a question from another forum if you please...

[THEJERMON]

Hello Everyone,
Besides being a member of this forum, I'm also a member of a Spyder Forum called Spyderlovers.com. BTW, a spyder is a 3-wheeled machine w/2-wheels up front and one in back. You sit on it like a motorcycle.
Anyway, a member of that forum has an audio problem going on and I thought I would throw the question out to you Polkies to see if you have any ideas I may pass her way?
Here is her post:
Okay, now I don't have pictures up yet but I do have a question for anyone around who might know a little more about stereo and speaker installs than I do...

So I have installed my amplfier (160w Jensen) and ran my speaker wires to the respective speakers (four 50w speakers) HOWEVER I had to make two splices along the speaker wires going up to the front. I used soder and soderless connectors to make the connections using 18 gauge gold speaker wire. When I tested the system initially I was getting a lot of static and feedback on the speakers. Once I moved the power wire to the amp away from the speaker wires it improved quite a bit, but still not great. I also have installed an in-line noise filter on the power wire with no noticeable change.

My question is, is there something I can do with the connections I made on the speaker wire I used that can clean up the signal and give me a cleaner sound?

[Lasareath]

All the speaker wires should be as far as possible from power lines.

The ground connection should be as clean as possible, actually the ground from the Head Unit and the amps should go to the same location.

Ask her to try the stereo without starting the egine and see if it is better.

Sometimes the noise comes from the alternator.

[THEJERMON]

Thanks Lasareath,
I sent her your response and told her how to get to this forum and have a look at what the Polkies are saying.

[MacLeod]

Static means a bad connection either with the speaker wires or the ground of the amp. Take a speaker out of the rig and wire it straight to the amp. If the noise is gone she needs to re-run the speaker wires because the splices are causing the problem. If the noise persists then check the ground and make sure its solid and secure.

[Lasareath]

Thanks Lasareath,
I sent her your response and told her how to get to this forum and have a look at what the Polkies are saying.

np, but you should listen to MacLeod becuase he is the Car Stereo Guru here on the Polk Forums. I've installed some systems in the past but it's been at least 10 years since I have.

Sal

[THEJERMON]

Thanks Polkies. Jerry

[THEJERMON]

This is her latest response regarding her Spyder stereo stuff.
Great stuff! Yeah I have the power wire away from the speaker wires. I will shorten the ground wire and check the connections to the front speakers. The speakers are wired directly to the amp, not the control unit.

I ran the system with the engine off and the static only seems to come up when I crank the volume up.

Thanks for all of the advice!!!

[Installer4life]

Dump the jensen amps and most of your problems will go away. Sorry for being blunt but the build quality of that brand sucks. Under normal conditions speaker output wires will not pick up radiated noise from the power wire. Don't believe me take a BMW apart and you will notice that they run speaker wires along with the power wire running from the rear battery to the engine compartment. Now passive crossovers will pick up this noise. If you are running coaxial type speakers this should not be a problem. Good RCA's will elimate radiated noise on the low level or input side. Try a better amp..