Kicker Key 200.4 Done Correctly

[BoverW]

Just finished the install—took me about 4 hours. I already had the amp and harness in place, so this was all done in the cramped space. Not exactly fun.

The trickiest part was running the wire from the driver's side amp to the passenger side kicker panel. Thankfully, you only need to remove the lower plastic trim—not the entire center console. That said, pulling the whole console would make things easier and is actually necessary if you're installing the harness from scratch.

My lesson: if you're using a plug-and-play harness, better to modify it ahead of time so you can install everything in one go. Makes the process much smoother. If you're looking for a solid alternative, check out @RagnarKon’s serial speaker connection method.

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[AZCoyote]

Just finished the install—took me about 4 hours. I already had the amp and harness in place, so this was all done in the cramped space. Not exactly fun.

The trickiest part was running the wire from the driver's side amp to the passenger side kicker panel. Thankfully, you only need to remove the lower plastic trim—not the entire center console. That said, pulling the whole console would make things easier and is actually necessary if you're installing the harness from scratch.

My lesson: if you're using a plug-and-play harness, better to modify it ahead of time so you can install everything in one go. Makes the process much smoother. If you're looking for a solid alternative, check out @RagnarKon’s serial speaker connection method.

Yep. It can be a little tedious, but it’s not that bad overall. Looking forward to hearing your results once you’re done DSP tuning, and setting gains. Remember to set your fader full front and remove the fuse for the subwoofer amplifier.

bTW when @RagnarKon finally changes his set up, he will see the most dramatic difference of everyone. Running his front stage at 8 Ohms means at most he’s getting 25 W split between the dash and the kick panel. In other words, he’s got 12.5 W per speaker location on the front stage. It’s basically back to stock power but with better EQ and some time correction (already had dsp stock before forscan EQ changes). Moving to a full 200 W on the front stage should pretty much blow his mind. Just saying Rag!!

 

[RoLyMa27]

1980-1981 or 1982+ ?

80...white with gold screaming chicken

 

[AZCoyote]

80...white with gold screaming chicken

Sweeeeeeeeet. A close family friend had the Bandit model with a 4 speed. He let me drive it as a 13 year old. It was a damn good cruise.

 

[AZCoyote]

Good stuff to finish up this build.

 

[AZCoyote]

Here are the speaker rings if anyone was not sure what they look like.

 

[CG32]

I apologize if someone asked this previously, and I know audio but not as much as others in this thread, but if the impedance is too low with the speakers wired parallel from the factory, couldn’t you cut off the adapter, and adjust the just wiring for the the kick and dash speakers to align series configuration? I know it will increase the impedance but the amp should be in range this way and you aren’t using extra channels for the front and taking away from the rear. Yes you would have to verify speaker wire colors in the dash, and make sure they are in the right configuration, but is there a downside to this line of thinking? Seems easier and allows you you still run power to the back pods with one amp.

 

[AZCoyote]

I apologize if someone asked this previously, and I know audio but not as much as others in this thread, but if the impedance is too low with the speakers wired parallel from the factory, couldn’t you cut off the adapter, and adjust the just wiring for the the kick and dash speakers to align series configuration? I know it will increase the impedance but the amp should be in range this way and you aren’t using extra channels for the front and taking away from the rear. Yes you would have to verify speaker wire colors in the dash, and make sure they are in the right configuration, but is there a downside to this line of thinking? Seems easier and allows you you still run power to the back pods with one amp.

@RagnarKon did exactly that way. Changing from parallel to series will change the ohms from 2 to 8. That will be a lighter load on the amp. However, there are major costs to that approach.

As wired stock, the kick and dash split the power they receive. Using the key, that would mean at 4 ohms the 50 watts would have been split to 25 watts at each driver. Well, Ohms Law will not be denied. If the Ohms go to 8, the power is reduced by half. Now that front stage would have a whopping 25 watts per channel to work with. That is 12.5 watts per driver. In other words, it will work but is a complete waste of your upgraded speakers and amps. 12.5 watts is stock level power and won’t make any serious difference. You will notice the DSP or course. It is a major help to quality of sound but none for quantity. Quantity is all about watts and series wiring robs you of all the benefit of having an amp.

200 watts true on the front sound stage versus 50 watts total is an enormous difference. It’s a 6 db jump in volume. And the gains not clipping out early means you realize more of that power from the amp.

Using the Key, bi-amp is the correct method here. If you have a different 2 ohm stable amp, you could use the stock wiring scheme of dash and kicks wired together. Then it becomes a question of how much power you have and ideally some passive crossovers. The dash should not be full range and really the kicks don’t benefit front playing stuff higher than midrange. Multiple drivers in multiple sizes gives us the opportunity to dedicate them to their optimal frequency ranges.

 

[AZCoyote]

Here a couple of pictures of what my loop that returns the head unit power to the rear pods looks like on my harness now. There’s no reason to make a big loop so it’s only a couple of inches.

There are proper crimp connectors under that. I just use cloth tape because it keeps the bundle tight.

 

[AZCoyote]

All told, the Key 500 install with Additve Audio 3d box and Kicker L7T 8” went pretty well. Taps off the factory sub harness gave good low level signals. Fitment is excellent. I put tons of deadener in the area with focus on any area the box might touch.

now, I almost came on here to complain about poor performance. Then I went for a drive to assess why I wasn’t getting as much bass as expected. I did the gain setup. Check. I did the DSP setup. Check. What could be the problem….

Alas, I committed one of the classic 3 blunders. The first two of which are….
1. Never get into a land war in Asia
2. Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.
3. Make sure your fader is set to center before you do your gain and DSP settings on your sub amp. I had my fader to front checking out balance of the kick panel to the dash and forgot.

Realized this during my drive and fixed my fader. Blammo! It is fantastic. Tomorrow I have to pull the panel and reset my gains and DSP but at least I know that there’s plenty of output there now. It has more than enough bass keep up on all of my test tracks and my favorite music. Two thumbs up highly recommend.

 

[RoLyMa27]

All told, the Key 500 install with Additve Audio 3d box and Kicker L7T 8” went pretty well. Taps off the factory sub harness gave good low level signals. Fitment is excellent. I put tons of deadener in the area with focus on any area the box might touch.

now, I almost came on here to complain about poor performance. Then I went for a drive to assess why I wasn’t getting as much bass as expected. I did the gain setup. Check. I did the DSP setup. Check. What could be the problem….

Alas, I committed one of the classic 3 blunders. The first two of which are….
1. Never get into a land war in Asia
2. Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.
3. Make sure your fader is set to center before you do your gain and DSP settings on your sub amp. I had my fader to front checking out balance of the kick panel to the dash and forgot.

Realized this during my drive and fixed my fader. Blammo! It is fantastic. Tomorrow I have to pull the panel and reset my gains and DSP but at least I know that there’s plenty of output there now. It has more than enough bass keep up on all of my test tracks and my favorite music. Two thumbs up highly recommend.

Hey Wiley, I'm sure you said already, but what box is that?

 

[AZCoyote]

Hey Wiley, I'm sure you said already, but what box is that?

Additive Car Audio
https://additivecaraudio.com/product-category/bronco6g/

The discount code BRONCO6G works too

 

[AZCoyote]

Also, the Key 200 provides a remote out that should be used to trigger the key 500. DC offset will work but it has a delay on turn off that resulted in sub thumps. Remote from the 200.4 worked better and turned off in unison. So Using DC offset just on the Key 200 then remote wire to 500 works great.

 

[orion]

@AZCoyote I just got done and went to set my gains. Volume at 25 and limiters all the way down, counter clockwise, and the lights are already on. What's up with that? Do I need to use the pink noise or just my music on the gains?

Anyways, it does sound way better. I do need to get a sub though!

 

[AZCoyote]

@AZCoyote I just got done and went to set my gains. Volume at 25 and limiters all the way down, counter clockwise, and the lights are already on. What's up with that? Do I need to use the pink noise or just my music on the gains?

Anyways, it does sound way better. I do need to get a sub though!

Assuming you mean you are now wired with amp 1 to dash and amp 2 to kicks. Did you set the dip switch for bi-amp mode? That enables crossovers.

I use volume at 24 since I think that is closer to when the HU starts to distort. With gains all the way down use the Lab Grade Pink noise WAV file from kicker.

https://www.kicker.com/key2004-testtones

Raise the gains until they clip. Then lower until the light is off. Then you can switch to music. Best method is NOT to raise gains after doing the pink noise step. Play some dynamic music (HU still at 24) and check for clipping. Lower the gain if there is clipping. Leave it alone if there is none.

This assumes you did the DSP first which is what you should do with the gains all the way down. Dip switch settings as mentioned on page 1. Btw I had another pass at the manual and EQ dip turns on a bump the Kicker people like so you may like it off. Delay is supposed to correct for HU doing time alignment. You may not need that. You can turn the HU setting to not favor any seat (all seat I think it says) or use Forscan as mentioned before. Just make sure DSP is done before setting gain.

I can wholeheartedly recommend the one I linked above. It’s is fantastic for a hidden solution. Just about $800 delivered for 500 watt amp, box, sub, and bass control knob. I am very content with it. I sent my 3 college age kids to the store today and they came back all smiles.

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