Bizarre speaker whine
 

I'm having an unusual speaker whine issue. First, it is intermittent, it does not happen all the time. When it does occur, the pitch of the whine is directly correlated to engine speed. Now here's the kicker - if it occurs, it immediately ends if I turn off the climate control (turn the fan setting to "off"). Any clues?

Before anyone asks, It's a 2004 grand touring (Bose amps and speakers) with a Pioneer headunit. and yes, it is very well chassis grounded. Thanks!

Poor ground. "Poor" doesn't necessarily mean poor connection in this case. Poor location choice. You're getting a ground loop from another ground.

i would most definitely say that this is a common thing with aftermarket stereos in the rx8. i would get some ground loop isolators and make sure to have a single solid ground for everything under the dash. i believe a part of the problem is that the bose amp is grounded in a different location than the head unit but i haven't really tried to make a different ground as using GLIs has made the speaker whine fairly minimal.

I just had the Metra Kit installed and have the same problem. What's a good place to ground when installing an aftermarket car stereo on the RX8? I had the BOSE unit before..

Yeah its a grounding issue happened on my sentra with the after market head unit. LOL I wanted to fix it but it was kind of funny how many people thought the sentra was turbocharged because of it.

Must be nerds to think a speaker whine is turbo charged.

It is most likely a ground issue... Did you connect to the ground in the factory harness either directly, or through the use of an aftermarket harness. Did you route the ground elsewhere? What type of adapter did you use to step the signal down to go to the BOSE amp? This would be the box installed inline between the Pioneer and the BOSE amp. BOSE has always been a hassle IMO.

There is also a possibility you are picking up radiant electronic noise from the HVAC controls.

speaker whine
 

I have installed and helped trouble shoot problems with multiple systems. There is a few different things that could be going on.

1. Ground loop- As mentioned already, check all your grounds.

2. Speaker wire is not optimal size, try going for thicker gauge wire.

3. Also if you ran your RCA inputs and power down the same side of your car to your amp or if they are touching at any point in your lay out for that matter sometimes your RCA inputs will pick up feedback from your power wire causing speaker whine.

I would try going up in gauge on speaker wire, maybe re-running wires with RCA and power on opposite sides of car. If all else fails they make some kind of noise cancellation kits but I have never used them.

Speaker whine
 

I am having the same issue and it is most likely related to the metra box used in the dash kit. Mine had gotten so bad that it was shorting my flashers and would not let them turn off. Since I unhooked the switch for my flashers, the high pitched noise has stopped. My best guess is that the electronics in the control box is jacked up and begins to fail after a while. Not all of the boxes, but some. One of these days I may try and get my box replaced to see if that eliminates the whine. Anyone else found other solutions to this problem?

Where do I find the ground of the speakers? I want to check and clean them, but it's no use if I can't find it. I looked everywhere on this forum and internet, even looked through the official electrical wire diagram, and even there it isn't described where I can find these ground connection.

Speakers ground via the head-unit or via their own amps (in case of Bose system). This thread may help: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-bose-speakers-doors-not-working-$1-67-relay-fix-218790/

Are all the speakers whining or only some? That might help point to amp or head unit.

Ooops just saw it was BOSE....Bose stands for Buy Other Stereo Equipment. Honestly, the best way to alleviate this, is to throw away that adapter. Buy none BOSE speakers. Throw out BOSE speakers. Run new speaker wire to your new speakers...connect to your head unit....voila all your problems solved. I have done thousands of systems, BOSE is a pita and they will never play nice.


There is no ground in your speakers persay, most of mine have been mounted in fiberglass which is obviously an insulator.


Increasing your wire size won't do it.


If you parallel your patch cables or speaker wires, you will probably get noise...move them away from each other and away from any other factory wiring....especially if its an AC signal....think sinusoidal wave.


You can also try higher quality twisted patch cables...or twist your speaker wires.


Make sure your motor is properly grounded...I usually ran a ground right off the alternator mount.