Greetings all-
Okay… I’ve read almost every post here I could find on noise/grounding, and I’m stumped on this one: Upon completing my install, I have ignition noise in both highs and subs. It happens in ACC and ignition mode, regardless of the engine running or not (and does NOT change with engine running). It does NOT change pitch with RPMs. It sounds like electronic wind that starts low, gets high, back to low, slowly reaches high, etc. No crackles or pops.
My setup:
2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer LT, with Onstar, No bose
Kenwood Z828 HU (4v preouts)
JL Audio 300/2 on highs – JL Audio XR 650 CSI 6.5 components in front (no rear channel)
JL Audio 500/1 on subs – 2 JL Audio 12w3s
Stinger blue colored RCAs (directional, already checked that arrows are pointing towards amps), one on front, one on non-fading
4 gauge from battery to 125a Stinger fuse under hood, then to fused distro block in back, then 8 gauge to amps
8 gauge ground @ .7 resistance to amps
Power wires & RCAs/speaker wires on opposite sides of car
PAC OS-2 (keep Onstar interface/wiring harness)
PAC SWI-X Steering wheel controls interface
Kenwood Sirius tuner (1st generation, cant remember model #)
What makes noise go away by about 97%:
1) Disconnecting RCAs @ amp side
2) Disconnecting RCAs @ HU side
What does NOT make noise go away / things I’ve already tried:
1) Disconnecting antennae
2) Disconnecting sat tuner from HU
3) Powering up HU w/out sat tuner and SWI-X (see 6 below)
4) Moving crossovers around (passive crossovers part of component kit)
5) Using jumper RCAs, avoiding everything electrical I can, from HU to amps
6) Using jumper wires on ACC, 12+ constant and ground for HU. (Initially the HU, sat tuner and SWI-X were all connected together off the OS-2 harness for power and ground. I removed the HU from this and jumpered to alternate power source (ground and + under rear seat – fuse box. No difference).
What I haven’t tried:
1) Removing the screws that mount the amps; they are attached to the back of the rear seats, which I suppose are somewhat/fully grounded to the frame. I didn’t think this would matter since the noise stops when I remove the RCAs, but that’s why I’m asking.
2) Something I haven’t read about or missing.
What’s weird:
After the troubleshooting listed above, I assumed my deck was the problem. After cussing for a few minutes, I drug a boombox into the garage, set it to AUX input, jumpered the front out from HU using RCAs to the aux in on the boombox, and got NO noise. I turned the volume up on the HU and heard static (had it on no channel on radio) to verify the setup was working. But there was NO noise.
So at this point I’m baffled. I am hoping someone can point out something I’m missing, and make sense as to why this is happening, or at least give me some direction. The noise isn’t terribly loud, but you will hear it when its quiet in the car (like @ night, especially when changing tracks or during silent parts of music.)
I’m hoping to eliminate it, because I did a lot of reading here before doing my install, and I took my time doing a very clean install, and now very disappointed with the noise. Any help will be greatly, greatly appreciated. Thanks.