lead wire). Everything else appears to be grounded to a grounding bar (there isnt much metal on the boat), so I can try to ground the radio to the same battery terminal as the amp perhaps.

 

[birdiee83]

Re: Amplifier Noise

if you would like to eliminate that remote wire to make sure your not getting noise out of that you can run that with your positive power lead. the system on/off would not be tied to your key switch but that would be another place to look. id try this since that is the only thing you have changed that ties between the boat electrical system and the audio electrical system. or you can do like i do run audio off a separate deep cycle battery this should eliminate all noise not to mention if you run down this battery jamming out you can still start you boat and go home.

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: Amplifier Noise

Make sure the RCA cables are the "shielded" type. RCA cables that are made for speakers will allow this kind of noise.

 

[dizzy1]

Re: Amplifier Noise

I have the same amp(car version e6450) in my 175 and no noise. Great amp. First thing I would do is short the rca inputs to the amp. Make a cheater plug from an old RCA connecting the inner pin with the outer shield. Then try to see if you have any speaker noise with and without the engine on. If no difference, its not the amp at all. Then work your way to the deck since it would be your source of noise. You can then short the RCA patch cables at the deck and repeat. Still no noise, then it completely the deck. Check the ground wire, anten input or anything mounted near it.

 

[parkertl]

Re: Amplifier Noise

Just a quick follow up for anyone that might read this thread in the future.

After running a dozen wires 4 dozen different ways in a futile attempt to isolate the problem, I purchased a couple of ground loop isolators from Monster. They are called Monster Silencers and the RCAs run into one side and the other side plugs into the amp. That fixed the problem completely.
http://www.monstercable.com/mpc/productPageMPC.asp?pin=2730

Thanks to everyone that responded for the tips.