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Noise in New Boat Stereo System


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t_bone17 
Member - Posts: 8
Member spacespace
Joined: January 20, 2018
Location: Washington, United States
Posted: January 20, 2018 at 5:05 PM / IP Logged Link to Post Post Reply Quote t_bone17
I have just replaced all of the stereo components in my boat and am getting a lot of "feedback" (not sure if proper term for type of noise) or white noise coming from the speakers.
I have re-wired everything twice, and it is driving me crazy. It is not a small amount of noise, it is noticeable until the volume of the music is very loud.
Any help or direction is appreciated.
I will lay out what I have installed and what I have done to try and eliminate the noise.
Boat is a 2000 Ski Nautique Super Air
PCM 350
Components
Head Unit: Alpine UTE-62BT
Equalizer: Wetsounds WS WS420-SQ
Amp: Boss MR1950 5 channel amp - powering everything
In Boat Speakers: 4x Alpine SPS M601W
Wake Tower Speakers: MB Quart NT1-116
Sub: JL Audio 10" W1v3v-4 -
Layout
Head unit has not been mounted, is just sitting on the floor right now, until I can get this noise figured out
Same with the equalizer
Amp is mounted to the backside of the bow walkthrough wall, behind the lift up seat
4 Alpine in boat speakers mounted in stock locations, two on port, two on starboard side.
2 MB Quart speakers mounted to aluminum monster wake tower
Sub is mounted in small fiberglass box in the space behind lift up seat with the amp
Wiring
I had all of the wires ran cleanly through the boat. Unfortunately that meant running some speaker wire alongside the amps main power and ground wires.
This has been all "un-ran" and all the the wires are now freely sitting on the floor of the boat, to get them as physically far away as possible, to eliminate the possibility of any interference happening.
Still no difference in the noise
All wires are brand new, speaker, power ground, RCA, remote
Wiring method:
4 gauge power and ground straight from the battery, 60A fuse on power wire
4 gauge goes into a 4-8 gauge distribution block for both power and ground. I wanted to leave it open to add an amp(s) in the future, and the amps is "marinized" so all of the wires coming off the amp are stubs to keep it water proof, and I didn't think splicing a 4 gauge wire into a 8 gauge wire would be a very clean connection.
14 gauge power and ground ran straight from battery to head unit, which is then spliced to the equalizer
Remote turn on is ran from head unit to equalizer/amp
2 channel RCA ran from head unit to equalizer
6 channel RCA ran from equalizer to amp
16 gauge speaker wire ran to all speakers
"front left" channel is wired to left tower speaker - 4ohm
"front right channel is wired to right tower speaker - 4ohm
"rear left" is wired in parallel to the two left in boat speakers - 2ohm
"rear right is wired in parallel to the two right in boat speakers -2ohm
Sub is straight wired to amp - 4ohm
Battery is brand new
Procedure:
Has only been powered on with just "key power" as the boat is winterized and I won't be starting the motor for a few more months
So alternator whine is out
Noise comes from all speakers, almost equally, slightly worse on tower speakers
Noise exists as soon as power is on to the head unit, equalizer, and amp.
Noise exists with no RCA's attached to the amp
Noise exists with a another new set of RCA's
Noise exists in any/all speakers, when any individual speaker is unplugged, noise remains in the existing ones plugged in still
Amp gain is set at maybe 20%
Attempted Solution/Troubleshooting
Removed all wiring from "proper" routing to free them from any power interference
Replaced all old wiring with brand new wires
Removed all components from the battery - The only thing being powered on the entire boat right now is the stereo, there is only four wires total coming off of it, the stereo is basically a stand-alone system now, still getting the noise
Added secondary ground cable from battery to block, and or motor frame mount (tried both, and individually) - No difference
Switched out existing amp with a fairly new alpine 5 channel from my truck that works fine in that application, wired to that - slight difference in noise, marginal
Bypassed equalizer, ran RCAs straight from head unit - no difference, marginal at best
Some of the wires a a bit messy in the pictures, but this is on purpose now, to make sure I can see where they are all routed and make sure nothing is touching or wire sheeting came off etc.
Aside from where everything comes together at the amp, all the wiring is as physically far away as I can make it.
I am no audiophile, or electrical engineer, and non of this equipment is top of the line, but all brand new equipment, all brand new wire shouldn't be doing this.
Any help/suggestions/methods of testing/troubleshooting tips would be helpful.
Thanks you.
Power/Ground at Battery (Second battery attempt, you can see the first the in background)
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
Power/Ground cables (on the floor for now)
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
RCAs at amp
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
Power/Ground distribution blocks
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
Power/ground at amp
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
Speaker wires at amp
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
Amp
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
Equalizer
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
Head unit
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
In boat speaker
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
Tower speaker
Noise in New Boat Stereo System -- posted image.
i am an idiot 
Platinum - Posts: 13,666
Platinum spaceThis member consistently provides reliable informationspace
Joined: September 21, 2006
Location: Louisiana, United States
Posted: January 20, 2018 at 7:07 PM / IP Logged Link to Post Post Reply Quote i am an idiot
I cast my vote for the Boss amplifier.
t_bone17 
Member - Posts: 8
Member spacespace
Joined: January 20, 2018
Location: Washington, United States
Posted: January 20, 2018 at 7:16 PM / IP Logged Link to Post Post Reply Quote t_bone17
A probable cause. I know it’s a crappy amp, that will not output anywhere near what the wattage rating of it is. But it should do the job, not looking for crazy sound, and it is fully marinized, hard to beat for less than $200.
Except I switched it over to another amp that I have, that I known functions properly, without any noise.
i am an idiot 
Platinum - Posts: 13,666
Platinum spaceThis member consistently provides reliable informationspace
Joined: September 21, 2006
Location: Louisiana, United States
Posted: January 20, 2018 at 9:30 PM / IP Logged Link to Post Post Reply Quote i am an idiot
So you too are voting for the Boss amplifier, right?
t_bone17 
Member - Posts: 8
Member spacespace
Joined: January 20, 2018
Location: Washington, United States
Posted: January 21, 2018 at 1:46 PM / IP Logged Link to Post Post Reply Quote t_bone17
No, because I got the same results with a completely different amp.
i am an idiot 
Platinum - Posts: 13,666
Platinum spaceThis member consistently provides reliable informationspace
Joined: September 21, 2006
Location: Louisiana, United States
Posted: January 21, 2018 at 2:49 PM / IP Logged Link to Post Post Reply Quote i am an idiot
Except I switched it over to another amp that I have, that I known functions properly, without any noise.
t_bone17 
Member - Posts: 8
Member spacespace
Joined: January 20, 2018
Location: Washington, United States
Posted: January 21, 2018 at 5:56 PM / IP Logged Link to Post Post Reply Quote t_bone17
That was in reference to the amp functioning properly, without noise, in another setting. Wiring it into the boat system nets the same results.
shark mobile 
Copper - Posts: 83
Copper spacespace
Joined: November 22, 2014
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posted: January 21, 2018 at 8:59 PM / IP Logged Link to Post Post Reply Quote shark mobile
Ground loop isolator...you never know it might help lol
Solder, tape, repeat!
t_bone17 
Member - Posts: 8
Member spacespace
Joined: January 20, 2018
Location: Washington, United States
Posted: January 24, 2018 at 9:59 PM / IP Logged Link to Post Post Reply Quote t_bone17
I could try that. But don't think it will help, as it is the same whether the rcas are plugged in at all or not.
i am an idiot 
Platinum - Posts: 13,666
Platinum spaceThis member consistently provides reliable informationspace
Joined: September 21, 2006
Location: Louisiana, United States
Posted: January 25, 2018 at 9:29 AM / IP Logged Link to Post Post Reply Quote i am an idiot
Disconnect all speakers from the amplifier. I know this is not likely since you are in a boat. But if you ground a non bridged speaker wire it will cause noise as you are experiencing. Connect 1 speaker at a time and see if the noise is there.
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