Aftermarket Audio System Broke My Car?

[WI_Mirage]

I installed a new a audio system in my Mirage a few months ago.

• Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X702 Receiver
• JL Audio M500/3 Amp
• Two Hertz DSK 165.3 150W Component Speakers
• JL Audio CS112TG-TW3 12in 400W Subwoofer

I'm a cheap *******, but I LOVE LOUD MUSIC. I wanted to hurt my ears and feel that bass in my chest. I did not want to cheap out on this hardware.

I watched lots of videos, read lots of forums and articles, and went to town on my Mirage. I installed everything properly. Except I didn't do one very important thing... The Big 3 Wiring Upgrade.

My entire system was working 100% fine for a couple weeks after the initial install. I am now dealing with a feedback issue that is causing my speakers to "whine".

One day, while I was cranking my system to its 100% capacity, I hear a loud POP. At first I thought this was a car's exhaust driving by. Now, I know I will get poop for this, but because it was a few months ago, I cannot be 100% sure when I say that this "whine" problem started immediately after I heard this POP sound. What I can say, is that the "whine" did start after the POP sound. I will also say that pre-POP I was smelling something like a burning or melting? I KNOW, THIS IS DUMB OF ME, I IGNORED IT. Additionally, post-POP the smell started to go away (it is completely gone now).

I had a lot going on, winter was approaching, and I just had to put this project on the back burner. My memory is not the greatest. Sorry I cannot be more specific.

I spent this weekend troubleshooting my car. Trust me, I did everything possible. I narrowed my problem down to this:

1. With the RCA cables unplugged from the amp, and everything else still connected to the amp (power, ground, remote, 2 speakers, 1 sub), there is a very slight "whine" noise
2. With the RCA cables and the recevier plugged in, the "whine" noise is much much louder

Yes, I have checked the radio fuse at the interior fuse box; it is fine.

Tomorrow I will bring in my car to the audio shop to have both my receiver and amp tested. This will rule out either of those being faulty (or, maybe one of them is faulty). If neither of those are faulty, then that POP noise came from my car.

I will be doing the big 3 upgrade, as mentioned above. However, if the amp is OK, and the receiver is OK, and the stereo fuse is OK, then what the hecking heck made that POP noise? Because like I said, the entire system was working 100% fine for a couple weeks before POP. Even if my amp is fine, receiver is fine, and I do the big 3 upgrade, the whine will still be there until I figure out what happened. Does anyone have any ideas?