Popping noise w/ new system

[chromed_out_galant]

I recently put in a new system in my car. Rockford fosgate components in the front and reg. mid ranges in the back. But when I am listenin to it, i get a little popping and crackling sometimes. It's usually when I change songs or turn the volume up and down, but it also does it during the song sometimes. What could be causing this? I know all the wires are correct and nothing is crossed because I have checked it numerous times. Everything is grounded and all. Could it be that the ground going to the amp is not a large enough gauge? I am running 8 gauge to a splitter and then 10gauge fromt he splitter to the amp. Any help would be appreciated.

[nycking23]

check your gains. it seems like your getting distortion. remember, gains ARE NOT volume knobs

[chromed_out_galant]

I checked my gain. It is only up 1/2 the way. Turning it down didn't do anything except make the sound quality change. Poppin was still there.

[cntrylvr79]

What kind of radio is it. Do you have an amp for the interior speakers? Did your car have the infinity system? Where's the radio grounded to?

[Serstylz2]

gotta be the ground

[kolio]

ya man sounds like the ground, so the new amp works. when we took the radio out check to see if the ground came loose. i remeber running the wires, nothing was crossed. if i have time maybe i can check it out one day.

[RedGalant2k1]

What kind of radio is it. Do you have an amp for the interior speakers? Did your car have the infinity system? Where's the radio grounded to?

x2 Got to know the answers to these questions then you can get better answers.

[chromed_out_galant]

What kind of radio is it. Do you have an amp for the interior speakers? Did your car have the infinity system? Where's the radio grounded to?

x2 Got to know the answers to these questions then you can get better answers.

The radio is an alpine cda-9830. Amp is for interior speakers. I don't have the infinity system. Radio is grounded to a piece of metal that is part of the frame inside the dash behind the stereo. Amp is grounded in the trunk to a piece of metal thats part of the frame. Today I went out and looked everything down and all the grounds seem to be fine. Radio is grounded, amp is grounded all good. I turned down the gain and adjusted the frequency a bit and it helped a lot, but now I get sort of a hissing sound at high volumes. Also, the max vol on the radio is like 35 i believe, but the vol wont go higher than like 24 or 25. Is that normal? I dunno tho, Kolio maybe we can meet up somewhere one day. I need a fresh ear to see whether u can hear anything wrong. I don't have all that much experience in this matter, but to me something just sounds off.

[little blue]

getting a popping sound is normally from your rca's make sure they are not pinched anywhere. as for your volume, aftermarket interior speakers are normally low, just adjust your levels on your head unit.

[RedGalant2k1]

What kind of radio is it. Do you have an amp for the interior speakers? Did your car have the infinity system? Where's the radio grounded to?

x2 Got to know the answers to these questions then you can get better answers.

The radio is an alpine cda-9830. Amp is for interior speakers. I don't have the infinity system. Radio is grounded to a piece of metal that is part of the frame inside the dash behind the stereo. Amp is grounded in the trunk to a piece of metal thats part of the frame. Today I went out and looked everything down and all the grounds seem to be fine. Radio is grounded, amp is grounded all good. I turned down the gain and adjusted the frequency a bit and it helped a lot, but now I get sort of a hissing sound at high volumes. Also, the max vol on the radio is like 35 i believe, but the vol wont go higher than like 24 or 25. Is that normal? I dunno tho, Kolio maybe we can meet up somewhere one day. I need a fresh ear to see whether u can hear anything wrong. I don't have all that much experience in this matter, but to me something just sounds off.

Well the first thing I would do is upgrade the wiring. 10ga is nothing better than large speaker wire it doesn't serve well as a amplifier power wire. Personally I'd run 4ga wire to a distribution block then 8ga to your interior amps and 4 ga to your sub amps (if you have subs).

It will also do you good to make sure your ground wire is the same gauge as your power wire. I'd upgrade that the same. I'll bet after you do so the problem would go away.

I should mention however without being able to physically see it myself I can only offer solutions based on what I'm reading here, physical inspection is the obvious and only way to fix it, but I hope my experience can help you out.

One more question? Do you hear the popping/crackling from a certain speaker? If you are unsure which try fading the sound to LF, RF, RR, LR that will help isolate the issue.

Things that can cause this noise include:

Improper grounding.
Poor RCA connections or wires.
Poor speaker wires or connections.
Bad channel on amp or headunit.

When did the problem occur? After the headunit but before the speakers? After the speakers and headunit? After the amp?

[chromed_out_galant]

ok, well I checked everything out and I ran 4 gauge ground and power. The problem is almost gone completely now. The only time I get a lil popping is when the bass is hitting a lot in the rear speakers. I have only interior speakers right now no subs. I turned my gains almost all the way down. Maybe like 1/4 way up. I have the frequency for the back set to like 75hz and the front is like 90hz. I think that was what the prob was. Is it normal if the bass is hitting that when I change songs I hear a lil pop? Also, I have a cap that is not hooked up in the back at the moment. That cap will hold some residual charge even though it is not hooked up right now b/c it was hooked up at one point. could it be that the speaker wire is too close to the cap so it's causing some interference? I never had a prob wit my stock speakers with the head unit. But as I said after making the changes I have it has drastically improved the popping. Now it is only when I change songs with the volume up almost all the way and the bass is hitting.

[RedGalant2k1]

Everything should play distortion and 'pop' free.

I would also check your RCAs. Its easy to test them, here is what I suggest.

If you have some great if not you can probably borrow some from a friend. Get about 15ft of extra standard RCA connects. Run those from your headunit to your amp, except since this is to test the connection don't worry about running the wires under the carpet or anything special.

Just connect directly from the headunit to the amp. Then power up the system and crank things up to see if the popping/crackling is gone.

If it is than it was the RCAs, if not there is either a speaker blown, or you have a bad channel on the headunit or amp.

Let me know how things progress.

[chromed_out_galant]

If I had a blown speaker wouldn't it be popping and crackling constantly?

[cntrylvr79]

If I had a blown speaker wouldn't it be popping and crackling constantly?

Not always depends on how its blown and how badly.

[chromed_out_galant]

What's the best way to tell if it is blown? Are there any visual indications?

[cntrylvr79]

Very rarely can you look at a speaker and tell if it's blown.

[chromed_out_galant]

I been listening to the radio some more and I don't think that I have a blown speaker. The only time I get any popping is when I change songs while the bass is hitting. But for some reason I still feel like something is off. I will try the rca thing next time I get a chance, but I would really like someone else to check it out too and see if they can hear what I am hearing and figure out what the hell is going on. I can meet them somewhere. I know Kolio is close, but anyone else who is more experienced (no offense Kolio). I just don't wanna take it to a stereo shop cuz I know they are gonna charge me a lot and my system is not finished so they will prolly think I did a shitty job because my trunk is a bunch of wires and shit and not really done. I'm waiting till i get my subs to mount the amps in their permanent locations.

[chromed_out_galant]

Ok so yesterday I took everything back apart and checked it all. Everything is good. All the connections are good. No frayed wires or anything like that. Nothing crossed. All the grounds are tight. I don't understand. Now the popping only happenswhen I change songs and only sometimes. Could it be something with the head unit? I hanv't been able to check the signal wires cuz I ran out of time. Hey, Kolio, if you got the time sometime maybe we can meet up somewhere and you can take a look at it. Lemme know man. Anyone else have any other ideas?

[kolio]

ya sound like it might be the head unit. give me a call and i can check to see exactly what you are talking about.

[dronesurfboards]

You can tell if a speaker is blown by pushing the face up and looking at the voice coil. on most speakers, you can visually see the voice coil disconnected from the magnet. about your crossover points....run them at a higher frequency. 90hz in the front and 75hz in the back is too low if you have a subwoofer. try 125-150 hz in the front. Rears should only be for depth and soundstage...dont need bass from that since your subwoofer is gonna drown them out. i set mine around 150-225. Raising the crossover points puts more wattage at mids and highs instead of trying to produce bass. plus another thing raising the gain, raises distortion...i keep mine at a quarter. if you want it to be louder...you either need to get more wattage or more speakers. your head unit should be fine. alpines are made pretty well.