High frequency whine from speakers?

[blackcup]

I have noticed the past few days that whenever I turn the boat engine ON that i get a pretty loud whine coming from all 6 of the speakers. Shut the engine down and it goes away instantly. I disconnected all inputs into the ZLD and it is still there.

Anyone familiar with what might be causing this now?

[blackcup]

And FYI - this whine just started since having the installer remove the stock Kicker 300.2/Clarion Monoblock and installing the Exile Javelin.

He is saying its something to do with the head unit/zld but common sense would tell me that since i have never heard it before this install, it has something to do with the install. Installer is recommending a ground loop isolator?

[Woody929]

Best thing I would recommend is to totally isolate the audio setup from the main system. You have a grounding issue somewhere.

[mmandley]

Exactly as above, you need to Ground the Head unit, ZLD, and Exile Amp to the Stereo Battery.

If you are sharing your stereo ground and the common boat ground you will pick up noise.

Also your Javelin Gains should be very low, use the gain adjust on the ZLD to boost the signal to the amp and the Javelin gain should be less then 50%

[blackcup]

Exactly as above, you need to Ground the Head unit, ZLD, and Exile Amp to the Stereo Battery.

If you are sharing your stereo ground and the common boat ground you will pick up noise.

Also your Javelin Gains should be very low, use the gain adjust on the ZLD to boost the signal to the amp and the Javelin gain should be less then 50%

Ok great thanks guys I will check it out. What gain should the 30.2 be at? Around the same as well or less/more? ZLD is set right now at about 85%.

[mmandley]

if ZLD is at 85% then the amp should be lower then 50% but its hard to just say off the cuff because it depends on your speakers, and what type of music you are playing through them.

You can pick a genre like Rap and turn it up until the speakers are starting to clip and then turn it down slightly. But then again if you listen to country that setting could be different. Tuning is an art form it seems and best to be done by a professional if possible.

I always set my sub with Rap because that genre tends to have a lot lower and heavy bass line but I play all types of music. I generally adjust my sub volume from my ZLD depending on how hard its working.

[blackcup]

Ok thanks for the info ... we play all genres of music so its prob a good call to tune with rap as it is the most bass heavy.

My install guy gave me 2 x loop isolators to use as just a band-aid until he can wire everything up properly.

[lsupcar]

Blackcup,
It appears we've done similar upgrades this off season. I have upgraded my 2015 Mojo from auto flow 1.0 to 2.0 and upgraded the stereo with new amps and sub.
I haven't tried the new auto flow yet but hopefully I will have better luck then you.
My stereo however also has a whine through the speakers. It sounds great with the boat off, but with the engine on for the first time yesterday the high pitched whine was there. With more investigation today, i've noticed that there is a high pitched noise even with the engine off but with the blower on. Activating the various switches on the dash will cause a momentary click through the stereo as well.
Does your stereo also have the whine with the motor off and the blower on?
I tried running some extra temporary grounds today with no improvement.
Let me know if you come up with a solution to your two problems.
Thanks.
Bill Z

[Woody929]

The solution is to completely isolate your audio from everything else electrical in your boat.

[blackcup]

Blackcup,
It appears we've done similar upgrades this off season. I have upgraded my 2015 Mojo from auto flow 1.0 to 2.0 and upgraded the stereo with new amps and sub.
I haven't tried the new auto flow yet but hopefully I will have better luck then you.
My stereo however also has a whine through the speakers. It sounds great with the boat off, but with the engine on for the first time yesterday the high pitched whine was there. With more investigation today, i've noticed that there is a high pitched noise even with the engine off but with the blower on. Activating the various switches on the dash will cause a momentary click through the stereo as well.
Does your stereo also have the whine with the motor off and the blower on?
I tried running some extra temporary grounds today with no improvement.
Let me know if you come up with a solution to your two problems.
Thanks.
Bill Z

I will be in the boat in the next few days I'll try it out and let you know. Def what Woody said though - my audio guy is going to isolate the audio grounds from everything else this weekend. Should fix the problem.

[rje-3]

Just curious if you figured out what caused your stereo whining noise problem. I posted a separate thread yesterday that is very similar to yours. I have the same high-pitched whining noise with the engine running in my 2013 Mobius LSV with a factory stereo setup. When the engine is off I can get sound from all speakers, but at any volume level above about 35 on the Sony receiver the sound is very distorted.

I've checked all connections and grounds and they appear good. Everything was working last fall when the boat was winterized. I'm thinking it's a bad receiver that may have been affected by having the boat on the battery maintainer over the winter. The only other potential was something was knocked loose when the boat was detailed last month.

Please provide an update on your situation when able. Thanx!

[philwsailz]

Just curious if you figured out what caused your stereo whining noise problem. I posted a separate thread yesterday that is very similar to yours. I have the same high-pitched whining noise with the engine running in my 2013 Mobius LSV with a factory stereo setup. When the engine is off I can get sound from all speakers, but at any volume level above about 35 on the Sony receiver the sound is very distorted.

I've checked all connections and grounds and they appear good. Everything was working last fall when the boat was winterized. I'm thinking it's a bad receiver that may have been affected by having the boat on the battery maintainer over the winter. The only other potential was something was knocked loose when the boat was detailed last month.

Please provide an update on your situation when able. Thanx!



On that Sony radio, the max head unit volume is 50 if I am not mistaken. 35 out of 50 is going to be your typical max distortion-free volume for most modern program material, (music). If you dig around for threads that talk about tuning and setting up gains, you will always fine that in every one of them, the instructions are to set the radio to about 75 percent of max volume. That is generally considered the max threshold for any head unit and the place where it can and will start to clip the signal causing distortion.

What you are experiencing with that Sony unit is completely normal. Are your bass and treble turned up on the head unit? IF so, it is even more likely you will experience distortion above 35.

FYI

Phil
Kicker

[rje-3]

On that Sony radio, the max head unit volume is 50 if I am not mistaken. 35 out of 50 is going to be your typical max distortion-free volume for most modern program material, (music). If you dig around for threads that talk about tuning and setting up gains, you will always fine that in every one of them, the instructions are to set the radio to about 75 percent of max volume. That is generally considered the max threshold for any head unit and the place where it can and will start to clip the signal causing distortion.

What you are experiencing with that Sony unit is completely normal. Are your bass and treble turned up on the head unit? IF so, it is even more likely you will experience distortion above 35.

FYI

Phil
Kicker

Thanks. The distortion starts between 30-35 on the volume control. I didn't check the max volume setting, but will when I can. At the undistorted level of 30-35, the sound is barely loud enough to hear anything in the boat. If 50 is the max, then it's likely the amplifier section of the Sony receiver is not working as the sound is very weak. I did also check bass and treble levels and ensured they were set to 0. In addition, the volume setting would not explain the fact I get no music at any volume setting when the engine is running, only a constant level whining noise from all speakers.

[Jason05216]

I had the same problem last summer after upgrading. I spent quite a few weekends chasing it around. I redid the grounds, removed the head unit and the ZLD from the setup and still had the problem. If I connected my iPhone directly to the amp the whine went away. BTW if you connect an iPhone directly to the amp make sure you have the volume turned all the way down on the phone and go up from there. Holy crap I'm pretty sure I woke all the neighbors. When I did this I had no whine so this pointed to everything upstream of the amp. After doing all of this and trying to isolate my RCA cables away from a bit of noise under the dash, the same noise that is being talked about in this https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?27943-Craz-owners-high-pitch-whine , with no luck I replaced the RCA cables I was using and the noise went away. FYI I also tried the ground loop isolators with no love.

It's a really frustrating problem, good luck.

[philwsailz]

All power needs to come from the same point. All ground needs to come from the same point. IF your radio and any processor devices, (EQ, zone control, etc.) are getting power from the helm B+ or ground you WILL induce noise.

Most boats come with the amps wired straight to the battery, and the head units wired to helm power. This is where 99% of any whine comes from, and boat builders continue to do it this way as it is just easier. Move head unit power off of the helm wiring, (both power and ground) and re-wire them to the same battery your amp(s) are connected to, or better yet, to the amplifiers' power distribution block. Use a switch on the radio's red power wire to turn the whole system on and off. This is the right way to do it. For any system, pretty much the very first thing anybody should do is to go straight to the head unit and re-wire the power connections. This is FIRST. Then any accessory items need to be wired up the same way. All power for all audio components from a single point.

People routinely try to implement various bandaids, in an effort to fix a problem elsewhere. Ground loop isolators go on the RCA cables, to "fix" a problem with the power wiring. Why not jsut fix the power wiring? :D

The other factor that amplifies, (pardon the pun) the noise, clicking, fuel pump whine, etc is gains set too high. Setting your gains as low as possible while still retaining the ability to drive the amps to max clean power is key to a quiet system.


All the extra gizmos out there, ground loop isolators as an example, only mask the problems. They don't make them go away.

Quick little rant....

Phil
Kicker

[blackcup]

Just curious if you figured out what caused your stereo whining noise problem. I posted a separate thread yesterday that is very similar to yours. I have the same high-pitched whining noise with the engine running in my 2013 Mobius LSV with a factory stereo setup. When the engine is off I can get sound from all speakers, but at any volume level above about 35 on the Sony receiver the sound is very distorted.

I've checked all connections and grounds and they appear good. Everything was working last fall when the boat was winterized. I'm thinking it's a bad receiver that may have been affected by having the boat on the battery maintainer over the winter. The only other potential was something was knocked loose when the boat was detailed last month.

Please provide an update on your situation when able. Thanx!

He hasn't got around to it yet ... the Sony head unit was actually defective so I am getting a new one under warranty. Should be here this week then we will do the adjustments. I was hoping to just buy a new HU but as it turns out the new HU's don't communicate with the factory remote ... so I would have had to replace that as well.

[rje-3]

He hasn't got around to it yet ... the Sony head unit was actually defective so I am getting a new one under warranty. Should be here this week then we will do the adjustments. I was hoping to just buy a new HU but as it turns out the new HU's don't communicate with the factory remote ... so I would have had to replace that as well.

Sounds familiar. My tech is telling me that the Sony HU is probably defective and that model of Sony is no longer sold. You can buy a used/refurbished Sony HU that would be an easy swap, but come with lots of risk for $100-$150. Replacing it with a new Sony HU will require re-wiring (different inputs on back) and a new power configuration (15a vs 10a). Plus, the new Sony HUs won't power the Sony Remote Commanders (I have 2), but they said the buttons might work. That would render the LCD on the remotes useless. Replacing the Sony HU with any other brand requires the remotes to be replaced as well, at probably $150 each. I'm still working on a solution that won't cost me $500-$1000 just to get the system working again. The only good news is that for whatever I do have to spend, I will get bluetooth capability with either a newer Sony or other brand HU.

[philwsailz]

RJE-3

Check your inbox

[zd215]

I rewired my entire audio system this past winter. All power and grounds for audio now terminate to the same blocks and/or relays.
This has eliminated all of my noise problems including the nasty pops and whines when moving my wake plate.

In my experience, ground loop isolators decrease the audio quality, it made things sound very flat.

[rje-3]

FWIW, my whining and lack of sound with the engine running was traced to a bad Kicker Remote Volume Control Module. This is the module that plugs in near the receiver head unit and has wires running out to the remote volume controls, usually installed near the helm. Once that unit was replaced, everything works fine.