Ground Q/A sticky

ok... stupid question... after reading this post and the 'what is a proper ground' - when you measure the resistance of your ground (at the end of your ground wire that goes into your amp), where does the other lead go? disconnect the battery, then put the other lead on the neg term of the car?

I have just read this entire thread and it contains tons of great info. I really didn't see anyone say way they would do the big 3 though. I mean do you suggest that everyone does this or is it when you reach a certain amount of amps. When would you suggest this someone do this. I assume it really gepends on the amount of amps that your system is drawing. I'm a newb to the forum do bare with me incase this has been gone over before.

The BIG 3 (or 4) is recommended to do for every audio system upgrade.Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

Hi, I am running into alternator whine issues as well. The noise increases when the A/C is on. Please help. Car: Mazda Protege5 2002 Basics of my system: Eclipse CD5444 -> Pioneer EQ (DEQ-9200) -> 3 Alpine V series amps - 2 channel driving the MBQ tweets (let's call it Amp-T), 4 channel driving the front door Infinity mids (Amp-M) and a Mono driving 2 JL 10" subs (Amp-S). RCAs (StreetWire ZeoNoise series), speaker wires, remote-turn on were ran on the passenger side, power cable on the left side. All three amps grounded under one backseat bolt. Power cable is 4 gauge in -> distri block -> 8 gauge out. The things I've tried: Unplugging the RCAs after the EQ, no noise. HU RCA directly Amp-M, no line in to the EQ but with RCAs still connected to it, noise! Then I unplugged the RCAs coming out from the EQ to Amp-T, no noise. Only HU RCA to Amp-T, no noise. Use all new RCAs from EQ to all the amps, draping over the seats and console, noise! Ground EQ and Amps all under one bolt, noise! Ground HU + EQ directly grounded to -battery, noise! Ground each individual amps directly to the battery, noise! Could running remote turn-on together with RCAs causing the noise, but I thought it carries little current. Right now I think it might be the EQ causing the problem. It is grounded together with HU on the dash support. The HU and EQ gets +12 V and ACC from stock wiring harness. Could it be the EQ/HU not getting enough power? I had replaced my HU with the current Eclipse from an old Pioneer, but the noise's still there, albeit lower, I think. Should I run new RCAs from HU to EQ? Run new battery cable from battery to HU+EQ? I've spend several days trying to figure this out, to no avail. Going crazy! Thank you guys, any help is appreciated.

hey rob its T. Monkey

So after compling my notes I decided that it had to be the EQ. All the connections to it and from seemed clean but then I thought the factory +12 V constant wires was just too thin to power both HU and EQ. So I ran a fused 12 Gauge power wire directly from the battery to the HU and EQ, and voila, noise was gone!!! So all along the EQ wasn't getting enough juice, and perhaps was straining for power and somehow picked up alternator whine. Also gone was a slight high pitch humming even when the enging was not running. Thanks for all your help.

Take the ignition wire from the Pioneer and jump it to the constant 12 volt line. Does the problem go away. Unplug the antenna next. Run a new power, ignition and ground line. Take the unit out of the dash cavity, does it still make noise. (in case it is a 85 ford pu). Chances are though that you will still have this noise. This is indicative of a piss poor internal ground plane in the Pioneer cd player, meaning time for service or replacement.Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.