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

[Lurker B6G]

Great write up and may end up following your lead after installing the key using pnp kit #11 harness -- and being a bit disappointed by the lack of midrange and low distortion ceiling...

I have a couple of questions for you. Did you run the key dsp setup on just the front after you had it set up, or do you just run it raw? Did you have to change the dipswitch on the key to fader = off so that it only uses one set of inputs?

Did your pnp kit 11 have an audiocontrol load generator inline with the sub inputs? I have nothing hooked to the sub part of the harness yet, but I get real strangeness when I wiggle that unit. I can understand if the wiring is loose or something, but what I don't get is the absolute strange behavior it has on the rest of the system. For now, I removed it. It was probably shorting, causing the factory amp to cut out output, cutting out the input for the rear channels to the amp...

I ran the DSP with just the front. All factory settings neutral and fader full forward. Had low pass off. Changed to 80 Hz low pass (tried 120 Hz but it took too much from the front kick speakers). Keep in mind that some dip switches including low pass can be adjusted after the DSP.

I think that the instructions say that when you pick bi-amp the fader should be set to off - so yes (I think so, but follow the instructions).

Yes, the in line load was on the sub harness, and never caused any problem.

Went driving tonight with the top off. Specific songs have a strong "kick in the chest" feeling. It's not until you pull into the garage that you realize just how percussive the whole thing really is.

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[Slim23]

Just adding my personal experiance to the mix.

1) replaced factory dash and pods with Infinitys.
Sounded more bright and alive, but no low end. Assumed that would be the case, but this was always just intended to be step #1.

2) Ordered PNP harness for 200.4 + Sub (Kit #11?).
After some of the same consideration that is being discussed here, decided that I had changed my mind and would go with a bi-amp plan. Modified the harness - Cut the feeds for the pods and cut the output for the pods. Looped the pod feed back to the pod output (pods bypass the amp). Took the old pod outputs (channel #2 amp output) and attached two runs for the kick panels. The input side of the old pod input (cut input) is not needed since dash and kicks both run on channel #1 input.

Cut the power and ground inputs (two each) and wired 12 ga. direct to battery with 20 amp fuse in line and 12 ga. ground to chassis under dash.

3) Installed new 6.5 inch kick woofers (Dayton Audio $30 each) using the rings from the stock speakers with the speakers cut out. So the factory connections on the kicks (channel #1 out from amp) become the direct feed to the dash speakers. Then I ran my two new leads (channel #2) directly to the new woofers.

4) Placed Infinity 600w mono amp under drivers seat. Wired direct to battery with 8 ga. wire and 60 amp fuse in line. Put the 8 ga. ground on the same chassis bolt under the dash.

5) Placed JL 12 inch HO sub behind drivers seat.

It took a little time to get the 200.4 set up, but the result was worth it. Gain is set very low and there is no lack of system volume or increases in chime volumes. Rear pod infinities are sensitive enough (93 db @ 3 ohm) to have plenty of volume with the factory amp. I would say that bi-amp is the only way to go. No worries about low impedence combination up front. Frequency overlap between dach and kicks is perfect. And the kicks went from inaudable before the set-up, to as much punch as desired after (played with more gain on channel #2 but ended up setting it quite low low to keep the kicks in balance).

Then I added in the sub (nearly unlimited bass) and the resut could not be better. I realize that some will dissagree - but I kind of mean it. I would struggle to identify somewhere where I would have done it differently. With about 6-8 previous installs, I can honestly say that being able to say this is the definition of a win.

I realize that not everyone will want a full size sub, but we took out the rear seats and so thankfully room was not a huge issue.

I love this. I'm thinking hard about doing a complete rear seat delete on my two door Sach.

I agree that bi-amping is the only way to go.

I tried putting a JBL Nano under the driver's seat. But was not satisfied. I removed it. There are probably situations where I would enjoy having air blown up my ass. But while driving my Bronco is not one of them.

I'm not a huge bass head, so I am doing an SRQ Customs stealth box in the factory location. I'm hoping that will satisfy my bass needs.

 

[Slim23]

I’ve been reading along about the ohm loads and wondering why people aren’t just using component sets with the mid in the kick, tweeter in the dash to maintain 4 ohms.

I didn't think about that when I started my project.

A possible issue with your approach might be the location of the kicks. They are buried low in the foot wells. I assume Ford put them there instead of in the doors because the doors are removable. But at any rate, higher frequencies are more directional than low frequencies; so you are not going to get much by way of good upper-mids with the 6" woofers blasting away sideways at your feet.

It seems everyone that upgrades these sound systems complains about a lack of mid-range. I blame it on the kick panel speaker location. The Bronco is not a luxury vehicle, and the stock speaker locations pretty much suck for high quality audio.

Which is a long way to say that the 4" dash speakers help a little in the mid-range. It probably depends a lot on what kind of music you listen to. If you like loud, hard, classic rock, that mid-range is very important. That's where the guitars and much of the drum kit is at. For rap or EDM much of the art occurs in the tweets and subs.

But keep in mind, there are pro-installers, amateur-installers, and confused-installers. I am among the latter group.

 

[Ft. Worth Rob]

I didn't think about that when I started my project.

A possible issue with your approach might be the location of the kicks. They are buried low in the foot wells. I assume Ford put them there instead of in the doors because the doors are removable. But at any rate, higher frequencies are more directional than low frequencies; so you are not going to get much by way of good upper-mids with the 6" woofers blasting away sideways at your feet.

It seems everyone that upgrades these sound systems complains about a lack of mid-range. I blame it on the kick panel speaker location. The Bronco is not a luxury vehicle, and the stock speaker locations pretty much suck for high quality audio.

Which is a long way to say that the 4" dash speakers help a little in the mid-range. It probably depends a lot on what kind of music you listen to. If you like loud, hard, classic rock, that mid-range is very important. That's where the guitars and much of the drum kit is at. For rap or EDM much of the art occurs in the tweets and subs.

But keep in mind, there are pro-installers, amateur-installers, and confused-installers. I am among the latter group.

I think you’ve got more knowledge than you’re giving yourself credit for. In the old days before the DSP automation built into an amp like the Key or spending piles of money on a shop using an RTA and dialing in a separate DSP, kick panel locations could be good to minimize path length differences to help improve center imaging but I agree that in a truck application where you sit more upright and without the benefit of angling those speakers it is problematic unless you get good off-axis response from a particular speaker.

I ran the Focal 165 two way components because they were inexpensive and kept me at 4 ohm and mounting the tweeter inset Into the grill helped me reduce reflection noise off the windshield.

Now that I’ve lived with it, I’d be curious to try their three way setup because I agree the two way setup can be a little light in mid range. https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091165AS3/Focal-Performance-165AS3.html?tp=106
The tweeter could likely still be grill mounted or moved to the A pillars to make room for the 4” in the dash.

 

[Lurker B6G]

Which is a long way to say that the 4" dash speakers help a little in the mid-range.

I disagree with this statement. I think that they help A LOT with the mid-range!

In fact, I think that one of the best features of the Key 200.4 is that there is a 320Hz overlap between the dash and the floor in the low mid-range:

This really does fill in the "missing area" very well. I have a 2021 Ford Explorer with factory 6x9s in the lower doors (and an add on sub in the back), and the low-mids are nearly non-existent.

 

[da_jokker]

Wouldn't using Forscan to tell the ACM that the front speaker/tweeter is just speaker raise the ohms?

I swear I read that the whole point of that setting was to let the system know which omhs it could expect.

 

[MCD1Bronco]

I love this. I'm thinking hard about doing a complete rear seat delete on my two door Sach.

I agree that bi-amping is the only way to go.

I tried putting a JBL Nano under the driver's seat. But was not satisfied. I removed it. There are probably situations where I would enjoy having air blown up my ass. But while driving my Bronco is not one of them.

I'm not a huge bass head, so I am doing an SRQ Customs stealth box in the factory location. I'm hoping that will satisfy my bass needs.

I have the pioneer version under the driver seat. smaller, less watts, and down firing. you know it's there but certainly not overwhelming. That was the first audio "upgrade" I did. in my opinion, it made the stock system sound the way it should from the factory.

then I upgraded all the speakers, again improved but nothing crazy.

then I changed the rear speakers to 6.5" - this was another drastic improvement

then added the kicker key. took some tinkering but I got it all working great to an extent.

ive also tried a bunch of different for scan changes. I ended up changing the EQ to flat, changed the rear speaker configuration to speaker+tweeter, and changed the chimes to play from the instrument cluster only.

next I'm wiring the kicker key to the battery and adding some resistors to get the front to 4 ohm, then ill retune the key and see where that gets me. I probably don't care enough to go the bi-amp route, but we will see.

 

[ManSquatch]

Am I the only one who thinks the 200.4 is way to loud? All of the chimes from the truck are really loud and I can only go to about 15 on the stereo. I also did the fusion amp so now that bass (controlled by acm) isn’t matching the keys volume.

 

[MCD1Bronco]

if you increased the gain on the key, and/or made eq changes in forscan, than the chimes will be obnoxiously loud.

to fix this, I changed the chimes to only play through the instrument cluster (using forscan)

 

[gaaangs]

Am I the only one who thinks the 200.4 is way to loud? All of the chimes from the truck are really loud and I can only go to about 15 on the stereo. I also did the fusion amp so now that bass (controlled by acm) isn’t matching the keys volume.

Put the gain close to zero - no idea why people crank the gain up when its louder than all hell half way up on the volume dial.

 

[djn3400]

if you increased the gain on the key, and/or made eq changes in forscan, than the chimes will be obnoxiously loud.

to fix this, I changed the chimes to only play through the instrument cluster (using forscan)

How do you do this in forscan? I've made several other changes but haven't come across this one. Thanks!

 

[Blaven]

How do you do this in forscan? I've made several other changes but haven't come across this one. Thanks!

Yeah I haven't seen this, please explain what you changed or a link to where you found out how to do it.

 

[BlarneyStoned]

Yeah I haven't seen this, please explain what you changed or a link to where you found out how to do it.

It's in one of the plain english settings, I don't have Forscan connected to my Bronco to get more specific, but the settings is something like "Chime Priority" default value is something like "Speaker Only" and one of the options is "Instrument Panel Only", I think in the IPC section.

 

[Blaven]

It's in one of the plain english settings, I don't have Forscan connected to my Bronco to get more specific, but the settings is something like "Chime Priority" default value is something like "Speaker Only" and one of the options is "Instrument Panel Only", I think in the IPC section.

Thanks. I'll have to take a look this weekend.

 

[MCD1Bronco]

the IPC, not the as built, plain English settings. There are a few items named chimes…… can’t remember what it’s called exactly but it’s obvious. Change setting from speakers only to instrument cluster only.

I know things are less accurate there but I tried it and it worked. Lots of stuff said “disabled” that are actually enabled.

there are lots of tempting options to change but I refrained. Mostly. I also tried tilting mirrors in reverse, didn’t work.

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