<![CDATA[Engine hum through speakers]]>I have a JVC in dash DVD with no external brain, i get a engine humming nosie that increases with RPM through all of the speakers. I have 2 amps, the RCA's do not go near any power wires, i have a noise suppressor in the front RCA's and it goes away, but still happens with the other speakers...

i had this same problem with my old HU, but only from the FR speaker, i tried different grounds but the only way i could get it to go away was with the suppressor.

i think it possibly could be my alt. voltage regulator? but im only getting .06 ACV out of it, and also the noise can get worse with high fan speed's.

When you pause the CD player or during the time it goes to the next track, the noise goes away.

i know there are alot of good installer's here so does anyone have any idea's other than getting 2 more RCA suppressors?

the car is a 01 volvo s60 if it matters, ive looked at the wiring diagrams and dont see any correlation. the audio circuits are seperate from everything else

]]>https://fargostreet.com/topic/7029/engine-hum-through-speakersRSS for NodeThu, 28 May 2026 06:57:27 GMTSun, 16 Jul 2006 21:00:23 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Fri, 21 Jul 2006 12:48:32 GMT]]>Sell it.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109230https://fargostreet.com/post/109230Fri, 21 Jul 2006 12:48:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Fri, 21 Jul 2006 04:10:27 GMT]]>hmmm....that is odd to say the least, try swapping in someone elses deck and see if that works maybe??

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109205https://fargostreet.com/post/109205Fri, 21 Jul 2006 04:10:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Fri, 21 Jul 2006 01:48:52 GMT]]>Well, i changed the ground entirely, grounded the case, put in a capacitor between the pos and neg....hooked it up, and now the noise is only coming through the center and right speaker...
i remember with my old setup it was coming through the right speaker only.

you were right, time for a new car!

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109189https://fargostreet.com/post/109189Fri, 21 Jul 2006 01:48:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Thu, 20 Jul 2006 18:56:00 GMT]]>

tjamz wrote:
but its in my nature to complicate things beyond necessity.
..........

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109129https://fargostreet.com/post/109129Thu, 20 Jul 2006 18:56:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Thu, 20 Jul 2006 18:05:15 GMT]]>hehe, I figured as much, but its in my nature to complicate things beyond necessity.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109126https://fargostreet.com/post/109126Thu, 20 Jul 2006 18:05:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:41:47 GMT]]>

tjamz wrote:
what happens if the faulty ground is coming from the antennae though nate? You still need to ground the chassis of the deck to the same spot as the ground of wire coming off the harness if that is the case. It could also be a poor ground internally on the deck from the circuit board to deck chassis. But yes, a cap will do as you stated if he does in fact have a dirty voltage supply coming to the deck.

That was the only problem I was trying to cure for him.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109110https://fargostreet.com/post/109110Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:41:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:29:12 GMT]]>what happens if the faulty ground is coming from the antennae though nate? You still need to ground the chassis of the deck to the same spot as the ground of wire coming off the harness if that is the case. It could also be a poor ground internally on the deck from the circuit board to deck chassis. But yes, a cap will do as you stated if he does in fact have a dirty voltage supply coming to the deck.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109109https://fargostreet.com/post/109109Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:29:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Thu, 20 Jul 2006 13:50:09 GMT]]>I gave him some advice..which should work if the supply to his deck really is the issue. He did find info on the net to back up my claims as well, heh. Putting a cap between the power and ground should get rid of any AC signals present. It does this by blocking any DC and allowing AC to go to ground. I guess maybe I did learn something in those stupid circuits classes? 🙂

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109097https://fargostreet.com/post/109097Thu, 20 Jul 2006 13:50:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:50:09 GMT]]>

treimche wrote:
Just a thought here, it's possible that your amp is bad too. We actually just had a car come in at work and narrowed the problem down to a bad amplifier.

Except that the noise goes away when he removes the deck and uses an alternate source to feed the amp.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109093https://fargostreet.com/post/109093Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:50:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Thu, 20 Jul 2006 07:17:33 GMT]]>

tjamz wrote:
then it is probably the deck, try locating a new ground for it and/or ground the chassis of the deck to the same grounding spot that you are grounding the ground wire to.

QFT

I've found that those RCA cables with the ground wire in them is good for equalizing a ground loop.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109081https://fargostreet.com/post/109081Thu, 20 Jul 2006 07:17:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Thu, 20 Jul 2006 05:38:22 GMT]]>Just a thought here, it's possible that your amp is bad too. We actually just had a car come in at work and narrowed the problem down to a bad amplifier.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/109074https://fargostreet.com/post/109074Thu, 20 Jul 2006 05:38:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:37:53 GMT]]>then it is probably the deck, try locating a new ground for it and/or ground the chassis of the deck to the same grounding spot that you are grounding the ground wire to.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/108940https://fargostreet.com/post/108940Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:37:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Wed, 19 Jul 2006 03:32:05 GMT]]>Yup, i hooked it up to the rca's that would normally go to the deck...

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/108911https://fargostreet.com/post/108911Wed, 19 Jul 2006 03:32:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Tue, 18 Jul 2006 23:03:29 GMT]]>

slowvo wrote:
if i use an alternate source and hook it to the RCA's i get no noises at all. its defenitly coming from the HU.

Are you running the alternate source down the same RCA cables as the deck is running on or are you just hooking up the new RCA's at the amp and unhooking the RCAs that the deck uses?

If you aren't using the same RCA's then it could be in the cables, if you are using the same RCA's it is almost definately in the deck.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/108843https://fargostreet.com/post/108843Tue, 18 Jul 2006 23:03:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Tue, 18 Jul 2006 22:50:54 GMT]]>if i use an alternate source and hook it to the RCA's i get no noises at all. its defenitly coming from the HU.

also, the engine is COP.

i think im gonna power up the HU with a external battery and see if it goes away, if it does i guess ill rewire the power and ground coming into it

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/108842https://fargostreet.com/post/108842Tue, 18 Jul 2006 22:50:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Tue, 18 Jul 2006 13:28:59 GMT]]>Try thinking of your car as one big antenna and the stereo itself only servers to amplify what it recieves. One thing that everyone on here fails to cover is that the noise itself is usually generated from the alternator itself or other electrical motors such as the fan motor you speak of. It's the single most conductor and source of all noise in the electrical system. The brushes themselves are what actually generate the noise. Now, some alternators/motors seem to be more prone to this than others. But the way you take care of it stays the same. Like Chuck said, try the RCA's and grounds first (they seem to be the first to recieve the noise. He's also on to something when it coes to the spark plug wires.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/108795https://fargostreet.com/post/108795Tue, 18 Jul 2006 13:28:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Tue, 18 Jul 2006 12:32:23 GMT]]>do you have aftermarket sparkplug wires? If so, that is probably where the engine noise is coming from. It could also be that the amps are picking up the noise through their grounds as well. If the amps chassis is screwed to any sheet metal in the car, try unbolting them first and see if the noise goes away. If that doesn't solve the problem try using an ipod or some other device w/ RCA outputs to temporarily hook up to the amps inputs and see if the noise goes away. If it goes away that way it is either a bad pair of RCA's or poor routing of the RCA cables. Contrary to popular belief, running your RCA's next to your power cable DOES NOT cause engine noise. Most engine noise enters through the ground path and well....you entire car is the ground path so good luck running RCA's along some path that is not a ground. You do need to watch out for noise emitting modules such as ABS, Airbag, ECU, TCU and any other onboard diagnostic type of electronic modules.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/108793https://fargostreet.com/post/108793Tue, 18 Jul 2006 12:32:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Tue, 18 Jul 2006 04:44:15 GMT]]>well, ive tried different grounds in the past, but this weekend i will try clipping the stock ground and wiring a new one. Im guessing it is coming through the power wire thou...im just too lazy to wire a relay and another wire from the battery to the HU

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/108768https://fargostreet.com/post/108768Tue, 18 Jul 2006 04:44:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:40:46 GMT]]>I had this same problem with one of my old stereos. It turned out that it was a bad RCA preout on the deck.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/108685https://fargostreet.com/post/108685Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:40:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Mon, 17 Jul 2006 01:58:53 GMT]]>Get a new car and the problem should go away.

Noise suppressors are pretty much a band aid for a poor ground/install.

http://www.installdr.com/TechDocs/999502.pdf
http://www.installdr.com/TechDocs/999501.pdf

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/108634https://fargostreet.com/post/108634Mon, 17 Jul 2006 01:58:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Engine hum through speakers on Sun, 16 Jul 2006 23:16:04 GMT]]>Put the noise supressors in and you should be fine.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/108609https://fargostreet.com/post/108609Sun, 16 Jul 2006 23:16:04 GMT