Excess noise from subs

kevinberry1 · Post by **kevinberry1** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 7:21 am

I forgot to mention that I bypassed the crossover last night and the noise is still there. I hope that the eq didn't overdrive the amp and cause some malfunction. The input sensitivity for the amp goes up to 2.5v and the output of the crossover is 9.5vrms. Could that have damaged the amp and caused this noise problem?

I sent an email to Arc last night with my questions to see if they could help me out before I send it it to them.

Post by **GlassWolf** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 7:40 am

it's not a line voltage issue, but even if it were, the result would be a clipped signal at the amplifier, and wouldn't clear up by swapping amps.

kevinberry1 · Post by **kevinberry1** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 7:47 am

KikiTheCat wrote:it's not a line voltage issue, but even if it were, the result would be a clipped signal at the amplifier, and wouldn't clear up by swapping amps.

I bypassed the crossover last night when I hooked up the other amp to make sure that it wasn't a problem with my ground or subs. It sounds more and more like your initial guess was correct; the amp has a problem.

Any deductions about what could be wrong? Could the arcing that happened a few months ago damage the amp? Is there any way for me to test the problem before sending it in to Arc for repair?

Thanks for your help guys!! I feel like such a newb

kevinberry1 · Post by **kevinberry1** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 11:27 am

I have to bump this old thread because I'm about to send my amp in for repair. One last piece of info though is that the "fluttering" noise from the subs can be heard when I use some other electrical device like the windows or sun roof. Is it still the amp if that happens or is it just not getting enough power?

racerraul · Post by **racerraul** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 11:56 am

Use a muting plug on your bass amp & turn them on\off... the reason for using the muting plug is to zero the input signal at the amp.

A muting plug is an RCA with both conductors wires withing shorted. You can make your own out of a cheap set of RCA cables.

If you amp continues to make the on\off noise then indeed it is the problem and needs to be sent in for repairs... but if it stops then the noise is further up the chain...

kevinberry1 · Post by **kevinberry1** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 12:06 pm

The noise happens more frequently than when it is turned on and off, so I'm not sure that your idea will work in my situation. If I turn up the bass remote knob and have the gain turned up a little higher than 1/3 way it will "hum" or "flutter" pretty loud, especially when the engine is running. It also becomes more pronounced when I use the electric windows or sunroof.

It probably is the amp but I'd like to eliminate all possibilities before sending it in for repair. Thanks for your suggestion though, I appreciate any help :)

racerraul · Post by **racerraul** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 12:16 pm

Like I said...

The idea is to zero the input signal at the amp... This is the proper way to troubleshoot your amp. If you are having ANY noise be it turn on/off, or hums & high noise floor with the muting plug... it is a good way for you to know IT IS definitely your amp & not something further up the chain in your system...

Not my idea... but rather the way I was thought to troubleshoot by professionals in the field...

Just trying to help...

kevinberry1 · Post by **kevinberry1** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 12:24 pm

racerraul wrote:
A muting plug is an RCA with both conductors wires withing shorted. You can make your own out of a cheap set of RCA cables.

I'll give that a try, thanks!
I have some extra RCA cables so can you tell me how to make that? I didn't get the part about the conductors being shorted.

racerraul · Post by **racerraul** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 1:20 pm

When you cut the wire... there wil be 2 smaller wires within... connect them together.

kevinberry1 · Post by **kevinberry1** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 1:25 pm

racerraul wrote:When you cut the wire... there wil be 2 smaller wires within... connect them together.

And then do I just connect them to the amp's RCA input?