Please help w/ amp install. I thought I did it right, but I'm getting no sound

[bnbhoha 10+ year member]

I purchased a US acoustics USX 2100 amp to power my new CDT 61a speakers. Everything looks good, but I'm getting no sound.

Okay,

My HU is an Alpine 9807

I noticed one thing that keeps bugging me. The amplifer lights up with it's blue light and the power light is on. When I disconnect the ground wire, the blue light and power light is still on. I though we need a ground and a positive for this to work, so I'm curious to know why it still powers on w/ the ground disconnected.

The remote wire works, it's getting power, I have it grounded properly, my speaker outs are going to my crossovers and my crossovers have an out for my mid and tweeter. I then have the rca cables from my HU going to the L & R input of the amp. I didn't mess with the selector switch which is set on flat (options are highpass & lowpass). The four knobs (level, lowpass, highpass and bass boost are at factory presets). What in the world am I doing wrong here? Any help is appreciated. Do I need to make any adustment to my HU telling it that I'm using an amp? Thanks.

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[nosaj070 10+ year member]

If the level is all the way down, itneeds to be turned up. For instructions on setting it go here...

http://www.bcae1.com/gaincon2.htm

basically just turn hu up to about 75% volume, then turn gain up until you hear distortion then back it down a bit. Good Luck.

 

[forbidden 10+ year member]

If the amp is still "on" even with the ground disconnected, chances are that you have the amp screwed down to metal or the amp is grounding through the shield of the rca cables. Disconnect the rca cables to see if the amp turns on or off. Is the blue light a protection light? Does it go out if the speaker wires or rca cables are disconnected? If so, double check the speaker wires one at a time and the rca cable to see if it is shorting.

 

[bnbhoha 10+ year member]

I have the amp bolted to the floor board. Is that a no no? How else do I anchor it to the floor? I believe the blue light is just for looks. Thanks

 

[bnbhoha 10+ year member]

It works! Thanks so much. It was grounding itself out because I bolted it to the floor board; I didn't know we weren't suppose to do that & turned up the level control, which I believe is equivalent to the gain and it works great now. Thanks also for the link on how to adust amp. MDF board is a great idea, I think I may use velcro.

 

[cobra65427289 10+ year member]

velcro is what i use, it aint bad.

al

 

[forbidden 10+ year member]

The guys at the new store are doing a pretty good job, sorry if they did not get back to you, that really pisses me off. The F n F gear is Ok stuff, not for the true enthusiast no doubt but nonetheless it sounds good and we have had very few failures. For the Soundstream issue, the warehouse in Hongcouver has not carried or stocked the line in probably two years. It is now being stocked by a distributor in the Toronto area and I'm looking at the line again now they they have some stability behind them. Thanks for noticing where I am from and for the feedback on the job the guys are doing, we can't go ahead if someone has their heads up their a$$. I'll be sure to make the corrective actions necessary to ensure that they continue to try and do a good job, they are a busy store most days and sometimes they drop the ball, my apologies if they dropped it on you.

 

[forbidden 10+ year member]

Does that blue light still stay on?

 

[bnbhoha 10+ year member]

Yep, the blue light stays on. It's a thin blue bar about 4 inches long located on top of the amp. I guess it's for cosmetics.