I just bought a 200 watt amp off my buddy yesterday and installed it etc. when the stereo is turned all the way down the bass still hits like a heart beat even if I turn the radio off it still does it. I use to have a 500 watt amp and it did the same, I just adjusted the rca jacks and it stopped doing it. But on my old one it just made a whine noise, not its making full on bass thumps. How can I fix this?
Check your grounds, run your power and remote wires on the other side of the car opposite of the RCA's. That adjustment on your inputs is there for a reason, look up how to adjust it. Are you using a pioneer head unit by any chance? They are known for burning a circuit trace for the ground on the RCA outputs or something.
- Your not-so-local, untrained, uncertified, backyard mechanic. But my @!#$ runs
Yes I am using a pioneer head unit, I have all the wires running on the left side, I will try that.
^^^^Eh wrapping a fully stripped wire wound the RCA plugs and grounding it to the case is quicker and does the same thing. Your preouts are blown because at some point you probably plugged the RCAs in with the radio and amp on. I did the same thing and chased a nasty ground shattering boom that would happen when my headlights turned on. DONT do it especially if you fix it as shown below because you will burn up your preouts. The preout fuses are there to protect your radio and youre bypassing them with the wire.
Im all for doing it right. That link just looks like a good way for people like me to ruin a radio.
Ground to clean paint free metal. Not seat bolts.
As far as running wires down the same side or not, its good practice to but youre not going to get interference from properly shielded wires at that low of wattage. The reason you get interference from power wires is because of the tendency of the wire to want to act like an electromagnet as direct current is passed through it. The more wattage youre running the higher the amperage draw and the stronger the magnetic field surrounding by the power wire. Good jacketing nulls most of the magnetic field. If you do have to cross power and signal wires its best to do it at 90 degrees to each other.
