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Hello everyone,
2012 Honda Accord Coupe V6
I installed new radio, rear speakers, box with 2 subs and amp. 0 Gauge cables for positive and negative. After everything is attached there is a huge static. Here are pictures of what I did and I'll post 2 videos. Please help me out. Trying to figure it out for a week
Thanks in advance.
First, thank you for one of the most detailed and useful posts asking for help that i've seen in 20 years. Amazing attention to all of the details we would be looking for.
The noise starts when the amp is turned on and gets worse as the vehicle is running. It is not because of how your RCA's are ran. It could be that the RCA's lack a ground connection internally. It could be the notorious Pioneer signal ground problem (a Pioneer issue that is solved by wrapping bare wire around the RCA jacks shields at the head unit).
It could be in the amplifier itself. Bummer news, but some amps have internal failures and you'll get noise like this.
It could also be a combination of these things. Bad RCA grounding in the wires or the HU causing the crazy noise when the car is on and improper gain settings on the amp causing the hissing when the car is off.
I would start with addressing the Pioneer shield ground issue.
This google image search has many examples and the associated threads of people with the same issue and how they fixed it.
You are welcome. I uploaded all pictures with everything that I bought and put in the car wires/radio/amp/sub/box/speakers but it turned out to be too many pics, only 20 are allowed so I had to narrow it down to the most important ones. I would like to give more if I could. Thank you for your reply and feedback.
The story
I used to have 2000 Honda Accord V6 Coupe. The radio, amp and 2 subs were in that car before and they were working without any issue. The differences between the old build and this one are:
2000 Accord
8 gauge positive & negative wire
50amp fuse at battery
rear speakers were Rockford Fosgate 6x9
2012 Accord
0 gauge positive & negative wire
250amp fuse at battery
rear speakers
Those are the only differences between the 2 builds. In my old car I didn't do the wiring, the car came with it when I bought it. I had to wire the radio, put the speakers/box/sub/amp/run RCA cables. I used to have same issue in my old car but it was due to a bad ground because my friend that was helping me, connected the ground cable to the amp with less wire and when he screw the bolt he caught the silicon. I revised it after I heard the issue. Fixed it and problem solved. Here is different for some reason.
Why am I saying all this is to point out the fact that I am first owner of those parts and the fact that they worked properly before, so that way we can take out the faulty parts out of the way. No damage occurred to any of them.
From what I understand, I should try the following steps as follows:
Pioneer shield ground issue
moving all cables to other side and make sure positive cable is alone by itself
Let me know if I am on the right path and only then I will start trying different options with taking records of so I can post back here to help others.
Thank you P.S. I did turn the gain all the way down on the amp when I made the videos. I also removed the wires for the front speakers(not RCA - actual wire) from the amp and the noise stopped. There was just very little noise from the rear speakers but the major is from the front. I also took the actual cables from rear speakers and plugged them in the front speaker amp output - no issue. After I plugged in the wires for front speakers into rear speaker output of amp - same issue, high noise. In a nutshell - where ever I connect the front speaker wire to the amp sound starts - when they are not plugged in - no sound. When I leave rear speakers + subs connected - everything is normal.
Why am I saying all this is to point out the fact that I am first owner of those parts and the fact that they worked properly before, so that way we can take out the faulty parts out of the way. No damage occurred to any of them.
From what I understand, I should try the following steps as follows:
Pioneer shield ground issue
moving all cables to other side and make sure positive cable is alone by itself
Let me know if I am on the right path and only then I will start trying different options with taking records of so I can post back here to help others.
Thank you
P.S. I did turn the gain all the way down on the amp when I made the videos. I also removed the wires for the front speakers(not RCA - actual wire) from the amp and the noise stopped. There was just very little noise from the rear speakers but the major is from the front. I also took the actual cables from rear speakers and plugged them in the front speaker amp output - no issue. After I plugged in the wires for front speakers into rear speaker output of amp - same issue, high noise. In a nutshell - where ever I connect the front speaker wire to the amp sound starts - when they are not plugged in - no sound. When I leave rear speakers + subs connected - everything is normal.
The correlation with front speaker connections is a useful clue.
Please confirm that factory speaker wires are not being used in any way. Some Accords have a factory amplifier that you need to bypass. Since it is unlikely that you used factory wiring for the rear speakers, it may explain why the rear speakers are fine but the front are not.
You also connected the speaker wires from the head unit to the factory harness, yet you are using an aftermarket amp. you don't want the speaker outputs from the head unit connected to anything, they should be separately insulated/capped/taped.
The noise problem common to Pioneer head units is something that occurs when an internal diode fails; this is why it could be an issue now but not before. Given the new information on front only problems, the HU may be ok. You can also swap front/rear RCAs to see if the sound moves to the rear, if not, then it's in the speaker wiring most likely.
Last edited by keep_hope_alive; 06-05-2018 at 01:31 PM.
The correlation with front speaker connections is a useful clue.
Please confirm that factory speaker wires are not being used in any way. Some Accords have a factory amplifier that you need to bypass. Since it is unlikely that you used factory wiring for the rear speakers, it may explain why the rear speakers are fine but the front are not.
You also connected the speaker wires from the head unit to the factory harness, yet you are using an aftermarket amp. you don't want the speaker outputs from the head unit connected to anything, they should be separately insulated/capped/taped.
The noise problem common to Pioneer head units is something that occurs when an internal diode fails; this is why it could be an issue now but not before. Given the new information on front only problems, the HU may be ok. You can also swap front/rear RCAs to see if the sound moves to the rear, if not, then it's in the speaker wiring most likely.
Front speakers - I did not pass direct wire from front speakers to aftermarket amp. I connected cables directly from radio harness to aftermarket amp.
Rear speakers - direct cable from speakers to amp
I didn't touch the factory harness - I connected the cables to the bypass harness (not sure if it makes a difference but I never mess with the factory harnesses).
you don't want the speaker outputs from the head unit connected to anything, they should be separately insulated/capped/taped. - if I don't connect them to the cables I ran, to go to the amp, how are the front speakers going to work? (it is very possible that I misunderstood what you were trying to tell me so excuse me if that is the case, I apologize)
4. I tried swapping front/rear RCAs - noise stays in front.
then it's in the speaker wiring most likely - what should I do to fix the wire problem?
your picture shows three pairs of RCAs into the amp. I assume those are front/rear/sub RCA outputs from the head unit. These RCA cables feed the signal into the amplifier. The speaker outputs on the head unit are not to be used.
I suspect you have paralleled the aftermarket amplifier speaker output and the head unit speaker output which is why there is a problem.
in this picture, the aftermarket amp speaker wires are not connected to the harness, just the head unit speaker outputs. where did you land the amplifier output wires and what did you do with the head unit wires?
your picture shows three pairs of RCAs into the amp. I assume those are front/rear/sub RCA outputs from the head unit. These RCA cables feed the signal into the amplifier. The speaker outputs on the head unit are not to be used.
I suspect you have paralleled the aftermarket amplifier speaker output and the head unit speaker output which is why there is a problem.
in this picture, the aftermarket amp speaker wires are not connected to the harness, just the head unit speaker outputs. where did you land the amplifier output wires and what did you do with the head unit wires?
yes, I do have 3 pair of RCA for front/rear/sub
Blue ones - front and rear
Black ones - sub
I believe I plugged them in properly but the picture will say that
this is how I did them. if needed, let me know what picture and I will go and take it to provide whatever is needed for fixing the issue.
on the last picture here you can see how the blue wires went lose and went out - not a good connection.
- suggestion for a better connection
- could this be the problem for all this?
I think you need to cut the 8 speaker wire outputs from the head unit (tape them up separately). Those 8 wires shouldn't be connected to anything, and I suspect you have your head unit output and the aftermarket amplifier output both connected to the front speakers; which will cause your issue. The front speakers should be directly wired to the aftermarket amp with no other connections to other wires made.
Loose connections are always a concern, you shouldn't be able to pull any connection apart with light-to-moderate effort. Those crimp connectors aren't the best option, even though they are popular. I have a YouTube video describing wiring connections.
Take all the advice above..the amp should run directly to speakers and all speaker wires from the headunit are not used only the rca patch cables..the power wire needs to run on complete opposite side of car by itself..the patch cables need to be completely away from any electrical devices...heater blower..etc..also..250 amp fuse near battery is huge..need it to match power of your amp..no more than 18 inches from battery..keep ground from amp as short as possible abd dirctly to car's chassis
this is a picture of how I connected front speakers to amp. I was trying to save myself disassembling the door and wiring because I can't find a good guide for coupes. everything is for sedans. also, that's how I did it on my 2000 Accord Coupe but the issue maybe comes from 2000 Accord doesn't have factory sub with factory amp and the 2012 has. let me knwo if I am on the right direction and what to do. if you have guides for wiring front speakers please share. thanks
06-03-2018, 08:53 PM
