Radio Noise after Upgrade
Short answer: Amplifier whine/pop comes from resistance in the power, ground, and signal paths acting as a noise antenna — the cure is clean, isolated power/ground and good shielding (plus quality components).
- Buy quality (cheap amps whine); Sony has good power-supply filtering.
- For trunk amps/CD: run heavy stranded wire from the battery (with a circuit breaker at the battery), twisted with a return line in grounded braided shielding; avoid grounding the amp to the chassis.
- Put the head unit and EQ on their own shielded power/ground from the battery, switched via a relay triggered by the original radio power lead.
- Use good braided-shield RCA cables (gold connectors make little measurable difference — contact quality matters); shield speaker wires that run near the firewall/doors.
- In a convertible, put speakers in an enclosed box so the rear wave reflects forward, and mount tweeters near ear level or you’ll lose the highs.
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
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