I am talking aftermarket headunit and aftermarket amp. Not sure about factory wiring.
Speaker grounding loop-whine with engine
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I am talking aftermarket headunit and aftermarket amp. Not sure about factory wiring.
I'm unsure. The wiring is very similar for a 2004 according to the writing diagram so I imagine that still hold true for a 2001. I imagine they use the same connector type at least which is the important part. Wire colors are the same.
The wiring for 2000+ looks like it uses an actual ground for the shielding wire so I can't say much regarding how well this would fix problems on those later models. In general the consensus seems to be that the bypass improves sound for virtually all 100 series models.
Sent from my XT1060
Very good thread. I am having the same issue with a 2005 LX with the factory head, aftermarket speakers and aftermarket amp. I need to mess with the grounds and see where that gets me. The person who I bought it from installed the aftermarket stereo system and I noticed the shoddy connection job he did for the speaker wires to the amp. I fixed the wires but still have a bad whine associated with RPMs.
Most of the time, the alternator whine is picked up by the amp - an aftermarket amp that's poorly grounded (small awg ground cable or bad grounding spot) is the most common culprit.
You might need to sand away some paint in order to reach bare metal for a good grounding point.
You might need to sand away some paint in order to reach bare metal for a good grounding point.
Glad this surfaced. I found that when I unplug the connections to the AC controls and have the radio on, I don't hear any hissing. There must be sound ground being used for both AC plugs and radio. I'm going to hook everything up but go directly to battery ground from radio.
Same here. They didnt work. Im using an after market amp just for the sub and running the speakers off stereo and same hiss. Think it has somehting to do with AC connections and ground. Ill see about testing this weekend.
So, are you using the toyota wiring harness to the new amp? Or, are you cutting and splicing to the new amp? I haven't tried the a/c control thing. Mine is a 1998, so I'm not sure if it has any electrics going to it given its just a temp wheel rather than a digital control. I want to do the amp bypass, but I cannot find the connector, nor find a video that goes over the install step by step and dumbed down to my limited experience level.
I removed the amp altogether and spliced the wires back to where they were supposed to go. My AC isn't digital, I have the same setup you do.
Search tlcfaq in Google, he has a diagram of where the cables go to.
There is some kind of metal box under the seat where the amp was. Not sure what it's for or if it's just where the cables terminate from the amp and onto the speakers.
Search tlcfaq in Google, he has a diagram of where the cables go to.
There is some kind of metal box under the seat where the amp was. Not sure what it's for or if it's just where the cables terminate from the amp and onto the speakers.
I have a nasty ground loop whine with my aftermarket head unit and amp. It doesn't change with radio volume so I'm inclined to say it's at the amp, but moving the ground on the amp didn't change it at all. Where do you all have your amps grounded, and did you have to grind down to bare metal?
The easiest way to determine of the problem is in the amp or is a ground loop is to run an external test ground wire. That wire should run from any known good ground (battery negative post being the most certain) to the ground wire of the head unit AND the ground wire of the amp. This eliminates the "loop" part of the equation. Since this is typically done with relatively small gauge wire, don't try to push megawatts from a bank of amps through some 16 gauge speaker wire one had laying around - a little common sense is required, only use minimum volume to get a good before & after perspective.
Whine gone? Then figure out how to cleanly run a common ground wire - usual practice is amp ground to body metal, then a smaller wire for the headunit ground run to the amp ground.
Whine still there? Then component by component testing is needed to determine what is causing the whine.
Whine gone? Then figure out how to cleanly run a common ground wire - usual practice is amp ground to body metal, then a smaller wire for the headunit ground run to the amp ground.
Whine still there? Then component by component testing is needed to determine what is causing the whine.
I tried doing that and the active ground loop in the amp cannot be tamed by giving it a path to chassis ground. The noise remains and the cause is still a "ground loop". The amp has its own, active circuit, including ground.
I should crack open that amp and give it to the electrical engineers at work and see if they can point out the place in the amp where they get the odd ground. I bet by jumping a terminal or two and desoldering another you could give the factory amp chassis ground and fix the problem with no new wiring.
Thanks for that insight. Is this unique to the LC? I should stay out of this for LC guys since I've never even been inside one much less messed with the wiring.
My LX has a brown wire to the amp and headunit that is most definitely earth ground as that specific wire connects to the chassis through a bolt fastened into the floor metal just in front of the amp.
Mine does as well, and that's how I have my aftermarket head unit grounded. Originally that's where I grounded my amp too, but I moved it to a seat bolt to try to get rid of the whine. I'll have to try running a bit of speaker between battery negative and the grounds to see if it changes anything. If it's not that, my only other idea is crappy insulation in my RCA cables.
Some years back I had a second gen MR2 turbo. Ran RCA cables down driver's side had whine. Tried most everything and eventually tried running down passenger side, whine gone. Sometimes circuit signals can bleed over into the RCA cables. I've also heard an alternator diode going out can induce whine, but no first hand knowledge.
Yah, unbalanced cables can make routing problematic!
Im bringing this back as Im still having this issue. Im no longer listening to the stereo but the cell phone for now. I have a Jensen VX 7020, and a single amp for the sub. No stock amp. I have tried everything i can think of; ground loop isolator, wrapped rca's with ground wire, and currently running battery ground directly to stereo. Nothing has worked. I use a Metra harness to connect stereo to speaker cables.
Someone recommended the Clarion XC2510 5 channel amp $180. But im on a budget as always so i found Soundstream TN5.950D 950W 5-Channel Tarantula NANO Series Class AB/D Amplifier $149. I will be using Stinger SI4612 12-Foot 4000 Series Professional 6 Channel RCA Interconnects $29.
Im hopping this will solve my problem. Any thoughts on this setup?
Someone recommended the Clarion XC2510 5 channel amp $180. But im on a budget as always so i found Soundstream TN5.950D 950W 5-Channel Tarantula NANO Series Class AB/D Amplifier $149. I will be using Stinger SI4612 12-Foot 4000 Series Professional 6 Channel RCA Interconnects $29.
Im hopping this will solve my problem. Any thoughts on this setup?
so you're changing from using the high level speaker outs on the jensen currently to low level on all five channels with the new amp? with no toyota wiring in the loop (except for the speaker wires directly after the old stock amp)?
If that's correct then probably. Assuming you only used a B+ and ACC from the toyota plug in the dash, and you ran your own ground and trigger wires from the jensen.
Also assume that if you ran your high level speaker outs from the jensen straight to the speakers eliminating any toyota equipment or connectors between, the ground noise might/should be eliminated.
Is your sub amp in the rear or under the passenger seat? Where are you installing the new amp?
If that's correct then probably. Assuming you only used a B+ and ACC from the toyota plug in the dash, and you ran your own ground and trigger wires from the jensen.
Also assume that if you ran your high level speaker outs from the jensen straight to the speakers eliminating any toyota equipment or connectors between, the ground noise might/should be eliminated.
Is your sub amp in the rear or under the passenger seat? Where are you installing the new amp?