Recently i've noticed a slight sputtering sound coming from my speakers when im playing a cd. When the music is loud I can't really notice it, but whenever i get to the quiet parts of the song, it drives me insane. If i turn the volume to 0 while the cd is playing, the sound goes away. It's coming from my speakers, not my subwoofer(which is run from separate amp), and it only happens when the truck is running. Please help!

 

i had that once, it was my electric fuel pump. might be a sign your alternator is starting to go, when one of the diodes goes it causes a lapse in the dc current and throws ac out and it might sound like a bad ground, could check all the grounds as well, does it happen with fm/am?

 

oops

 

Yeah, it happens in am/fm as well. The sputtering isn't consistent either. It doesn't get louder or softer, only faster and slower. Sometimes it gets faster when i hit the gas when im moving, not if i'm in nuetral. But it doesn't always happen. I think I'm gonna put connectors for all my ground wires, cause right now it's the wire directly on the amp. Sound like that could help? If anything, it won't look so sloppy.

 

yes, good grounds are necessary, if that fails then you can hook a speaker directly to the head unit outputs and if it has that noise then try a noise filter as it might be an electrical interference
noise filters are installed in the power/ground connections of the head unit and usually work in eliminating the alternator sounds

 

A month and a half later...now the sputtering even happens when the truck is not running. I tried a ground loop isolator and it didn't work. If the truck is not running the alternator isn't the problem, is it?

 

see if its the speakers. get any other speakers and just hook them up to your front or rears and turn the balance to front or rear and see if its the same. Trail and error gotta hate doing it but its gotta be done :/
If you do do this then I would do the rear first as its 10x easier to take the rears out and test those first. If nothing then the fronts and then work your way from there.
Get some sand paper and make those grounds nice and clean but I doubt that would be it if your sub is only the thing connected to the amp and your speakers are to your Headunit.
Might be your alt going.. I have never had this problem before.. couldn't help ya

 

Well, i tried hooking up different speakers and it made no difference. My speakers are hooked up to an amp, just not the same one as my sub. Wouldn't I only get alternator noise if the truck is running? I'm starting to think it may be my headunit, but i really don't have a clue.

 

i have two things....are your amps grounded together? and also, are your rca's and power run together?

these are very huge in the circuit.

 

Yes and yes.

 

i would try running separate grounds then, and also, take your rca's down one side of the car, and your power down the other. try and keep a 3 ft distance between the two until the amp connection. it should help.