Re: "Pop" Music on Radio

[steveb@falcon.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

> > From: Preston Brown <pbrown@cygnus.sy.yale.edu>
>  
> > When I first turn it on or when I switch between frequencies on the 
> > radio, I always get a loud POP noise.  What could be the cause of this?  
> > The radio didn't do this in the old Honda.
> 
> Hmmmmm...Preston, a POP is often caused by a grounding problem.  (I 
> have the new Crutchfield adapter for my Bose-to-Sony conversion and 
> a POP when turning the radio off is the one thing still hanging me 
> up.)  I suggest you take a real close look at options for grounding 
> and experiment with them.  Try using a jumper test wire(s) to ground the 
> radio body to chassis, antenna shield to chassis, and radio ground 
> wire/original chassis ground lead to the chassis - or all of the above.  

... pops can also be caused by component failures (e.g. electrolytic 
capacitors) in the deck as well.  It is also true that grounding problems
can cause popping sounds as the circuits are energized.  I would recommend
using an ohmmeter and measuring the resistance of the otherwise unconnected 
speaker leads to ground rather than tempting fate by deliberately shorting 
things to ground.  The speaker terminals should be isolated from the body
of the car (i.e. infinite resistance).  Let me know if you need any further
info ...

... of course you could simply replace the Audi with the old Honda and 
solve the problem that way ... ;-)

Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose, CA (USA)