Constant Static with Aftermarket Head Unit

[timbo_james]

New to the forum. Just bought a 2011 Expedition and it has an Alpine INE-W960 Head Unit. Previous owner had an audio shop replace the factory Ford Sync Navigation/Audio console because it went into a constant reboot cycle and stopped working. The new head unit works fine, but the installers obviously did something wrong.

I have no information on 'how' it was installed, but before I start busting things open, I thought I would ask here. If you put the Alpine H/U to zero volume or mute, there is fairly loud static on all the speakers. I mean loud relative to road noise in a luxury SUV. Doesn't matter what input it is on or what your audio source is. As you begin turning the volume up, the level of static/noise stays the same, so you can wash out the static with normal sound. That said, the audio level has almost no 'resolution'. There are 35 volume ticks on the Alpine (I had to look that up in the manual). I don't blast loud music, but I would prefer the volume to be between 1-3 for most driving and there are cases where 1 is too loud. Volume at 10 is painfully loud. Static can still be heard with volume at 1 or 2, but that much noise floor completely ruins any kind of clean reproduction of music at moderate volume.

Based on the above, it sure seems like either the gain is WAY too high on a secondary amplifier (either factory or aftermarket, I don't know) or the installers did something really boneheaded like put the H/U speaker outputs into a factory amplifier instead of line level outputs. Before I start taking anything apart, I just wanted to see if anyone had experienced anything like this or had any advice since i have no knowledge of this vehicle's factory audio system. If there is a factory amplifier, where is it and does it have a gain adjustment? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Aspen03]

I'd start looking into an aftermarket amp being set incorrectly or if the speaker level outputs were connected to a factory amp if present as you've already mentioned. Either of those two conditions would do exactly as you describe here unless the amp on the Alpine unit itself is failing but that seems unlikely to present in this manner.

The fact there is no "resolution" would point to a gain or signal level being far too high. I've seen people do their own work, have gain maxed and volume end up like 1, 2, and then 100%.

I have the amp in my expedition set so that at about 28, out the 35 the pioneer goes to is my max, as in before the amp begins to clip. It virtually never sees anything above 20 as its loud enough at that point to clearly hear 10 feet outside the vehicle even with my windows up

 

[timbo_james]

Thanks for the reply. Could you point me in the direction to find the factory speaker amp (assuming it still exists)? Seems like everything online is talking about the subwoofer amp.

 

[timbo_james]

From what I can tell, there's a strong possibility there is a factory amplifier (potentially located under the driver's side rearmost cupholder/cubby panel). I'll pull that out to see if there is one in there. Regardless, it doesn't look like the factory amp has any gain adjustment (based on photos from eBay). I have to assume either A) The Alpine H/U is defective in which case I'm SoL or B) the installers used the wrong adapter harnesses or invented their own and the Alpine speaker outputs are feeding the factory amp. I seriously doubt an aftermarket amp was installed.

Does anyone have a wiring diagram for 2011 Expedition with Ford Sync MyTouch double din navigation console? I've been scouring the web, but everything is locked under a paywall. I'm looking for information on the wiring/connectors from the factory nav console because my hope is that I can pull out the new Alpine H/U and based on whatever adapter harness I find back there, identify what the installers did wrong (if anything) and rectify it. Thanks.

 

[Aspen03]

I'm not sure they actually had one aside from the factory sub, if so equipped, both of ours are 2003 and have a different audio setup than the 3rd gen and newer models I believe.

You might pull that alpine out, its pretty simple to do. Alpine has a "powerpack" amp that will install inside the dash cavity...I have one in mine. You would have no clue it exists until the radio is removed and you look down. If the PO spent the $ they did on that head unit theres a reasonable chance they did an amp as well, its under $200 to add on and makes a significant difference as it outputs almost 3x the RMS of that radio.