when i was looking at amps the focal amp the store had on the rack that was wineing and there sent it back to focal
so you mite be on to something

 

I feel your pain. I have a similar problem, I unpluged the RCA's and the noise goes away. Strangely, I tried grounding the RCA's and got even more noise. I don't have a pioneer. I have my gains down at the lowest point.

Things I have tried that you might not have but may want to try.
I have relocated my amplifier grounds to a differen spot:No change for me.
I have tried adding a better ground to the CD player:No change for me once again.

I am running out of options. Next step for me is

1: Try a different amplifier.
2: Try another CD player.
3: (I don't know about this one but....) run my RCA along the other side of my truck.

Alt\engine noise sucks.

 

Yeah, I've done most of those. Different CD player doesn't help, nor does changing any of the grounds. I also removed the cap and the subwoofer amp from the system and no change. The very first thing I did was rip out all my cables and buy new ones. I swore a blue streak when that didn't work.

I did have some improvement when I moved the crossovers. Not much though.

The amp is on its way back to Orca Distributing as of tonight, so hopefully I'll see a new one in a week or so.

 

A bird told me (who would not want his name released) the Focal amps were "noisy"... I know he would not BS me soooo.... I find it tough to accept when a product line like Focal which is more performance than price orientated should above that kind of error, but production errors happen, I hope your problem is solvable because if it is a faulty design there is no solution

 

Are you sure you didn't put those in the wrong order?
I really can't see anything special about those amps especially for their price. They don't seem to have very flexible xovers or any DSP, they don't seem to have an especially small foot print, no big power numbers or a feature that makes you get full power regardless of impendance..... The only thing I can see is a focal badge.

Are they "made in the USA"?

 

They're made in France, like all the rest of the Focal line. They're supposed to be "performance" and I have heard them perform quite well. Seems I got a bum one. Really, I can't complain too much about price because I get these things at some killer sales, *cough*$580 for the 4.75 *cough*

If the problem continues, though, I'll try a Steg or a Zapco or something.

 

I like Focal the company, I like what they try to do as far as adding resolving power to car audio, I do not like their price points. I dont like the way a lot of people install the potentially aggressive tweeter, but when they get the install right it is very revealing. Brad Eubank always did a pretty good job, so did Jason Gay of making Focal not sound like Focal, it just sounded like music

The aluminum extrusion for the amp is very attractive though it looks like a Korean extrusion to me (as does Helix).

 

Agreed. I love the aesthetics of that amp. It's just sexy brushed black goodness.

 

The amps are not "made" in France....but are designed there (from what I understand). They are made in Korea !!

The early batch of amps had some problems....but I heard they were dealt with and the new amps are fine.

FYI

 

g-$ what rock did you go hide under for the summer ?
this is the 1st time i have seen you here