Kicker Key Amp 200.4 Install DIY Video - Do this first!

[Papa Smurf]

This is exactly what I want to do. A few questions…

(1) Has anyone tried these plugnplay harnesses that include the sub connection?
(1a) How do you connect the sub from the 500.1? Stupid question, but is that plug n play as well?
(1b)Do you still have to run power for the sub to the battery

(2) Any good ideas of where to put the 500.1? It would be nice if it was only the sub exposed.

Regarding other parts of this whole thread (19 pages at this post) I wanted to leave a few comments I think could help others. In my build, i installed kicker KS from Crutchfield for the 4’ and the 6.5”.

For the 4" speakers a lot of people haven’t found connectors and I located a post where a guy used these.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XF11XMC/ref=pe_386300_440135490_TE_item

Not a true match, but you can make it work and the connections are snug. It’s a hack but it worked for me and I avoided soldering.

I used the shallow mount boom mats in all 4" locations and crutchfield bass blockers in the front. I forgot to install these to start and after a day of testing decided they were needed. It’s night and day so don’t skip the bass blockers.
The 6.5" can be replaced with 6.75" and crutchfield sells a mounting ring for them to adjust to factory as well as plug play connectors. I also used boom mats in the kickpanels, but this was a very tight fit.

One last piece of advice. Take it easy on removing the plastic cover for the two 4s in the front. The clip of upper left side of the cover ofn the drivers side and the upper right side of the cover on the passenger side are weak as hell. I broke one and it’s 5 weeks to get it from Ford and $16. I super glued it for now.
All in all this is a massive improvement compared to factory, but I would concur with others that an amp will be needed to get a really good sound from the speakers.

For the amp connection, I assume that it will be similar to my Hideaway. The harness seems to splice the rear speaker outputs from the Key and use them as high level inputs for the factory harness to the 500.1. Run the power wire to the battery and another wire for ground and you should be set up to run output from the amp to your sub.

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[Thicky_Vicky]

Thank you for your write up! This greatly influenced my build!
I installed focal RCX speakers all around, the kicker 200.4 (obviously), LCI2, kicker 800.1 amp & bass knob and a loaded kicker L7S. I had to add bass blockers for the dash speakers, other wise they would be "overloaded". I set the 4 channel to 60hertz, I would highly recommend this.

I also used a 100amp breaker in lieu of a fuse, this will make resetting and turning off power much easier. Used Skar 0ga wiring kit for the mono amp.

I mounted the 200.4 behind the glove box, the LCI2 got mounted under the steering column and the mono amp is mounted in the trunk under the compartment.

This is seriously the best audio system I have installed!

 

[Tamarak]

Thank you for your write up! This greatly influenced my build!
I installed focal RCX speakers all around, the kicker 200.4 (obviously), LCI2, kicker 800.1 amp & bass knob and a loaded kicker L7S. I had to add bass blockers for the dash speakers, other wise they would be "overloaded".

I also used a 100amp breaker in lieu of a fuse, this will make resetting and turning off power much easier. Used Skar 0ga wiring kit for the mono amp.

I mounted the 200.4 behind the glove box, the LCI2 got mounted under the steering column and the mono amp is mounted in the trunk under the compartment.

This is seriously the best audio system I have installed!

Nice build! What sub did you put in? Looks like a really nice size.

 

[TXArea51]

Thank you for your write up! This greatly influenced my build!
I installed focal RCX speakers all around, the kicker 200.4 (obviously), LCI2, kicker 800.1 amp & bass knob and a loaded kicker L7S. I had to add bass blockers for the dash speakers, other wise they would be "overloaded".

I also used a 100amp breaker in lieu of a fuse, this will make resetting and turning off power much easier. Used Skar 0ga wiring kit for the mono amp.

I mounted the 200.4 behind the glove box, the LCI2 got mounted under the steering column and the mono amp is mounted in the trunk under the compartment.

This is seriously the best audio system I have installed!

What kit did you use?

 

[Thicky_Vicky]

What kit did you use?

I went with kit 15, I could have gone with kit 14 though (shorter lead for the LCI2). I bought the mono amp from another source.

 

[Thicky_Vicky]

Nice build! What sub did you put in? Looks like a really nice size.

Thank you! I went with this sub and added a grille, I have my dogs in the back regularly so I wanted some protection.

https://www.kicker.com/solo-baric-l7s-10-subwoofer-box

 

[RhodeIslandRed]

Thank you for your write up! This greatly influenced my build!
I installed focal RCX speakers all around, the kicker 200.4 (obviously), LCI2, kicker 800.1 amp & bass knob and a loaded kicker L7S. I had to add bass blockers for the dash speakers, other wise they would be "overloaded". I set the 4 channel to 60hertz, I would highly recommend this.

I also used a 100amp breaker in lieu of a fuse, this will make resetting and turning off power much easier. Used Skar 0ga wiring kit for the mono amp.

I mounted the 200.4 behind the glove box, the LCI2 got mounted under the steering column and the mono amp is mounted in the trunk under the compartment.

This is seriously the best audio system I have installed!

Warning that that cubby collects water if you get rain in the car. Where you have the mono amp in the back was half-filled with water after a little rain.

I added a rubber mat from Ford that covers the whole area. But I don't think I'd trust electronics in there.

 

[BigBronco1]

I installed a Kicker Key 200.4 amp in my BaseSquatch today and it made a HUGE difference. It was a straight forward install that took about an hour and a half. The install was made easy because of the harness from plugnplaykits.com. There was no need to cut, splice or drill anything. As you will see in the video below, it litterally was a plug and play operation.

Thank you for the video, I installed Kit 11 on Saturday. I probably should have gone under the steering column but I saw your video and ended up above the glove box. A bit tighter to work in, but doable.

It's certainly more power, but I def need to upgrade the speakers as well. After reading 19 pages it seems like Focal, JL or Kicker are my best options. I'm leaning towards the Kicker KS speakers but I'm all ears for recommendations. Right now the 6 speakers are $300 on Amazon.

 

[KeithK]

Thank you for your write up! This greatly influenced my build!
I installed focal RCX speakers all around, the kicker 200.4 (obviously), LCI2, kicker 800.1 amp & bass knob and a loaded kicker L7S. I had to add bass blockers for the dash speakers, other wise they would be "overloaded". I set the 4 channel to 60hertz, I would highly recommend this.

I also used a 100amp breaker in lieu of a fuse, this will make resetting and turning off power much easier. Used Skar 0ga wiring kit for the mono amp.

I mounted the 200.4 behind the glove box, the LCI2 got mounted under the steering column and the mono amp is mounted in the trunk under the compartment.

This is seriously the best audio system I have installed!

Thanks for the update! Did you secure your subwoofer in the back or is it "unattached"?

 

[Thicky_Vicky]

Warning that that cubby collects water if you get rain in the car. Where you have the mono amp in the back was half-filled with water after a little rain.

I added a rubber mat from Ford that covers the whole area. But I don't think I'd trust electronics in there.

I have a hardtop, I dont see any water intrusion happening. Good looking out though!

 

[Thicky_Vicky]

Thanks for the update! Did you secure your subwoofer in the back or is it "unattached"?

Added a ratchet strap to it, the sucker weighs like 60 lbs. It would rip screw out of the plastic panels or floors if I went with that attachment method.

 

[P_Baff]

Hey forum! Has anyone experienced popping sounds with the Kicker 200.4 even after the headunit is turned off?

So quick back story, yesterday I installed the 200.4 and replaced the dash speakers with some JL's. I didn't have a long 10mm socket at the time to replace the kick panel speakers and decided to do them later. Everything went well and sounded great after doing the AUTO/ Pink noise setup.

Later a friend came by and lent me that 10mm socket I needed and replaced the kick panel speakers. After I turned the headunit on to try and redo the AUTO setup all the speakers started to make popping noises and I couldn't get the 200.4 to reset to factory to redo the AUTO setup with the new KP speakers installed. Anyway, I was using my phone via bluetooth as a pink noise source but couldn't distinguish between the beginning of the AUTO setup tones and the actual tests it performs.

Long story short, I became kind of frustrated with it and decided to try again later today after work. But the speakers all make popping noises even if the headunit is off. I even got the 3 tone troubleshooting code. I had to unplug the 200.4 until I could try again.

Has anyone in here had a similar experience? Is there something I'm missing when it comes to resetting the 200.4 so I can redo the AUTO setup?

Any responses are greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance and happy trails!

 

[Thicky_Vicky]

Hey forum! Has anyone experienced popping sounds with the Kicker 200.4 even after the headunit is turned off?

So quick back story, yesterday I installed the 200.4 and replaced the dash speakers with some JL's. I didn't have a long 10mm socket at the time to replace the kick panel speakers and decided to do them later. Everything went well and sounded great after doing the AUTO/ Pink noise setup.

Later a friend came by and lent me that 10mm socket I needed and replaced the kick panel speakers. After I turned the headunit on to try and redo the AUTO setup all the speakers started to make popping noises and I couldn't get the 200.4 to reset to factory to redo the AUTO setup with the new KP speakers installed. Anyway, I was using my phone via bluetooth as a pink noise source but couldn't distinguish between the beginning of the AUTO setup tones and the actual tests it performs.

Long story short, I became kind of frustrated with it and decided to try again later today after work. But the speakers all make popping noises even if the headunit is off. I even got the 3 tone troubleshooting code. I had to unplug the 200.4 until I could try again.

Has anyone in here had a similar experience? Is there something I'm missing when it comes to resetting the 200.4 so I can redo the AUTO setup?

Any responses are greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance and happy trails!

No popping issues with me. I would highly recommend bass blockers for your dash speakers though.

Are your gains set correctly? My gain is set MAYBE a 1/4 turn up. I opted out for the auto setup as I didnt want the sound to focus in solely on the driver seat.

 

[cmcbronco]

Hey forum! Has anyone experienced popping sounds with the Kicker 200.4 even after the headunit is turned off?

So quick back story, yesterday I installed the 200.4 and replaced the dash speakers with some JL's. I didn't have a long 10mm socket at the time to replace the kick panel speakers and decided to do them later. Everything went well and sounded great after doing the AUTO/ Pink noise setup.

Later a friend came by and lent me that 10mm socket I needed and replaced the kick panel speakers. After I turned the headunit on to try and redo the AUTO setup all the speakers started to make popping noises and I couldn't get the 200.4 to reset to factory to redo the AUTO setup with the new KP speakers installed. Anyway, I was using my phone via bluetooth as a pink noise source but couldn't distinguish between the beginning of the AUTO setup tones and the actual tests it performs.

Long story short, I became kind of frustrated with it and decided to try again later today after work. But the speakers all make popping noises even if the headunit is off. I even got the 3 tone troubleshooting code. I had to unplug the 200.4 until I could try again.

Has anyone in here had a similar experience? Is there something I'm missing when it comes to resetting the 200.4 so I can redo the AUTO setup?

Any responses are greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance and happy trails!

Yea I had the same issue. You need to turn the radio detect button on on the kicker 200.4. Small button just press it in and it will stop.

 

[Thicky_Vicky]

Thank you for the video, I installed Kit 11 on Saturday. I probably should have gone under the steering column but I saw your video and ended up above the glove box. A bit tighter to work in, but doable.

It's certainly more power, but I def need to upgrade the speakers as well. After reading 19 pages it seems like Focal, JL or Kicker are my best options. I'm leaning towards the Kicker KS speakers but I'm all ears for recommendations. Right now the 6 speakers are $300 on Amazon.

I think the KS would be a good choice, they can handle the 50watt RMS power that the key puts out. You can fit 4" speakers in the dash too. I used 4" focals without issue, just have to cut off the removal tabs. I have my amp set to 60hertz and ended up needing bass blockers for the dash speakers. I wonder if you'll need bass blockers for the KS speakers- worth trying without the speakers first.

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