OK.. i had thought i had solved my engine noise problem awhile back when i got a good ground... but it came back. after talking to a fellow audio guru, he recomended that i get better rca cables going to my amps.. I know i dont have high quality ones or hadnt really thought about it when i was doing my installs, but im thinking i should have known about that. right now my rca cables run down my center console and under the rear seat kinda in the middle, while the 4ga power cable runs on the passenger side of the car. the ground is a 4ga cable running to a rear seat belt bolt. both ground and power run from a 4ga to a distrobution block and then to the amps via 8ga wire.

i guess my real question is what is the best rca wire for me to get that has the best noise reduction or protection. I was looking around and was probably going to go with some monster cable, but wasnt sure if there was a better one. I think i can afford to spend 50ish more on some good cable, so help point me in a good direction. all i think ill change is my two cables for my 4chan amp and not worry about the sub amp, unless someone else thinks or suggests that i do that also.

thanks.. sorry it was so long, but wanted to make sure to include as many details the first time. :-)

I have had very good luck with monster 401XLN cables, i have 3 amps, 1 electronic crossover, and a dsp, so that probably equates to like 60 feet of cable and these are the best i have found for the price, other people may give you other opinions, but i have had no noise with these cables
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james

The best RCA's i have come across is the "twisted pair" kind. Theese cables virtually get rid of all induced noise, most major manufactures make them. A few things to check out too. Make sure your battery is in good condition and fully charged. A bad battery can let through some alternator whine. A battery itself is a noise filter, a very good one too, and if its bad, you can get alternator whine in the system. I have an optima yellow top battery, and i have NO noise what so ever...Using a good quality shielded RCA cables too..

good deal.. glad this section has become more active since awhile back when i used to peruse here more often. ok so i guess ill just have to make a decision.. either the monster ones first stated of a twisted pair like i believe rocford makes. as far as i know my battery is in top shape. Its a Die Hard Gold batter of less than a year old. I would love to get one of those optima batteries, but as long as this one works good and since i have limited $$ to throw around right now, i guess ill have to stick with it. some accually told me that for a sorta "cheap" fix i could wrap my cables in dynomat to sheild them. Its cheap for me since i still have a half of a door kit that i had only used the other half so far in helping rid my car of rattles. But i guess ill just have to go out and pick up some sort of new better cables then.

Another thing to check: I know you said your RCA's were run basically down the middle of the car and your power on the passenger side, but when you said the ground was bolted to a seat bolt, please say it's the seat bolt next to the door?? If your grounded on the seat bolt next to the console, you could easily be picking up noise in your RCA's from the ground. As I'm sure you've heard, the noise can jump and easily be picked up into those RCA's. One of friends ran his within 1 ft of each other and they picked it up.

Next: I know it works, but you might want to seriously reconsider moving your ground, a seat bolt will work for small wires, but 4ga?? I run 0 ga. back to my block (I run 2 MTX 2300X amps) and the ground for it had to be perfect. I know you're not running 0 ga., but part of your problem still might be a weak ground.

hmm i see where you were going.. the ground is accually to a bolt under the rear seats.. and i believe the rca's are fairly close to it.. funny thing was that right after i put the ground there(this being after having some really crappy grounds) i had no engine noise.. but it just sorta came back and gotten worse. so you're saying i might want to re-run a longer cable for my ground to for example the battery or something. i guess i could try moving it if i have to. i think im going to just get some better rcas and re run them farther away from the ground.

I would definitely try the new RCA's and moving them first, if that doesn't work then let us know. I got plenty of ideas on what it is, we just need to narrow it down.

Its been a while, but i'm pretty sure i have my system grounded in the spare tire well. I took off ALL of the paint in one spot, got down to good shiny bare metal. Got a nut and bolt, drilled a hole for it, and used a ring terminal on the ground wire. Bolted the ground wire to the sheet metal itself. The ground wont get any better than that, asssuming the ground to body connection at the battery is good and clean too. I would try this rather than a seat belt bolt, i have always gotten some noise from using seat belt bolts..

i might have to try that then too.. might try going at it this weekend.. but i think im going to need more 4ga cable to make it to the spare tire area.. guess we'll see.

Doesnt have to be the spare tire area really. Just find a spot that is clear on both sides of the sheet metal, and bolt it there. I just found it easier to do it there because most of my wiring is in the spare tire well.

haha.. well i did the wires.. and it accually got a bit worse.. guess i gots to find a new ground.. grrrr. i wish i had some money to get a new head unit, cause im sure that is part of the problem. i got some monster cable rca's. They were pricy, but oh well at least ill have them for down the road.

Ok.. well i checked my ground discoverd it wasnt accually touching the body of the car, so i placed it under the part it was on top of originaly so it made contact with the body of the car(i had already scraped away paint and such) Ground noise is minimal now. i can still hear it on occasion, and it seems sporadic when i accually hear it now, but i think it is minimal enough to not worry much more about it. but anyways, thanks for the help and advice.

hey, I'll prolly be comin over in about 2 weeks bro, I'll bring my tools to get you to zero noise, I got some extra cable back at my house I'll see about bringin, btw, where's your amp located? Oh yea, I finally cleaned up my amp install, got it all nice and pretty on the back of the rear seats, a bout of unlaziness hit me, anyway dude, gimme a shout, later

sweet.. amps are located on the backs of my rear seats.. i should have my new head unit in by next week, so who knows that might rid me of the rest of the noise.. ok for cable be sure to bring both 4ga and 8ga wire.. btw you wouldnt be able to get ahold of 3 nice 8ga wire terminals to be used on a cap.. ive been meaning to get the thing installed, so maybe we can mess with that too. neways.. hit me up on aim one of these days eh?
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