head unit recomendation?

[xtos]

That looks good. Can you take a pic at night ? Would really like to see it - thanx!

[Rambo]

I'm currently running Alpine CDE-HD137BT for the past 3months, it will be replace with Alpine CDE-147BT with amber Illumination...NICE!
Unfortunately Alpine CDE-147BT is on back-order

[aaron325ix]

finally got the KD-R80BT installed, looks great, pics coming soon. Problem is I have a horrible alt whine. I had it with the old HU intermittently only, but with the new one its constant. can anyone give some advice on this? ground loop, RCA's? don't know what to do to fix it

[Jean]

Aaron , describe how the amps in the trunk are wired in detail. You have two amps iirc.

[xtos]

Few suggestions....
RCA cables must not run along side high current power cables.
Amp ground must be as short as possible and ofc on a clean unpainted chassis.
Amp ground and power must be the same cable gauge.
Same goes for the head unit. A good ground is a must.

Most alt noise is coming throught the rca cables 80% of the time. If they are good and solid and not bended and abused skip them and look at the grounds first. GL.

[xtos]

...Or just start the car up and do the following...
Get a good piece of wire cable ,you dont need a 4 AGU but something good, assuming the head unit is a little bit pulled out of the dash, touch one end of the cable to a good ground (under the steering column perhaps) and the other side on the head unit chassis. Noise gone ? Head unit ground .....
Not gone ? do the same on the amp side. Noise gone? Amp ground...
Noise not gone....
RCA next...

[aaron325ix]

^ I'm going to try that when i get home.

I'll have to take a look at how everything is wired up. My RCA's (front and rear) go down the left side of the car. The sub RCA is the only one that goes down the right side. Battery is in trunk of course. the HU is grounded to a ground point under the steering column.

[bangn]

it wil be a poor earth for the amp. promise.

[Jean]

Yep, thinking the same thing, especially with two amps.

[mthaynes]

Here is my preference.

[kung fu jesus]

I installed this JVC into my wifes '99 Miata this pst month:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDX80BT/JVC-KD-X80BT.html

I have a cheaper, previous version installed in my '92 miata and '02 RSX DD. I like the features for the price. It works great with either of our smart phones (android for her, iP5 for me). Because we both drive a bit for seeing clients we both take calls while on the road, the handsfree works great. It works great with Google maps turn-by-turn directions as the instructions are read over the stereo system. The mic is adjustable and really does a nice job cancelling most noise. I paired my wife's with a 300w amplifier and 8" Blaupunkt components in the doors only and it is quite good, even with the top down on the freeway. The interface is pretty intuitive and much better than the ones I have in my vehicles. I am no audiophile, but I love media-based headunits over CD players. I will be looking at another for my e30.

[StereoInstaller1]

^ I'm going to try that when i get home.

I'll have to take a look at how everything is wired up. My RCA's (front and rear) go down the left side of the car. The sub RCA is the only one that goes down the right side. Battery is in trunk of course. the HU is grounded to a ground point under the steering column.

Oh man..you might get to fix that. Pull that sub cable out and run it up the left.

Lots of guys here talking about grounding, so lets talk about that for just one minute. It is imperative that all components use the same ground point.

The ole "ground as close as possible" does not apply to car with rear batteries BTW. I HIGHLY recommend using with either the battery itself or the stock body ground point as the best possible ground points (sorry, "Earth" for the UK peeps)

My recommendation is run 2 hunks of nice fat 4GA from the point at which the car is grounded (yes, that strap behind the battery) to each amp.

BTW, if your deck is using the stock ground wire it is a likely excellent ground. Test it anyway, but it is likely good.

Don't forget decks can die too, Pioneer and Kenwood both commonly fail causing huge alternator whine. A quick test to check for that is if you get a big POP when changing stations or a weird whirring noise when changing tracks on a CD.

If you follow everything that has been written so far here and you still have noise, post your tests and the results. This is R3V, we will get your shit proper...but first, I mean VERY fucking first, get that RCA running up the left.

Luke

[aaron325ix]

Oh man..you might get to fix that. Pull that sub cable out and run it up the left.

Lots of guys here talking about grounding, so lets talk about that for just one minute. It is imperative that all components use the same ground point.

The ole "ground as close as possible" does not apply to car with rear batteries BTW. I HIGHLY recommend using with either the battery itself or the stock body ground point as the best possible ground points (sorry, "Earth" for the UK peeps)

My recommendation is run 2 hunks of nice fat 4GA from the point at which the car is grounded (yes, that strap behind the battery) to each amp.

BTW, if your deck is using the stock ground wire it is a likely excellent ground. Test it anyway, but it is likely good.

Don't forget decks can die too, Pioneer and Kenwood both commonly fail causing huge alternator whine. A quick test to check for that is if you get a big POP when changing stations or a weird whirring noise when changing tracks on a CD.

If you follow everything that has been written so far here and you still have noise, post your tests and the results. This is R3V, we will get your shit proper...but first, I mean VERY fucking first, get that RCA running up the left.

Luke

I was hoping you wouldn't say that..

As far as the amps, the grounds both splice into a bigger ground (should I be using a distribution block instead?), which goes directly to the same ground that the battery grounds. Lets see if I can get a pic of it...


you can see the grounds from the amps going into the larger grey cable in the lower right corner

Damn I wish you were still in Oregon Luke. I'll be in Portland in a couple weeks and it would be great to have you sort out my system.

[StereoInstaller1]

I was hoping you wouldn't say that..

As far as the amps, the grounds both splice into a bigger ground (should I be using a distribution block instead?), which goes directly to the same ground that the battery grounds. Lets see if I can get a pic of it...


you can see the grounds from the amps going into the larger grey cable in the lower right corner

Damn I wish you were still in Oregon Luke. I'll be in Portland in a couple weeks and it would be great to have you sort out my system.

I am in PDX frequently...but you could buy a new amp for way less than I charge to work on cars....LOL.

Lets spend a little time diagnosing what is happening. You know what to do first...go buy a new cable and run it up the left!

LOL

Luke

[bangn]

jeebus, talk about a rush job!