New System Installed, But is Ticking / Popping

Hello

It has been 17 years since I installed last and by no means was I a pro, but this is the first time I cannot figure out the problem. I have spent hours trying to figure it out.

Cracking / clicking sound all 4 speakers when car is on and volume is down.
When volume is up you cannot hear the clicking. Clicking is consistently the same and does not change as the RPM changes.

Car: 2005 Acura RSX

System:
HU - Kenwood DNX573SSKU
Amp - Alpine PDX Series 1600W Class D 5 Channel
Front Speakers - Pioneer TS-Z65CH
Rear Speakers - Kicker CS series
4 gauge Power & ground Wire
New speaker wire run for all speakers
RCA's - a.Krystal Kable 2 Channel 6M Twisted Pair RCA Cable 20' b. Krystal Kable 4 Channel 6M Twisted Pair RCA Cable 20'

Testing:
1. I tried another hu - no change
2. I ran a new set of RCA's from the amp to hu and disconnected all other RCA's - no change
3. I disconnected the front left midrange from the crossover, and bypassed the amp - No clicking anymore, must be the amp? Thought so but see next point
4. Connected Iphone to Amp using RCA / 3.5mm - No clicking!?
5. I have tried various combinations of each channel / speaker independently.
6. I disconnected the factory bose amp harness and also the 4 wire harness (power) under the passenger seat. Ran a new ground and the noise has lessened, but is still there.

a. The Amp is solidly grounded to the chassis in the trunk.
b. Power wire is routed on the passenger side, all speaker wires are routed on the drivers side
c. Radio is mounted in the Radio chassis, and was in the dash but not secured by the two bottom screws.
d. For testing I have had the radios on my lap

Question:
Is it okay to use the Metra, or should I be tapping directly into the OEM harness? Currently: Kenwood -->Metra Harness-->RSX harness. I am utilizing the Orange, Red, Yellow, Blue and ground from the Metra.

Any help is greatly appreciated !

I have spent about 70-80 hours routing wires, installing, sound deadening, etc. and was so stoked to have this done and then I turned the car on and was immediately bummed. ..

Thank you.

Try turning the gain controls all the way and see if the noise is still present. I'm guessing it won't be.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

Is the ground wire for the amp connected at the same physical point as the ground from the HU?

Also try to connect the Kenwood ground without going through the Metra harness.

Gain Controls on Amp - I assume you mean turn them all the way down
Ground wire - I have completely bypassed the Metra Harness. Ground wire is not connected at the same point. The AMP is in the trunk and the ground wire for the HU is connected to the chassis left lower quarter panel

Are you absolutely sure about your point #4?

Point 4 - yes absolutely positive unfortunately, I tried it twice.

Tomorrow I am planning to upgrade the two grounds on the car + add an Alternator ground

For test #4, why did you connect an iPhone instead of going direct to headphones?

Eliminating the signal processing in the iPhone is a cleaner, less ambiguous test method. IMHO

I needed a source is why I connected the iPhone - the purpose was to test the AMP. How would I connect headphones directly?

troye] wrote:

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I needed a source is why I connected the iPhone - the purpose was to test the AMP. How would I connect headphones directly?

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Sorry - didn't give that a ton of thought. I thought you were using the iPhone to monitor the output of the Amp to see if the crackling was present without the HU or speakers connected (or any other source connected)- not as a source to the Amp.
So then, with the iPhone as a source, you eliminated ground loops due to the input cables and the problem went away.
Is the HU chassis well grounded?

Did you solve your problem?

It looks like I am making some progress!

I did "most" of the big three upgrade. Two 1/0 grounds from battery (chassis and engine) and added an additional ground to the alternator
Bypassed Metra ground , and sanded off the black paint from the screw of the new ground
Bypassed Metra for power, used 'add a circuit Fuse' with 16 gauge wire

I am going to re-solder the ground and power as I did not do a good job.

Now I have some white noise only when sound is not present - I hooked up a good old alpine deck to test and there is no noise coming from that, so leads me to believe there is an issue with the Kenwood DNX573s, I will try a new deck today.

Guys thanks for your help! Big3 upgrade completed, some ground modifications, resolder, deck replacement, and all is good! Sounds great!!! Well it is getting there, now I need to tune it. Deciding DSP or no.