[Joyb]

Hey guys,

I went for my ICE upgrade yesterday and chose to install the following;-

1) Front Components: Infinity Kappa
2) Rear Components: Polk Db 6501
3) Amplifier: Kicker EX 450.4 or Polk PA660.

The Connection for the Amplifier was being taken through the wiring coming for the speakers wherein a 4 channel connector was being installed (sorry don't remember the exact name of the equipment) , which was feeding the amplifier, which in turn fed the set of components. The whole set-up was being connected through good set of wiring kits (sorry again skipping the name).

Now after the installation was complete, the system was sounding awesome, but on zero noise and in situations wherein the system was off, there was a humming noise which was constantly coming from the tweeters of the components (both front and rear). Tried changing all the wiring and tried 2-3 amps, but the problem persisted. In the end had to get the amplifier removed altogether, with the components working directly on the HU .

I thought my installer is doing something wrong and called up a reputed installer -Driven- in Delhi. According to him, to get decent out-put out of the system, it is imperative to get a good sound processor installed in the vehicle. Now am badly confused, some XUV's don't seem to have a SP installed but the owners still seem very happy with the output and to the best of my knowledge haven't encountered any humming sound till now. Also, if you could advice upon the source for feeding the amp for the woofer.

Need help from the Guru's.

[Joyb]

Originally Posted by kanhaiyo

@ Joyb

hi, could you pls share the cost of the Infinity Kappa and Hertz components?

many thanks..

Infinity Kappa: Rs 10,500/-
went for Polk DB6501 instead of Hertz and they costed me Rs 8,000/-

[arindambasu13]

Originally Posted by Joyb

Infinity Kappa: Rs 10,500/-
went for Polk DB6501 instead of Hertz and they costed me Rs 8,000/-

Hi Joyb,

How is the sound quality of the Kappas? I am considering the same for my car, and therefore would be helpful if you can tell me how they sound in terms of quality. these are supposed to be higher end components, and therefore are reported to be excellent in terms of sound reproduction

Also what is the power output of the amplifier that you planned to run them on? Are they not getting insufficient power being run just from the Head Unit amplifier?

[Joyb]

Originally Posted by arindambasu13

Hi Joyb,

How is the sound quality of the Kappas? I am considering the same for my car, and therefore would be helpful if you can tell me how they sound in terms of quality. these are supposed to be higher end components, and therefore are reported to be excellent in terms of sound reproduction

Also what is the power output of the amplifier that you planned to run them on? Are they not getting insufficient power being run just from the Head Unit amplifier?

Well the sound quality is pretty good. They are giving good clarity and depth even on the standard HU, which believe me is a nightmare for a soundholic. Am used to my ICE running with amps and woofer and missing the thump of my Swift (which has a decent pioneer Amp and JBL basetube)

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by Joyb

... on zero noise and in situations wherein the system was off, there was a humming noise which was constantly coming from the tweeters of the components (both front and rear). ...

... called up a reputed installer -Driven- in Delhi. According to him, to get decent out-put out of the system, it is imperative to get a good sound processor installed in the vehicle. ...

Your installer must have done some serious locha in the wiring (routing and/or connections). The hum (one would expect it from the mids, not the tweeters) would quitely likely be noise picked up by badly terminated RCA cables (like both ends grounded) or plain bad RCA cables! It could even be a problem in the amp itself - most likely Power Supply.

And the Driven person was just exhibiting the typical local affliction of talking 'sophisticated' to impress a prospect! He either didn't hear your problem at all, or it is his de-facto (money making, obviously) 'solution' that putting an SP is panacea. No, in your case the hum would have persisted despite the SP, with that gentleman humming a nice song to himself having gypped someone into spending money.

[Joyb]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

Your installer must have done some serious locha in the wiring (routing and/or connections). The hum (one would expect it from the mids, not the tweeters) would quitely likely be noise picked up by badly terminated RCA cables (like both ends grounded) or plain bad RCA cables! It could even be a problem in the amp itself - most likely Power Supply.

And the Driven person was just exhibiting the typical local affliction of talking 'sophisticated' to impress a prospect! He either didn't hear your problem at all, or it is his de-facto (money making, obviously) 'solution' that putting an SP is panacea. No, in your case the hum would have persisted despite the SP, with that gentleman humming a nice song to himself having gypped someone into spending money.

Well what you are saying seems logical, but as I said, the wiring was done twice and rechecked again and trust me we used very good wiring. And we tried 4 different AMPS as well. Totally confused as to what to do.

[DerAlte]

* RCA cables, not 'wiring'. These carry the signal from the HU to the amp, and are the most susceptible to picking up external noise

* Was the 'hum' proportional to the engine RPM? Or was it present the engine off? If not present with engine off, AND present and proportional to RPM, this is a classic 'bad ground' case (they might have tried out 4 amps, but would have done that without replacing the amp ground connection at the chassis point)

* Did you try replacing the component set itself (mid+tweeters+XO)? One doesn't expect the component set to self-excite and produce hum, but just for elimination sake

[Joyb]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

* RCA cables, not 'wiring'. These carry the signal from the HU to the amp, and are the most susceptible to picking up external noise

*

@Deralte

We changed both the wiring and the RCA cables, in fact RCA cable set, along with the converter installed were changed 3 (three) times.

The humming was not in proportion to the engine noise, it was present even when engine was off and also when the HU was off. They tried changing the Amp ground connection as well (along with the necessary cables) but that didn't help either.

I would have looked at changing the components as well, but as the humming was coming from both the front and rear comps, its next to impossible that both of them had fault.

In my opinion, the HU of XUV is well below par and is the only sore point in an otherwise excellent vehicle. In fact, even now there is a little buzzing coming from the components, specially in songs with lot of instrument playback. First I though this was a issue with the component speakers or their wiring, but when I played the same via my handphone using bluetooth, the buzzing just disappeared and we had excellent music all through. It may sound strange, but the buzzing is noticeable while playing CD, almost gone while playing USB and totally absent while playing through BT connection.

Isn't this confusing

[Joyb]

And to top it all, the buzzing sound just disappears completely after the music has been played for around 25-30 mins. Searching for a audio guru installer who can help me out without fleecing me

[navin]

Originally Posted by Joyb

but on zero noise and in situations wherein the system was off, there was a humming noise which was constantly coming from the tweeters ... In the end had to get the amplifier removed altogether, with the components working directly on the HU .

Originally Posted by Joyb

The humming was not in proportion to the engine noise, it was present even when engine was off and also when the HU was off. They tried changing the Amp ground connection as well (along with the necessary cables) but that didn't help either.

In my opinion, the HU of XUV is well below par and is the only sore point in an otherwise excellent vehicle. In fact, even now there is a little buzzing coming from the components, specially in songs with lot of instrument playback...., but when I played the same via my handphone using bluetooth, the buzzing just disappeared and we had excellent music all through. It may sound strange, but the buzzing is noticeable while playing CD, almost gone while playing USB and totally absent while playing through BT connection.

Originally Posted by Joyb

And to top it all, the buzzing sound just disappears completely after the music has been played for around 25-30 mins.

Change the HU! If you want to use the OEM HU ask the dealer to give you another piece (HU). Is the buzzing a sorta bee flying around type noise? If so this is often the case with poorly made DC motors (read as CD player's motor). Sorry I had a busy day yesterday so only dropped into ICE today.

[Joyb]

Originally Posted by navin

Change the HU! If you want to use the OEM HU ask the dealer to give you another piece (HU). Is the buzzing a sorta bee flying around type noise? If so this is often the case with poorly made DC motors (read as CD player's motor). Sorry I had a busy day yesterday so only dropped into ICE today.

Well changing the HU is not an option, will try speaking to the Mahindra guys on the HU, doubt they will react positively as have changed the speakers and installed new wiring. As buzz the buzzing, its like this zzz... sound, its like distortion, you can say electrical disturbance.

Whats your recommendation on the SP installation, should I get that done to address the humming sound or there is any other way you recommend I connect the Amplifier to the HU ? And how should the amp for the Sub be attached to the system?? Thanks a lot for helping out.

[sparsh]

The issue out there is the frequency mismatch of the electric signals from the battery to the amp. The way to fix this is to install a noise filtering cutout which eliminates this noise. Any good audio installers do have cutouts to filter this noise. I had a similar problem with my i10 and this was fixed by installing the cutout which addressed this issue. Now I dont have the humming noise.

[Joyb]

Originally Posted by sparsh

The issue out there is the frequency mismatch of the electric signals from the battery to the amp. The way to fix this is to install a noise filtering cutout which eliminates this noise. Any good audio installers do have cutouts to filter this noise. I had a similar problem with my i10 and this was fixed by installing the cutout which addressed this issue. Now I dont have the humming noise.

Already tried that as well, the kind of equipment my installer was trying to put in to eliminate the noise left me impressed, but didn't help my cause.

[scopriobharath]

Try to add a basic sound-processor. It costs you around 8000/- (starting prices) but they do a great deal in making music sound sweeter. The SP will take care of the noise factor as well. most of the SPs have auto-tune facility to maximize your audio setup.

[DigitalSoul]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

Try to add a basic sound-processor. It costs you around 8000/- (starting prices) but they do a great deal..

Are you referring to something like Hifonics Maxxsonics MX-1?
If not then can you please suggest any basic sound processor that could be easily available here in india at that price point?