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Need some help. Just installed 6 new wet sounds xs/65i's with RGB and 2 REV696's. Speakers sound great, but when I was testing the LEDs, I noticed a bad hum or buzz coming from all the speakers. The hum gets louder with volume, but is only present when the LEDs are on. I have the LED controller wired to the courtesy lights, so probably not the same ground as the HU/amps. That is my only thought so far, but have not had time to test it yet. Any other ideas before I start rewiring?
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Id start by by wiring the controller to battery- and battery switch if its dual bank setup. -
Thanks MLA. I figured that was going to be the response. So you are saying to wire it to the common post of the perko, right?Comment
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Yes, common post of the battery switch, so its powered down with the rest of the boat when the main switch is off. Controller ground battery direct. The RGB controller should have its own power button on the remote. If you do want a redundant switch, install one or use an unused ACC switch to interrupt the B+.Comment
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The dedicated runs seemed to fix the LED noise issue. I am still battling some low/no volume hissing that you can not hear when the volume is up. I think it must be the gains. I thought I followed the procedure outlined in the WS420 manual, but I will give it another shot. I am also thinking my HU is done. Whenever I switch sources it makes loud clicks and also has a lot of noise through the speakers when reading a CD and then once playing has a ticking noise (almost sounds like a clock). I think I am just going to delete it. We listen to our phones 99% of the time anyway.
What is the best source for the remote turn on lead if I delete the HU? Just a toggle switch on the dash wired to the common post of the perko and then the start of my remote wire run?Comment
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OK, so I finished the dedicated runs for the LED controller, deleted the HU, ran new power/ground for the ws420sq and then jumpered that power to the WW-BTVC. All power run to common terminal of the perko and grounded at same location as amps. Everything works well and sounds good at volume, but there is still an audible hiss/static sound with the volume all the way down. I messed with the gains and if I turn them way down on the amps, the hiss does go away, but then, even at full volume, the system is not loud enough. Turn the gains back up on the amps and the hiss comes back. I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Maybe I am being too picky.
To set the gains, I turned the volume up to 3/4 on my phone (connected via BT), 3/4 on the ws420sq main volume know and in boats knob, turned volume all the way down for towers and then turned up the gains until I was happy with the volume (was not distorting). Repeated for towers. Hiss from towers seems worse than in boats.
Any suggestions?Comment
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You are more likely to hear and audible hiss from HLCD than say a coaxial type speaker because of the design from what I understand. The more power they have the more you will hear it also. If you only hear it while no music is playing I wouldn't worry about it too much. Now if you have a audible hiss during music play I would look further into the issue. Could be RCAs run near power cabling or a bad component in the line somewhere.
I had a very audible hiss/crackle noise in on;y my in-boat speakers... From one season the to next it just showed up. Turns out the cheap Clarion EQ I was using was inducing noise. I replaced it with a WS420SQ and problem went away. With so many components i line and so much power and HCLD will amplify any issues.Jason
All black 2003 SANTE
-- Southern Fried --Comment
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Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I guess maybe I'm just being to picky. I don't think I would just leave the system on without tunes, so not a big deal I guess. I just hope nothing pops up when I actually start the boat. All this has been done in the garage without the boat running (obviously). I think I have taken all precautions to avoid engine noise, but we'll see soon.Comment
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Can you give us some percentages related to the gain levels? What level are the 420 gains set to? Due to the sensitivity of an HLCD, its not uncommon to have a little white noise when there is no music playing. I have also found it to be louder when streaming blue tooth and the music is paused. Gain hiss should be just that, a hiss. Not static or crackly. This helps get you down the right path.
Also, you can tune the system with the 420 main volume at 100% if you like.Comment
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On both the tower amp (HT-2) and in boat amp (Zapco reference 360.4) gains were set around the 60-75% range. I understand that is probably too high and contributes to the hiss, but if I turn them down to the 30-40% range, I don't seem to get the volume I want/think the system should be capable of. I think I could push them higher without distorting the sound, but did not really try as it was late and I didn't want to wake the neighbors. I was not aware of any gain adjustment on the 420sq. I thought those were fixed?
So main volume at 100% on the 420sq and tower/in-boat knob at 75%ish?
Based on what you guys are saying, the hiss may be inherent. I just figured as long as I'm waist deep on this project I would try to fix it now if possible.
Thanks for all the help!!!Comment
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I think you are being too picky.
And you are tuning your system in your garage or quiet environment. Imagine the same noise when you are out on the lake, and I bet just with wind, water, and people talking it will not be audible. Like MLA said, this is very common with HLCD. All of my HLCD have had this. It was bothersome on one system, and I added a line driver to the 420 and it fixed the issue. So I added an arc audio line driver to my line driver...sounds stupid, but it worked. I would not do that at all for what you described. And that helped with a common problem with older 420 units. The new one should not need it.Comment
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Thanks guys. I am ready to get this thing on the lake. Just need to clean up a little and button her up. Sounds like a done deal.Comment
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