Worst whine Ever in 40 years

Update: grounded rca cables at deck output and noise instantly reduced by about 95%! Not totally gone, but barely audible unless I rev engine. Onder if I should ground ALL rca cables at eq and amp??? Will try soon. No time right now. But HUGE difference just grounding deck ouput rca cable jacks!

Turn the gains down on your amplifiers. Turn them all the way down. Does the noise go away?

i am an idiot wrote: Turn the gains down on your amplifiers. Turn them all the way down. Does the noise go away?

They're already set down at around 1/4 but I'll check the again in a bit when I get a chance to pull the amp out from under my seat (it's pouring rain right now). I'll certainly let you know. Thanks.

Oh, forgot to mention HOW it is I grounded my RCA jacks from the head unit ouputs: I ran a ground wire to the metal dash support bracket and connected 2 cables to a Y pigtail. To test this method, I had the engine running and the loud whine was there. I grounded the one end to the car, then touched one outer RCA sleeve and BAM, whine gone! Well, most of it. I then grounded the other one. NOW my question is this: since this is the first time I've ever had to ground an RCA, I better ask you folks if I would be better off grounding the RCA's to the head unit body OR a separate chassis ground or does it really matter? If the rain ever stops today so I won't get drenched, I'm going to try grounding the other RCA cables (front AND rear outputs at the equalizer PLUS both sets at the amp inputs). I already gave up on checking or replacing my RCA cables since they're some of the best I've used in years, and they had NO whine in my last 3 cars. Just apparently need to ground them due to something haunting this Civic. These are the Montster RCA's I'm running from equalizer to amp (2 now, 3rd when I get my sub amp): This was a few years back when I first used them for my amp rack for my Dodge Stratus: Thanks for all the advice! Of course I'll chime in once I try grounding more RCA jacks, and try better grounds for amp

STILL just trying to find someone who KNOWS Hondas, who can tell me FOR SURE if the seat bolt IS or ISN'T a decent ground point. Until then, I'll repost what started all this: 1. In my last car, a 1999 Chevy Prizm, I had this exact same car stereo (plus tweeters) and had everything connected the same way (amp under passenger seat, grounded to seat bolt)... NO WHINE AT ALL. 2. Removed the stuff before I sold the Prizm, then installed the head unit and speakers into the newer car, a 2001 Honda Civic... NO WHINE. 3. Enjoyed whine/static-free tunes since August when the deck and 4 speakers went into the Civic... with NO WHINE. 4. Recently installed the equalizer and amp from the Prizm into the Civic, all connected the same way as it was in the Prizm... MAJOR WHINE. 5. Removed seat bolt, used a wire wheel to clean it up and also wire wheeled the surface of the seat bracket where bolt goes in... still whining. 6. Replaced amp's ground wire with a stiffer brand of 8g... still whines. 7. Removed head unit AND equalizer ground wires from factory radio harness and grounded them to solid dash metal bracket... still whines. 8. Disconnected RCA inputs and outputs to/from equalizer and ran RCA's directly to amp (to see if equalizer was the culprit)... still whines. 9. Ran a ground wire from metal dash bracket to outer jacket of RCA output at head unit... WHINE GONE INSTANTLY... well, 95% of it! 10. Ran a second ground wire from metal dash bracket to external body of head unit... no change. 11. Ran ground wires from body of amp to outer sleeve of RCA inputs at all 4 channels of amp... no change, so I removed them. 12. TODAY: I am going to remove ground cable from seat bolt and drill a hole in my floor and ground it there. I'll see what happens. 13. The last thing I think I need to check are my expensive twisted, shielded Monster Cable RCA's, so I'm saving that for last since they're so neatly tucked away. Again, just grounding the RCA's at the head unit output solved MOST of the problem, but not all. So, not done checking things.

Since I'm running out of options, if moving the amp ground to another location doesn't work, I'll be forced to try different RCA cables. I do have a 6-channel RCA I paid big bucks for that I might try. Or, I have some very expensive home audio/video RCA cables that might work. They have some of the thickest outer cover of any I've seen in years. Not so sure this RCA is any better than the 101XLN's I'm running now, but I can't afford to rush out and buy anything else right now. But this Monster Cable MicroXLN 6-channel is a start to check to see if the RCA's are the issue. It's what I used in my Dodge Stratus from the head unit outputs to the crossover inputs.

All this "WHINING" coming from the only person I've ever known who came up with the hair-brain idea of using separate distribution blocks for power, ground and turn-on leads on his amp rack! Yeah, call me crazy. Never saw it done before, but thought it was a good idea. Of course right next to the turn-on block was the turn-on relay! My "concept" was simple: instead of running all the power, ground and turn-on cables to their source, I ran 8g Monster Cables to each distribution block, then 4g Monster Cables from there. Sure made the underside of the amp rack a lot easier to wire! THIS was the tricky part! Doing my absolute best to avoid crossing signal cables OVER power/turn-on cables! You can only do it so many times until SOMETHING has to cross. But hey, it sure was fun to TRY! OH WELL... back to the current problem at hand!

Try turning the gains of the amplifiers all the way down.

I have the gains set down to like about 1/3 and had no whine in the last car. But anyway, here is the latest (FAILED) updates: Yesterday, I removed the amp ground from the seat rail bolt and regrounded it to the steel dash bracket that goes across the entire dash and is welded to the A-Pillars as suggested by a friend who owns and customizes Honda Civics all the time. NO LUCK! Still have the whine! SO... I then removed the Monster Cable 101XLN RCA cables from the equalizer to the amp and replaced them with a couple of VERY expensive, highest quality RCA's from my previous home theater system. They have plugs that are 24 karat gold plated and twice the size of any regular car RCA. STILL HAVE WHINE! Next, I disconnected the power wires to the head unit AND equalizer that were hooked up to the factory radio harness constant 12-volt lead and ran an 8 gauge power wire directly to the battery. STILL HAVE WHINE! Well, I pretty much give up messing with the RCA cables and power/ground cables. Next comes having the alternator checked. The only trouble is, the car only has 65,000 original miles on it and had 54,000 on it when I got it in August, so you would think the alternator would be fine. But, since places will check them free, I have nothing to lose. Then, I'm going to try to figure out how to connect an RFI capacitor to the engine. I googled a ton of info on them, and they seem to make sense. However, all the images I found show them connected to either the coil or the alternator. Well, since the 2001 Civic doesn't have that old school coil, I guess my only choice is the alternator hook-up. So there ya go, over a week of replacing/regrounding/re-wiring/testing and STILL have whine! Like I said earlier, when I grounded the RCA's that run from the head unit outputs to the equalizer, the whine instantly went down about 90% if not more! To test it first, I simply grounded a wire to the dash brace, then turned on the system. While the engine was running and the whine present, I touched that wire to the outer part of the RCA plug and BAM, it was a HUGE loss of whine! So, of course, I shut things down and proceeded to ground the two channels of the deck output RCA's. Guess that's the best I'm going to get for now. Not giving up totally, but sure am running out of things to test and check and rewire or reground. Only things left are messing with the alternator, and installing an RFI Capacitor. Would be really cool if someone could tell me EXACTLY how/where you would connect an RFI Capacitor on a 2001 Honda Civic. I'm sure the connection is different on many different cars, so what works on a Ford or Chevy or even a Yugo might not work the same on a Honda. Pictures would be excellent. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go bang my head into a brick wall... pretty much the same as listening to alternator whine!!! OH, ONE LAST NOTE: As I mentioned a couple times previously, the whine is pretty much only heard with the volume either turned way down or off. If I simply turn up the volume, I don't hear it. What the heck is THAT all about? THANKS FOR EVERYONE'S ADVICE!!! Notes ARE being made of what you suggest, what I try, and what works and doesn't work.

"i am an idiot" asked twice to try turning the gains all the way down to see if the noise goes away. 1/3 and 1/4 of the way is not all the way down. Please try what he suggested, then get back to us.~wirewise~ Verify all wiring with your meter before making any connections!