I have a 12" Alpine Type-R sub hooked up to a MTX Thunder 502 2 channel amplifier. I am running the sub out of 1 channel at about 250 rms. I have a Rockford Fosgate 800 watt system wiring kit wih 4 gauge wires, and rockford noise free rca cables also. But, everytime i switch a track on my headunti i her random noises coming only from my sub, also when i put a cd in i here noises coming from the sub even before the song starts. I thought it might of been a bad ground but i tried switching that and no result. If oyu could give me any suggestions or a brief description on whats is causing this thatd be great.
Well, both my gains are all the way up, so it shoudlnt be that. jayJ where do you think is the best place in the car for a ground, i currently have it bolted to the upper frame of my car near the rear seats.
You should have a good ground right there so that prolly isn't the problem. If I'm correct I'm thinking that sub is 400watts RMS right? if so then bridging would be a good choice. If you take that option then run each gain at say 1/4 that should pump some wattage to that type R. With that said, your gains should never need to be up all the way cause you can drive the amp into clipping which is not good and also have the problem you are having now. So try the bridging and that should take care of the problem. Good Luck
Gains match the amp to the head unit. No matter if the amp is bridged or not, they would be the same because all gains do is match the input signal to the output signal. Set the gain all the way down, Turn the head unit 3/4 of the way up (or until you hear distortion from the head unit, then back off until it just stops), and turn the amp up until distortion is heard, then back off until it stops. Now your gains are properly adjusted. As far as the noise, it could just be the head unit, some head units generate noise when reading CD's, such as when changing tracks and reading the CD when it's just been put in, this is normal on some units, and just the noise of the CD player turning to read the track, and yes, it can be heard through a subwoofer. If it occurs during a song, then it's a problem.
well i think i've heard a few times during s song, but then i would just turn the headunit off and back on and it would go away. It seems as if it only happens when it is hot out or the engine is hot.