Radio Reception / JL AMP Problems

[TimelessR1]

I have an issue which just started recently. any help from the gurus out there would be greatly appreciated!!

I have a 2004 runner with Navigation/JBL system. 6 months ago I installed an Audio control EQL which acta as a high level converter using the existing toyota sub wires. This ran to a Rockford Power amp under the front Passenger seat. the amp ran a JL 10w3.

Now the problem starts..I upgraded my Rockford amp to a JL 500/1, and kept the location under the front passenger seat. nothing else changed! now the issue is that my radio reception when to $h!t. Stations that were crystal clear are now distorted with a kind of warble sound. But its not always...some times depending on where I'm located the reception will get better, but not the same it used to be. So I took apart my dask to make sure the antennas were plugged in correctly and that they were recieving power and all was good. So then I decided to pop the circut breaker on my power wire to the amp...and the radio reception was back crystal clear...when i put the circut breaker back on...bam...radio reception gone again....

PLease help...anyone?

 

[viper4evr2001]

umm might be a crossed wire. make sure the amp isnt crushing any wire under it, did you change anything about the wiring of the amp, try putting the other amp back to see if it stil does it. then you can at lease know if it the jl amp of not. r u running 1 10w3? if so its max is 300w. not 500. you will burn its voice coil.

 

[TimelessR1]

I know I'm def not crushing any wires under it, and I dindt change any of the wiring at all. I cant put back in the old amp because the outputs are fried on that Rockford( when i took the subbox out to carry my dogs crate the end orf the wires shorted, hence the reason for upgrading to the 500/1) I was thinking it had something to do with the JL 500/1 being a regulated amp. Its just strange how when I disconect power to the amp that i get crystal clear reception. I think my first thing to try is route a new power wire outside the car to the amp and see if that helps. If that helps then i know the issue is somewhere in where the original power wire is routed. i just wasnt sure if someone else ever heard of this...

oh...and i also bought a 12w6...but i havnet built the box for it yet. I;m just not pushing that w3 that hard right now

 

[viper4evr2001]

the outputs are fried on that Rockford( when i took the subbox out to carry my dogs crate the end orf the wires shorted

i would try what you said and run a new power wire on the outside of the car. when you say shorted didnt the fuse just blow on the amp? if you have them i would pull the radio out and run new rca's outside the panels not redo them yet. do you have a buddy that has a 500/1 that you could try and see if his does the same? umm. ill think so more but not sure else what it could be.

 

[TimelessR1]

Thanks Viper

I'm going to try the power wire on the outside of the car today and see if that helps. I'll try the new RCA's too, but Im sure that isnt the problem since i used a volt meter and made sure i was getting between .5 and 2 volts coming out of the Audio Control. Well most "good" good amps have a Short protection circut built into it..which these Rockford Power Amps did not...so i think the outputs just touched enough to do damage to the out puts of the amp only...the rockford still powers up, the outputs are just shot, thats why when i installed the JL amp, everything worked perfect untill i noticed the degrade in radio reception. I also just realized today driving to work that the radio reception isnt completely gone...when i drove closer to the radio source it had a really strong signal, but where its usually tougher to get a signal, I get almost no signal now, unless I discontect the main power going to the amp..thats whats leading me to think its either where the power wire is ran, or the actual amp itself.

 

[TimelessR1]

Well, I just got off the phone with JL, and found out that it actually is the Amp. Since its a class D amplifier, this type of amp has been known to cause issues with radio reception, they said its mostly AM, but FM on occasion too. They said also that what might happen in my truck might not happen in the same year same install in another r runner with everything being the same. So basically hisw advice was to move the amp to another location to see if i can eliviate this issue, or go to a diffrent class amp besides a D class.

 

[viper4evr2001]

whould have never thought that. ahah i had a 500.1 and didnt experence anything like that. just for a location for you i had it in the back area of my runner.

 

[TimelessR1]

I kind of wanted to only put my sub box in the trunk area. I'm kind of trying to avoind moving the amp. I'm still trying to find some other solution before I would have to move it from under the front seat. Since the radio intreference only occurs when the Nav unit is receiving a weak stereo signal, I'm wondering if i hook up some sort of antenna boost to the factory antenna, this might strenghten the signal enough that the Amp interference doesnt occur.

Anyone have an experience with antenna boosters?

 

[99LimitedKS]

I seem to be having the same problem with my JL Class D monoblock amp. However, I have it mounted in the back of the truck and not under the front seat. My anteanna cant pick up crap for FM. On my stock radio I could pick up stations 75+ miles out and now I can barely pick up stations in town. On my XM radio I have wired into the AUX input I used to have some interferance (that being, a weird squeaky sound), and we fixed that with a noise filter.

I would try an anteanna booster and let us know what happens.