Stereo & Electronics - Whining sound only when using Sirius Radio

I have the Sirius radio hooked up to my Alpine head unit with an adapter,
Well I hear this faint whining that gets louder as the volume goes up but only when I listen to the Sirius tuner, if I switch back to regular fm tuner it goes away. Could it be that I ran the antenna wire somewhere I shouldn't have?

thanks

pat

It could be any of the following:
* antenna wire/connection
* power wire/connection
* ground wire/connection
* audio cables/connection

Start hunting.

Does the pitch or volume of the whine change with engine rpm?

it does go higher and lower with engine rpm.

pat

Sounds like feedback from the car electrical system - especially if it follows with engine RPM.

What kind af adapter are you using?

Back in the old days they use to sell filters to install in power line inline that would remove 'alternator whine'

Back in the old days they use to sell filters to install in power line inline that would remove 'alternator whine'
True, and you can still get them. You can also get a ground loop isolator for the same reason. But they are band-aids only to be used when the cause cannot be found or repaired. Usually the issue is a connection or shielding problem. Either a connection is bad or a cable has insufficient shielding (or damaged shielding). The fix would be to fix the bad connection(s) and either replace the cable that lacks shielding or make sure its routed away from any power wires that would leech EMI (ElectroMagnetic Interference). Its a good idea to do both (better shielding and routing away from power).

What kind af adapter are you using?
If the adapter itself is introducing the whine (due to internal design/issues as opposed to any wires or connections to/from it), then a ground loop isolator may help (and maybe a power line filter -- or whatever its called). Then again it may not. You can get ground loop isolators built into RCA cables too (those are the ones I'm thinking of anyway).

I had a whine in my stereo setup for a while, XM/AM/FM, but no with the CD.

As it turned out, it was the spark plugs wires I was using. For some reason they were letting noise through. I replaced them with a different brand and vo-la, stereo sounds clean and clear again.

I had a whine in my stereo setup for a while, XM/AM/FM, but no with the CD.

As it turned out, it was the spark plugs wires I was using. For some reason they were letting noise through. I replaced them with a different brand and vo-la, stereo sounds clean and clear again.

Good point. I forgot to mention that. On older Corvettes, the distributor had a metal cover on it to help keep down EMI/RFI. Many people thought it was just decorative and took it off and then wondered why their radio reception got worse.