Hey guys, I'm going to be doing my install soon and I was wondering if there's an advantage of having a common ground point over multiple ground points. I'd think that it would not make a difference, but I'll let you guys (the experts) decide.

 

shouldnt make any diff if done right.

 

More than one ground for the system components = the dreaded "ground loop" hum...an irritating noise that drives you mental and doesn't go away until you common all the grounds.....

Stick with one point....it will prevent your system from making you sad.....

 

"If" is such a small word......

If there is any difference in the quality of each ground point the system will hum like a bad Karaoke performance.....I always ground all amps to the same point on the car and it seems to work for me........

Your experiences probably differ.....

 

Would grounding two wires to the same point be equivalent to putting both wires into a distro block and grounding a single 1/0 wire?

 

Electrically, yes...........some people prefer the distro block and one big wire from an appearance point of view.....

 

And if its hidden, appearance is not a factor .

Quick question, shouldn't grounds generally be as short as possible? How much of an effect would running a 4" ground wire cause? It's just that both amps are at opposite sides of the trunk and ones gotta give to reach a common ground point.

 

I am no expert but if i were you i would cut the 2 wires for the amps the same length, if both amps are hooked to identical subs. Like if the far amp needs 3 feet of wire, also use 3 feet of wire for the closer amp. If one amp is for mids/tweets and the other amp is for subs i would run the mid/tweet amp with the long cable and sub amp with the short.

I am not sure if a shorter wire for the ground would matter. Physically speaking it shouldn't. Electrons travel at 300,000 Km per second in speaker wire so i cant see 2 or 3 feet being any different than 3 or 4 inches. But i am a noob and just learning. maybe a shorter ground is way better for some reason i am unaware of.

 

^ As alluded to, the real thing we are trying to achieve is an equal ground potential for each amplifier. Indeed, having a 4" ground for one and a 4foot ground for the other isn't exactly equal. It may or may not make any kind of difference but this is one reason people may have problems even with 'single ground point' grounding schemes.

The best plan is to keep your grounds both as short as possible and as equal in resistance as possible.

 

So what's of greater importance? A common ground point or keeping grounds short as possible?