Wet Sounds Tower Speaker Install

[mdk681]

So I have been working slowly on my tower speaker install and made quite a bit of progress today, but also hit quite a few speed bumps. Currently I have a 2 battery setup with a 1, 2, 1+2 switch, but unfortunately found out today one is dying and not taking or holding a charge. Any recommendations on batteries?

Thus far I have ran 4ga power and ground to the storage compartment where I am mounting my amps. They are wired into separate distribution blocks for the multiple amps I would like to have eventually. I ran 2 pairs of RCAs and a remote wire up front around the bow of the boat over to the HU. Once the amp was mounted I hooked up the power, ground, remote and RCAs. I wanted to test one speaker before I went too crazy just to ensure everything was in working order. This is where I started having problems. My equipment is as follows:

Alpine CDA-9853 HU
HiFonics ZX6000 2 channel amp
2 - Wet Sounds XS-650s
4ga power and ground wire (I have those hooked up directly to one battery - should I hook the power wire to where the main power wire to the motor is connected? (COM on the selector switch))

I had my amp on the Hi Pass filter, gain only half way up, and all bass EQ's down to zero. Everything powered up as it should, but I noticed a nasty whine when the engine was started. I ran a separate ground wire directly to the battery for the HU to test, which helped, but the alternator whine is still there. Also I noticed whenever I turned the volume to 0 I would hear a small pop. When I would go to turn it up from 0 there would be an extremely loud pop. Any thoughts?

[chpthril]

The amp's B+ needs to be on the "C" post of the switch. This insures that the entire stereo is sharing the same battery reference. This is the #1 cause of unwanted noise in the system. Wasn't a bad idea to ground the head-unit to the amps GND terminal. I would take the head-units yellow wire off the boats harness and also take it to the amp and terminate it at the B+ terminal.

Battery: you cant beat the price per Ah of a wet cell lead-acid. Go with a brand name marine deep-cycle. What you have is probably a group-24. If you want to upgrade, go with a group-29 if space allows.

[mdk681]

The amp's B+ needs to be on the "C" post of the switch. This insures that the entire stereo is sharing the same battery reference. This is the #1 cause of unwanted noise in the system. Wasn't a bad idea to ground the head-unit to the amps GND terminal. I would take the head-units yellow wire off the boats harness and also take it to the amp and terminate it at the B+ terminal.

Battery: you cant beat the price per Ah of a wet cell lead-acid. Go with a brand name marine deep-cycle. What you have is probably a group-24. If you want to upgrade, go with a group-29 if space allows.

Alright, that makes sense. I will plan on running a separate ground and power from the distribution blocks where the amps are mounted to the HU.

The boat started with one old standard sized battery, it is the size of a typical car battery. I would assume this is a group-24? I added a second battery, which was a couple inches wider, and again I would assume this is a 29. I have no more space for a second big battery like the one I added.

[mdk681]

The amp's B+ needs to be on the "C" post of the switch. This insures that the entire stereo is sharing the same battery reference. This is the #1 cause of unwanted noise in the system. Wasn't a bad idea to ground the head-unit to the amps GND terminal. I would take the head-units yellow wire off the boats harness and also take it to the amp and terminate it at the B+ terminal.

Battery: you cant beat the price per Ah of a wet cell lead-acid. Go with a brand name marine deep-cycle. What you have is probably a group-24. If you want to upgrade, go with a group-29 if space allows.

Well I continue to run into problems and am starting to get very frustrated . I took your advice and wired the main power to the C post of my battery switch. I also supplied + and - directly from the C post and battery ground. I hooked up one of my tower speakers and I STILL get the same annoying pop. I am starting to wonder if my HU has some issues with the pre outs, or if my amp has some issue.

I took a video of what I am seeing with one of my tower speakers connected and sitting in the boat. Please excuse the wind noise and the background noise - it was pretty windy and my lift canopy likes to make a lot of noise .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ZBkrk0-Tw&feature=plcp

Anyone have any ideas...? Help!

[chpthril]

Ok, the 2 in-boat speakers are drievn off the head-unit, correct? Are you hearing any of the same noise from them as the speaker driven by the amp? It will probably no be as loud, but its important to determine if its there or not.

Just to clarify, the whine is only present with the engine running and the pop occurs when the volume it adjusted and is NOT a turn-on pop thats audible when the head-unit it turned on?

IF the noises are in all the speakers, this points to a source unit problem. If the noise is just in the tower speakers, this points to a problem output problem or the amp. And just to be sure...the head-units yellow MEM and black GND wires are both run to the amps power cable lugs.

[mdk681]

Ok, the 2 in-boat speakers are drievn off the head-unit, correct? Are you hearing any of the same noise from them as the speaker driven by the amp? It will probably no be as loud, but its important to determine if its there or not.

Just to clarify, the whine is only present with the engine running and the pop occurs when the volume it adjusted and is NOT a turn-on pop thats audible when the head-unit it turned on?

IF the noises are in all the speakers, this points to a source unit problem. If the noise is just in the tower speakers, this points to a problem output problem or the amp. And just to be sure...the head-units yellow MEM and black GND wires are both run to the amps power cable lugs.

Yes, but there are a total of 4 in-boat speakers being run off of the HU (not sure if that is relavent). From what I can see the popping is only coming from the speakers that I have connected to the external amp. I have never heard the pop on my in-boat speakers driven by the HU power.

There appears to be 2 different problems - one is the pop when the volume is turned up from 0, the source on the HU is changed, radio station changed, etc. There is no pop when the HU turns on. The second is the unwanted noise. There is no whine when the boat is off. Once the key is turned one click or running, I get some nasty line noise.

Again, the noise appears to only be coming from the tower speakers connected to the amp, the in-boats appear to be working correctly as always with no noise or pop.

I actually messed up on what you suggested last time . I ran a wire directly to the battery - and the power to switch pole C for powering the HU. From what I understand, I should wire those directly to the distrobution block which power the amps?

[mdk681]

Nothing seems to be working for me here, for some reason I think that my HU is having some issues. A co-worker of mine let me borrow a similar Apline unit to mine so I can see if the problem continues or dissapears. Hopefully I can narrow it down to one piece of equipment...

[Ruger761]

If your HU has another set of outputs try swapping it to that set. That popping is the pick up on the amp. So either the HU has a problem, faulty RCA wires, or bad pick-up on your amp. You can get the same noise by curring rca wires and touching the neg positive together for a bench top test on a used amp.

[mdk681]

If your HU has another set of outputs try swapping it to that set. That popping is the pick up on the amp. So either the HU has a problem, faulty RCA wires, or bad pick-up on your amp. You can get the same noise by curring rca wires and touching the neg positive together for a bench top test on a used amp.

I tried all 3 outputs on the HU, front, rear, and sub. I get the same thing on all 3 which leads me to thinking that the HU has something bad with all of the outputs. I also tried 2 different RCA cables, and both of them did it on every channel of the HU as well.

I'm not quite sure what you are referring to for that test - just unplug them from the HU and touch the 2 leads together...?

[Ruger761]

You can bench test an amp with a speaker without a HU by touching the neg and positive of a cut RCA wires together. Gives a poping through the speakers like your getting, which tells you the pick up in the amp is working properly. My guess its your HU if you have tried all the outputs and different sets of wires with the same results.

[chpthril]

I tried all 3 outputs on the HU, front, rear, and sub. I get the same thing on all 3 which leads me to thinking that the HU has something bad with all of the outputs. I also tried 2 different RCA cables, and both of them did it on every channel of the HU as well.

I'm not quite sure what you are referring to for that test - just unplug them from the HU and touch the 2 leads together...?

Get a 3.5mm headphone to RCA cable and go right from you MP3 to the amp. If the noise is still there, its the amp. if the noise is gone, its the head-unit.

[mdk681]

Well after a while of struggling a friend of mine let me use his spare Alpine HU to swap out. Sure enough once I swapped the HU out my problems disappeared! Took it off his hands for 50$, and being it was almost the exact HU I had already the wiring was plug and play. I wonder what was wrong with my pre outs on the old HU to cause that noise? Oh well. Thanks for all of the suggestions and help!

Will post pics if I can finish the install today!

[Ruger761]

$50 is a pretty cheap fix or at least cheaper than an amp. Glad you got it going.

[bryce2320]

We want pics!!

[Super B]

Glad to see you got it figured out! I was about ready to refund you for the speakers!