Intermittent alternator whine

[rteichman]

I have this annoying whine in my stereo that comes and goes. About 3 years ago I replaced the head unit with a reconditioned Kenwood GPS receiver. It worked great for 2 years and then started having this weird issue when the volume would decrease and there would be a whine coming through the speakers that varied with engine speed. As it all worked fine for 2 years and I always suspected the Kenwood because the radio reception was never great. About 3 months ago I got fed up with it because the GPS started to go crazy (loose maps) so I had the unit replaced.

It worked fine for about a month or two but then the whine noise came back. Again, it comes and goes, and its always comes along with the sound getting "mutted". That is a real issue because I normally up the volume when this happens and then a few minutes later I am blasted by the loud volume when it "starts working again".

I now think it's the amp because when I "jiggle" the connectors on the amp the problem seems to go away for a while. I don't think its the ground because it would not be so intermittent. Any ideas? Should I replace the amp?

Thanks
Rob