Need amplifier help

[KC90]

I just got my T2500 powered up today. I didnt have any load on it when I first powered it up, it sounded fine, worked fine, etc.

I wired in my Type Xs in parallel, started my system up, and found a whine, or squeal (imagine a TV squeal but abit louder) coming from the amp itself ( at least I believe so.) The subs work fine, they sound fine ( could use more tuning from amp) and no noise at all coming through the Xs, just the amp.

My amp is bran new and its not like Rockford to have a faulty amp.

 

[BrianDye]

Check your connections, and make sure it has a GOOD ground

 

[KC90]

Grounded with 1/0 Tsunami to the powercell. The powercell is grounded to the body on bare metal. Same with the front battery, I used the stock grounding location but sanded down the paint on surface and bolt( Ford should get smacked because the bolt was fully painted green and was screwed on to a painted surface).

Its not an alternator whine, it squeals even if the engine is off.

 

[jrowe6]

hmm, well looking at all the stereo stuff you have on your x i feel kinda like i can assume you know what your doing and you wired everything up right. if that is the case, it sounds to me like you got a bad amp and you need to exchange it for another one.

on the other hand, i dont know what you do and dont know so here is a list of bs thats probably not wrong but you can check just to piss yourself off enough and waste enough time for you to rip that amp out, box it back up and take it back.

grounds, from the amp to the body, from the power cell to the body, from the body to the engine/battery.

leads......if a lead was bad you would blow a fuse/have no power or catch on fire......probably not an issue.

rca's.... did you use good ones? probably. can they be bad? yes. would they ever make the amp itself make noise.....not as far as i know but its possible. easily tested: disconnect them while the amp is making the noise and see what happens

your subs, you're 100% sure they're set up right? 4 4 ohm coils in parallel is a 1 ohm load, that amp is cool with that?
also easily tested, disconnect them and see if the noise stops.

break in period......brand new amp was workin just fine when you turned it on.....then did you crank it all the way up? if the problem started after that you may have done some minor internal damage to the amp. but its cool, rockford dont know that and i wont tell em send it back and get another one. i would think if any of these new amps really needed to be properly broken in that one as powerful as yours would need it most. of course some people dont believe in break in periods tho. you can make up your own mind on that one.

back to the battery for a second here, just to be sure.....you didnt by any chance wire your battery in series did you? as in, positive comes from the front battery to the back and you hook it up to the neg of the power cell, then from the positive on the power cell to the amp? that would be bad

if the noise started after connecting the subs sounds like thats where you should start this investigation. if disconnecting the subs stops the noise you should remove the subs from your enclosure and double check you didnt cross wire anything or accidently hook a positive to a ground or something. and yes, you could have miswired the subs and they would still work well enough to make you think nothing is wrong.

 

[mhart]

don't they have a cooling fan in them?

i just looked, they don't, also wiring subs backwards or wrong will just make the sub push or pull different, it will not at noise into the system.

 

[mhart]

i'd call RF and ask them what they think.

 

[KC90]

The amp works totally fine, its just a loud high frequency noise coming from the amp.

If it is internal damage, that would be my luck. Just like my Ex being supremely unhealthy right now

I got a 2ch StreetWire ZN9 RCA running to it ( That cable made my T400.4 have alternator whine.) The subs are crystal clear, no noise whatsoever going to them.

A guy I know that works at my local audioshop said the amp is about to make a nice puff of cloud soon and **** the bed ( um.. ok?) but my buddy said he had a 1000w pioneer amp that did the same thing but even louder, but the amp still goes strong after 6 months of abuse.

As for wiring.. I'll try grounding the amp straight to the body. I dont have the full " big 3 " yet and wont even bother till I get my new H/O alt. For now all I have is my front battery 1/0 gauged to the body (That alone has done wonders) And no, they are not wired in series, havent seen a 24v+ on any of my meters

Even tho my alt is a ****ty stock Ford specialty of what.. like 95 amps max? I give credit to it for withstanding the T2500. Havent dropped below 13v yet.

I also believe in break in periods. For now I fiddle with the wiring, if no change then I'll wait it out and see if it is a break in thing. The T2500 is known to take 1 Ohm easy, Steve Meade has all 8 of his running .7 Ohms

 

[jrowe6]

something probably broke loose during shipping or something. who knows who cares man, you paid big money for that amp. get one that works perfect like its supposed to. i agree with mhart, call rockford and tell them whats goin on.

is there some reason you dont want to send it back? anyone who manufactures electronics knows there is going to be a percentage of their products that will be faulty, they wont care as much about taking the crapo amp back as much as they care to keep you as a current and future customer. same goes for wherever you bought the amp, they need customers, return customers.

they will refurbish that amp and resell it, its really no sweat to them

 

[Explorer Junky]

DO NOT ground to powercell. Ground straight to bare metal on chasis! You never want to run a ground to a power source's ground. The ground should be less than a foot long. Give that a try!

 

[KC90]

I'll ground straight to the chasis. If nothing then Ill call up Rockford and get a new one.

Thanks for the help!

KC

 

[jrowe6]

keep us updated

 

[Explorer Junky]

Hope it works

 

[mhart]

you can ground to a battery as long as it is grounded, it will not hurt anything.

 

[Explorer Junky]

My stereo guy strongly disagrees with the battery ground even if grounded well. Best to have the shortest ground possible to the chasis. Why do you think thats how they ground battery and stuff to chasis or engine block.? Shortest ground pos.

 

[mhart]

the factory isn't worried about ground loops and noise.

 

[mhart]

who is your stereo guy?

 

[Explorer Junky]

VandenBurg Stereo in Holland Michigan. They install some of the best systems in michigan. Shorter is better, why waste alllllll that wire when you can just use 1 foot! Why don't you go do some homework and understand what it is that a ground actually does, then you will understand why the chasis is better for amps. As far as this thread goes I will no longer respond if its just going to be a debate and trying to prove me wrong because someone else THINKS he knows everything.

 

[Explorer Junky]

OK. I looked this up on net. I googled how do electrical grounds work in car amplifiers and cam up with this very helpful page.. go to www.installdr.com/TechDocs/999502.pdf these guys know their stuff! They say to keep ground wire under 2 feet but should really be under 1 foot. The reason being that there is too much resistance if longer which could cause ENGINE noise or hum. Hope that helps

 

[KC90]

My problem was a faulty RCA >.< I'm not going StreetWire anymore.. My 4ch RCA is fine but its the 2ch thats all screwy.

I changed the powercell ground to the body at first and got no difference. (My powercell is located infront of the T400-4, so its around a foot ground wire each amp) Played with the speaker inputs, took them in and out, got no difference. Played with the RCA... I ziptied it to my 4ch to clean up the look abit, got HUGE steady squeal AND Alternator whine coming from all my speakers. I unplugged the 2ch and alls well.
For now Ive got an old RCA running to my T2500, no noise but **** sound Ill get another RCA later. Maybe an RF one..

 

[jrowe6]

i have all RF RCA's, they look good and sound good.