Digital Amp

[Torquative]

Gday Greg

On the weekend I stupidly brought a Response Class D Digital 5 channel amp. Ive hooked it up and found some issues, I thought maybe I'd ask you for help

- when I connected the RCAs to the REAR output of the radio it got a hum, even using different RCAs. But I can live with that

- the major problem is static on FM stations. Stations like 96.1 and 104.9 get quite bad static, and 91.3 (which I enjoy listening too) is pure static, but when I plug in the old amp they come good.

Im starting to think digital amp was a stupid idea, but I thought I'd ask if you can help in any way I dont know what your knowledge is on the Class D stuff (mine was none til this week) but I know yoru running a good Response setup in the SV6.

[garfa]

hey,

Well what else have you changed? is the power wire the same? is the ground wire the same? is the grounding point the same?

Worst comes to worst you take it back, and demand a refund as your intitled to as a consumer regardless as the item is not "merchandisable"

[Phreddy]

G'day guys.

Hmmm, I wonder if you might be looking at a slightly flaky ground. I'm not all that familiar with the digital amps, but one thing I would imagine is that they would require a particularly good ground. Even more critical than that for a more "conventional" amp. If this is causing some kind of interference radiation it might be overloading the front end of the receiver. What gauge is your power and ground cables? If it's 8G, I'd suggest that's probably too light for the 5 channel jobby. Need at least 4G. Oh, it's probably worthwhile checking the antenna ground point too - if the antenna cable isn't properly shielded it can cause problems. You are aware that there's a join in the antenna cable, right? Behind the glovebox, there's a line plug/socket combo to extend the antenna cable to the head unit. Make sure that's fully plugged in.

Re the hum problem when the rear channels are plugged - again I'm not sure, but it's possible that the 5 channel digital unit has a different input grounding arrangement, and when you connect both front AND rear, we're forming a ground loop through the shield of the two sets of RCA cables. It might be necessary to use an isolation transformer on one pair of channels.

As Garth pointed out though, if you can't get it to work in your install, then you should be able to return it - or at least exchange it as potentially faulty. Dig your heels in, they should look after you.

Gotta go guys, later!

[Torquative]

greg, I wasnt aware of the join behind the glovebox and its possible Ive knocked it as the glovebox was out and I was playing in that general area.

im thinking of upgrading the power cables and connecting an isolator while im at it.

thanks for the tips

[MattaByte]

i have dual digatl amps running my sub and you can't beat them. things you need to check are and the ground cable is at least 4ga and grounded very well. being a 5 channel you need a 4ga power. use mid to high quainty rca cables. spend atleast 40 per cable. and last thing is make sure you have the rca's and power seperate. also if you run a earth along side the rca's it helps with the hum.

[Torquative]

thanks dude, Im on holidays next week so im gonna strip it right down and go again

The current RCAs have a small earth running along the cable, perhaps I'd be better off grounding one of the old power cables at either end and running the RCAs along side it, or wont that work ie in this case is bigger better or it wont work?

Do you have any suggestions for decent quality RCA's?

[Haydz]

here you go matt.

Ryda Car Audio - Stinger SHR17 Hyper Series RCA Lead 5.2 Mtr

[Torquative]

just an update, I took it back for a 2nd time today and managed to sweet talk my way into having it looked at under warranty.

hey Greg, what Response amps do you run in the SV6?