Why do my speakers make fuzzy noise?

Why do my speakers make a funny noise?

• i installed an amp to power my speakers and when i turn my key 1 click (so the cd player turns on) they sound fine. but when i turn it to the next click the speakers make a buzzing sound and the buzzing sound. and the buzzing gets louder if i roll up or down the window. my speakers also make a pop sound when i turn the volume from 1 to 0. does anyone know why im getting these wierd noises?

• Answer:

  You have a grounding issue. Whenever you install audio components, you must ground all components using the same potential. What this means is if you have an Ohm meter, you should read 0 Ohms of resistance between the ground plug of your radio, your amplifiers, and any other powered device in the system. (This means that you should run your ground from your head unit to chassis ground also rather than connecting it to the ground wire running through the dashboard.) Even if you have as little as 1 Ohm of resistance between the grounds, you will create a ground loop, which can act like an antennae for noise, which when amplified will make a buzzing noise through your speakers that will match the frequency of the noise source. (ignition, window motors, heaters/air conditioner, etc. will all make the noise more pronounced.) To fix this problem, you want to make sure that all of your ground wires are as short as possible, make sure that you are using a heavy enough guage wire for the 12V and ground, your ground wire is touching bare metal, and your power wires are not run next to speaker wires or the signal wires from the head unit to the amp. (As an example, if your amp is in the trunk of your car, run the signal wires and speaker wires down the passenger side and the power wires down the driver's side.) I normally use 7 guage or larger for my amplifiers. I have used as large as 4 guage. My longest ground lead is typically less than 8 inches. With all of this said, you may also run into problems with the grounding of the car depending on age and the quality of the electrical system. Some older cars have very poor grounding and shielding of electrical noise. In that event, you may have to also install some sort noise filtering. Good luck!