Top Car Audio Myths...

[WRX/Z28]

Originally Posted by MarkZ

Oh. So, not in a car though? Where is this power coming from anyway? And why do you think the noise that's injected into the cable is similar to what an alternator produces?



The type of people who have noise issues and bring it to somebody to fix tend to be the same types of people who...well...don't know how to prevent and fix noise issues. So how do you know that the noise culprit is proximity to the power wire? And, in the cases where you believe that's the culprit, what does it look like?



Well, why should the product have much to do with the induction of noise into the signal cable, anyway? Aside from the (somewhat arbitrary) value of input impedance of the amplifier, which isn't really a product of quality. If anything, you should be LESS likely to notice that kind of noise if the product is crappy and introducing its own noise, thereby burying the inductive noise even further below the noise floor.

Ok, you missed my tongue in cheek tone there...

twisted pair cables can help with some of this noise. RF can affect the power cable and if you run your signal cables right next to a big rfi noise generator, i'll give you three guesses what happens.

I've had experience first hand solving noise problems by simply relocating the rca cables away from the power line period starting as early as 1992. If you don't have issues, continue running them wherever you like, just don't tell me it never happens in other peoples vehicles.

[MarkZ]

Originally Posted by WRX/Z28

Ok, you missed my tongue in cheek tone there...

twisted pair cables can help with some of this noise. RF can affect the power cable and if you run your signal cables right next to a big rfi noise generator, i'll give you three guesses what happens.

I've had experience first hand solving noise problems by simply relocating the rca cables away from the power line period starting as early as 1992. If you don't have issues, continue running them wherever you like, just don't tell me it never happens in other peoples vehicles.

Well, I never said anything about nothing ever happening in people's vehicles. I think you have the logic backwards here. Basically, you're saying because you haven't been able to successfully run the wires down the same side, then it can't be done. What I'm telling you is that lots of people HAVE done it successfully, and routinely do it every time.

Why doesn't it work when you used to do it? I don't know. Maybe it's worth comparing more detailed installation strategies to get to the bottom of the issue. Or maybe we should try to figure out the exact procedure you're using when you try to eliminate other variables as being the culprit. But the point is that it most certainly IS a valid way of doing things, as evidenced by the fact that lots of people DO it successfully. Again, since you presumably avoid trying to do it, I wouldn't expect you'd have as much experience doing it as other people would.

I'm trying to think of an analogy that would demonstrate what I'm talking about a little better. Ok, suppose we both play the Super Mario video game and I tell you about the secret world you can get into if you do X, Y, and Z. Then you do X, Y, and Z and your player always dies. Does that mean that X, Y, and Z doesn't work?

Sorry for the 1986 analogy. :P

[WRX/Z28]

Well, I never said anything about it happening in every car did I?

Someone just put it up as being a myth that you should run cables away from each other. I'm simply stating that it's not a myth, and it's a good practice to be in the habit of.

[MarkZ]

Originally Posted by WRX/Z28

Well, I never said anything about it happening in every car did I?

Someone just put it up as being a myth that you should run cables away from each other. I'm simply stating that it's not a myth, and it's a good practice to be in the habit of.

Unless you know how to do it.

[WRX/Z28]

Unless you know how to do what? Uncork the magic of running rca's and power cable zip tied to each other noise free? lol Come on...

[MarkZ]

Originally Posted by WRX/Z28

Unless you know how to do what? Uncork the magic of running rca's and power cable zip tied to each other noise free? lol Come on...

Well, there are apparently people (myself included) who manage to do it so that no noise is introduced. There must be something we're doing that you're not. Or vice versa.

[WRX/Z28]

Originally Posted by MarkZ

Well, there are apparently people (myself included) who manage to do it so that no noise is introduced. There must be something we're doing that you're not. Or vice versa.

Hmmm... there's people out there that use knives and cut towards themselves, yet they manage not to cut themselves. I still wouldn't say it's a good idea, nor would I say that that person will never cut themselves...

[chad]

think logically here, what has to happen in that power cable to induce noise on the signal cables. hint: what's NOT happening in that power cable at system idle when noise would be heard

[W8 a minute]

Originally Posted by chad

think logically here, what has to happen in that power cable to induce noise on the signal cables. hint: what's NOT happening in that power cable at system idle when noise would be heard

The answer is "What is current flow?"

[qwertydude]

I've found some expensive wire isn't so good. I installed an amp for a friend using some expensive 4 gauge wire, forgot the brand, but it used a silicone insulator which though flexible and easy to strip, also meant it could get cut and short out easily. Don't go too cheap though because I've bought "4" gauge which had so much insulation the wire inside was about the same as standard 8 gauge cough-Walmart-cough. Touch of the flu seems to be going around

[ChuckBerry]

Originally Posted by unpredictableacts

I also shake the milk before pouring a glass....My wife used to say that I was going to keep doing it and turn it into butter.....no butter yet.

LOL that's hilarious...if you did that with RAW cow milk straight from the teat, sure, after hours of shaking it would happen. But sans cream and most of the fat removed, and being homogenized, it is impossible to make butter with store bought milk.

[whynotmoo]

Sheesh, I have alot to learn.....

[rain27]

As far as all amps sounding the same (all things being equal)...I know I would not want to take a listening test to pick out the 10k amp out of a lineup. Same goes for speaker wire and cable.

[89grand]

Originally Posted by MarkZ

Well, there are apparently people (myself included) who manage to do it so that no noise is introduced. There must be something we're doing that you're not. Or vice versa.

You're not alone by any means. I've ran my main power wire right next to my RCA's numerous times and have NEVER had electrical noise in the system.

I agree it's a myth.

[J0ne]

just reading through some of these...might be good for n00bs

[ChrisB]

Since this thread has been bumped back up to the top, I have an interesting spin on the not running your RCAs near the Power cable. What about unibody vehicles? If the power cable can induce noise, isn't every single piece of sheet metal in a Unibody vehicle one big conducting ground for the electrical system? If my logic is correct, then one would have to suspend their RCAs to reject noise from the power or ground, correct?

Then again, this was just an interesting thought I had.... I only got 3 hours of sleep last night and figured I would ask the experts.

[MarkZ]

Originally Posted by 06BLMUSTANGGT

Since this thread has been bumped back up to the top, I have an interesting spin on the not running your RCAs near the Power cable. What about unibody vehicles? If the power cable can induce noise, isn't every single piece of sheet metal in a Unibody vehicle one big conducting ground for the electrical system? If my logic is correct, then one would have to suspend their RCAs to reject noise from the power or ground, correct?

Then again, this was just an interesting thought I had.... I only got 3 hours of sleep last night and figured I would ask the experts.

What's wrong with that? Then your power cable can double as a clothesline.

[89grand]

Like I said earlier in this thread, separating the RCA's from the main power is a waste of time. I've never done it, and I've never had electrical noise.

[mjgonegm]

Originally Posted by qwertydude

I've found some expensive wire isn't so good. I installed an amp for a friend using some expensive 4 gauge wire, forgot the brand, but it used a silicone insulator which though flexible and easy to strip, also meant it could get cut and short out easily. Don't go too cheap though because I've bought "4" gauge which had so much insulation the wire inside was about the same as standard 8 gauge cough-Walmart-cough. Touch of the flu seems to be going around

That pisses me off not only is it dangerous it could start a fire BIG LAWSUIT COMING, wally land

[ChrisB]

Originally Posted by MarkZ

What's wrong with that? Then your power cable can double as a clothesline.

Originally Posted by 89grand

Like I said earlier in this thread, separating the RCA's from the main power is a waste of time. I've never done it, and I've never had electrical noise.

I got into it with the guys on my ricer forum a while back when they said "NEVER run your RCA cables near your power wire because it will induce noise". Well, they agreed that Civics are unibody vehicles yet they tried to tell me it is different regarding running your RCAs near the sheet metal than it is near the power cable

Maybe I am wrong in my line of thinking but if one is going to suffer from induced noise, it can come from either direction meaning power or ground, correct?

[89grand]

Well they're ricers...of course they are wrong!

[quality_sound]

A new one: The Mag v4 is a 12" midbass driver not a real sub and can't play anything under 40Hz.

[farshad]

Originally Posted by 89grand

Like I said earlier in this thread, separating the RCA's from the main power is a waste of time. I've never done it, and I've never had electrical noise.

But I had this problem one time! once I separted the rca cable's from the power cable, the noise completely went away!

[ChrisB]

Originally Posted by quality_sound

A new one: The Mag v4 is a 12" midbass driver not a real sub and can't play anything under 40Hz.

That was the same thing with my jl Audio 10w3v2s in .625 cubic feet sealed per 10

ETA: JL Audio's recommendations for their own subwoofers suck!

[quality_sound]

Because you changed where it was routed. I'll bet the RCAs were next to something like a relay bank or fuel pump and that was the noise issue.