Ticking noise with new system

[///M]

I had my audio system installed on wednesday - Alpine components (front), Alpine coaxials (rear) and a 4 channel Alpine amp powering it all. The stock HU is plugged into the speaker level inputs of the amp, with all of the wiring going down the driver\'s side of the car.

When the ignition is off, the system is clear and sounds very nice, but I am experiencing a very annoying ticking/buzzing noise from the front tweeters when the engine is turned on, even when the radio is turned off. Additionally, there\'s a noticeable alternator whine once the car gets moving. What could be the culprit here? Conflict between the power and speaker wires? A grounding loop?

Jeff from Lockdown (who did my install - really clean install should I add :) ) mentioned that the ticking noise has been a common problem with Mazda3s. Have any of you experienced it, and what have you done to resolve it?

[TheProfessor]

I haven\'t experienced it in either of our 3\'s. Are all of the wires run down the same side of the car (i.e. power wires and speaker wires)? If so, that\'s one of the first things I would change.

[///M]

Yes. All of the wires run down the driver\'s side, afaik.

Would routing the power wire to the passenger side help?

[fourtrack78]

the usally rule is power goes down the same side as the battery and speakers go the opposite side.

[MazdaTree]

how many amps do you have?

[MajesticBlueNTO]

Originally posted by autoexe


Yes. All of the wires run down the driver\'s side, afaik.

Would routing the power wire to the passenger side help?

you sure the Power wire and the speaker wires run down the same side? wouldn\'t think that Lockdown would do that?!

also, check the ground point that the amp is grounded to and make sure it is clean (paint free, etc)

do you have anything plugged into the cigarette lighter 12V?

[bubba1983]

Originally posted by MajesticBlueN




you sure the Power wire and the speaker wires run down the same side? wouldn\'t think that Lockdown would do that?!





i agree, thats rule #1 in audio install, power down the one side, wires down the other...

i can\'t realli see lockdown messing that one up...wierd

[///M]

Originally posted by MajesticBlueN



Originally posted by autoexe


Yes. All of the wires run down the driver\'s side, afaik.

Would routing the power wire to the passenger side help?

you sure the Power wire and the speaker wires run down the same side? wouldn\'t think that Lockdown would do that?!

also, check the ground point that the amp is grounded to and make sure it is clean (paint free, etc)

do you have anything plugged into the cigarette lighter 12V?



I\'ll check again, but it appears to be that all of the wires, including power run down the driver\'s side.

I don\'t have anything plugged into the 12V outlet.

[///M]

Originally posted by MazdaTree


how many amps do you have?

One.

[MazdaTree]

I would check the grounding point, or even better take it back to lockdown and make them have a look at it.

[TheProfessor]

All of the stuff in this post (i.e. checking grounds and seperating the power and speaker wires) are fairly basic ideas that Lockdown should\'ve already checked when they heard the sound.

[KenYork]

would it have to do with the mirrors electircal wires?

[bluntman]

Check the gains on the amp, having them set too high may have an effect, also check the RCA cables. Until last summer I had the same amp installed in my 3 and I noticed a ticking sound coming from the rear speaker. I had it checked out and it turned out to be a bad RCA cable. Of course, you may not have any RCAs but check the speaker connections any way, it won\'t hurt.;)

[///M]

FIXED!

The wires were indeed running down the same side of the car, but I don\'t think that was the cause of the problem - they were high level speaker wires (i.e. not RCA). It\'s now rewired with RCA wires (on the other side of the power) and a LOC, and all of the noise is gone.