Printer Friendly Forum Posts - pioneer deh p6000ub background hiss

I recently bought a Pioneer DEH-P6000UB head unit. I like everything about it except for the horrible background noise. At half power (31), it seems to have just as much (if not more) noise than my old Pioneer DEH-P4700MP unit did at full power (62). It's very noticeable and annoying when nothing is playing. It's easily audible during quieter parts of a song, too. I can also hear it when the engine is idling too. The noise does get better at volumes lower than 25 and doesn't seem to increase much past 35. I'm not sure if it does it in Tuner mode, but it does in all other modes; CD, USB, and Auxiliary. It doesn't seem to be alternator noise, the noise is constant regardless of whether or not the engine is running and doesn't vary with the engine speed. I've checked all connections on the wiring harness, everything is good. I did originally have the unit grounded through the factory harness, but I also tried grounding both the chassis and wire directly to the frame, nothing help. I plugged my old unit unit into the same harness and had no noise. The noise does stop for a split second when changing sources, which makes me believe the noise is being generated inside the head unit itself. I don't believe it's the internal pico fuse because I'm using the head unit's internal amp to power my speakers.

Do I have a defective unit or is it just designed like that? I've already exchanged this unit once, but both do it. I know Pioneer isn't exactly high-end, but come on.

Your radio has lost it's ground reference on the shield of the RCA jacks. Take a short length of wire, ground one end of the wire. Touch the other end of the wire to the Outer shiny part of the RCA cable that is going to the amp. This should make the noise go away. Let us know what happens.