no they are plenty apart. You can actually run cables right next to power wire w/o probs (even twist them together), its just a "precautionary" thing to run them seperate.
Your noise could be several things. Have you done mods to the ignition in your car? maybe it doesn't have RFI supression. It could be a ground loop. It could be noise entering into the system via the wires to the amp. It could be a bad amp or bad head unit. Improperly adjusted gains on amps can cause engine whine.
To check if its the amp, just unplug your inputs (are you using RCA or spkr wire from the head?) and turn on the stereo, if you still here the engine whine then the problem is with your amp. If the noise goes away then either the wires to the amp are causing the prob or the head is.
Your noise could be several things. Have you done mods to the ignition in your car? maybe it doesn't have RFI supression. It could be a ground loop. It could be noise entering into the system via the wires to the amp. It could be a bad amp or bad head unit. Improperly adjusted gains on amps can cause engine whine.
To check if its the amp, just unplug your inputs (are you using RCA or spkr wire from the head?) and turn on the stereo, if you still here the engine whine then the problem is with your amp. If the noise goes away then either the wires to the amp are causing the prob or the head is.