Car: 04 TDI VW

Deck/s: I've tried 2 with same results.

Amp/s: I've also tried 2 with same results

Wires: Power on left (does pass right beside major power junction)
RCA's and speaker cables on right.

Symptoms: With the volume at minimum I'm hearing ticking/tapping sort of sounds from the front stage. I can hear the CD mechanism and other electronics in the car like the over head light tone as it dims out. Sounds are most apparent as amp gains go up. All my grounds seem to be attached properly and checked twice.

Any ideas how to problem shoot this?

 

First thing I would do is ground the chassis of the deck to the battery negative terminal with a length of 14-18AWG. If the noise persists try driving the amp with an ipod (or any portable source with a headphone output). You will need a 1/8" phono to RCA adapter cable for this. If the noise still persists you have something wrong in your amp power connections. You may have to run a heavy gauge wire from the battery to ground the amp(s). Good luck

 

Sometimes you can try grounding your rca's to your headunit chasis