Kicker Key 200.4 Done Correctly

[AZCoyote]

I used the 200.4 for six weeks until it broke down had poor warranty service so got Audison 8 channels DSP....no comparison at all it's next level in function outcome and price haha.

Can’t deny an Audison is a better amp. Way more work to configure and more pricey. Undeniably better in all other ways. I’d personally like a 12 channel Audison but I just don’t need it. Not that need really always factors into my decision making. Can’t speak to the warranty issue other than I’ve heard your experience but also others who had good results with Kicker.

I will say that if you were using a T harness that is Plug and Play, it’s no surprise the amp died. That pesky 2 ohm issue I keep harping about is gonna kill amps. And my purpose here is just helping people to stop murdering these Key amps with an inappropriate Plug and Play implementation and to get the maximum value and performance from them.

I’d advocate a Musway or Audison all day if people have money and time to spend on them.

Sponsored

 

[Ninjaroz]

So I just tried this and looking for some advice. I have a key key 200.4 and 500.1. Created my own harness per another thread and running in bi amp mode. Having some weird problems with the kicker key 200.4. First it sounds pixelated unless I change balance all the way to left or right and my bass is completely gone subwoofer has power but silent. I ran the auto tune successfully. Also phone calls and navigation volume is very low. This is alot and missing alot of details that would probably help diagnose. Just not sure where even to start. TIA!

 

[AZCoyote]

So I just tried this and looking for some advice. I have a key key 200.4 and 500.1. Created my own harness per another thread and running in bi amp mode. Having some weird problems with the kicker key 200.4. First it sounds pixelated unless I change balance all the way to left or right and my bass is completely gone subwoofer has power but silent. I ran the auto tune successfully. Also phone calls and navigation volume is very low. This is alot and missing alot of details that would probably help diagnose. Just not sure where even to start. TIA!

start with the checkbox items

bi-amp on - check
Fader dip - check (big one)

make sure your fader is center if you know your harness is good (check again) and that your auto tune was good.

pixelated sound is a new one to me. However the “only sounds ok if all left or right” might be a phase thing. Do you have your pos/neg correct for each speaker? Run the steps separately.

 

[Ninjaroz]

Thanks for the quick reply! Yep fader is set to off on kicker key here are my key settings but I will double check and update if not:

Power is dc
Fader off
Compression off
Bi amp on
The 2 other kicker settings are on i don't remember names
Cross over 80hz
Radio detect is on
Power 14g directly to battery
Ground connected above woofer on driver side

(I know amp 1 isn't at 0 was testing giving it a little more gain to see if it would pass eq setup in front middle)

Harness only have the front channels high input (cut rca) into kicker
Have Grey and white outputs to tweeters and green / purple to woofers. Green and purple from hu going to rear speakers.

**Update**

I double checked tweeter speaker wire it was correct. I swapped pos/neg

(Original speaker cable going to tweeters cut harness to swap pos/neg to reverse for testing as suggested. Blue speaker wire going to woofer off green/purple new speaker wire runs.)

eq still fails when fader set to front middle (4 beeps). If I go just a tap left or right from center it passes eq. I cant do default (middle middle) since it picks up rear speakers and fails for ambient noise (6 beeps).

 

[RWK]

Nice write up and discussion.
Im trying to decide on running bi amp mode now.
I have 6.5 components up front. I mounted tweeters on dash with 6.5 in kick panel. Mounted crossover under dash. No heat problem with amp for it's a 4ohm load for i took out dash speakers.

In back i put in 6.5 coaxial and did forscan ( Hugh improvement) and lastly kicker 500.1 with down firing sub. I ran DSP multiple times. Worked out perfect.
What do I gain by bi amp mode? With tweeters mounted on dash I have a lot of front stage sound.
I have the rad wiring harness . What do I cut to just use factory power in back?
Take it easy on me.. Just turned 60 and trying to relive my 80s with my stereo upgrade. Lmao

 

[AZCoyote]

Nice write up and discussion.
Im trying to decide on running bi amp mode now.
I have 6.5 components up front. I mounted tweeters on dash with 6.5 in kick panel. Mounted crossover under dash. No heat problem with amp for it's a 4ohm load for i took out dash speakers.

In back i put in 6.5 coaxial and did forscan ( Hugh improvement) and lastly kicker 500.1 with down firing sub. I ran DSP multiple times. Worked out perfect.
What do I gain by bi amp mode? With tweeters mounted on dash I have a lot of front stage sound.
I have the rad wiring harness . What do I cut to just use factory power in back?
Take it easy on me.. Just turned 60 and trying to relive my 80s with my stereo upgrade. Lmao

I am not sure bi-amp will be as beneficial in your case. It really shines with a kick panel woofer then a coaxial in dash or 3” + tweets. Your components would lose all the sound above 640 if you go bi-amp. You would need to add a speaker back to your dash to get the mids there. Are you going to buy more speakers?

 

[Ninjaroz]

@RWK I originally had your setup with cross overs when I didnt have the key 200.4.Before reading this keep in mind I'm still having problems myself. I have 6.75 woofer in kicks and a 1 inch tweeter in dash. It is alot louder when compared to what it was pre bi-amp.

What i did was only pass the white and Grey front inputs from the hu to the amp and pass the green and purple back through the t harness to rear speakers (dont pass green and purple to amp). On output side of amp I ran white and Grey to tweeters by connecting it back to t harness. Then on the factory harness in kicks i just wired my harness to go back into itself. 2 outside wires connect to 2 inside wires at least on my harness. Had to run new speaker wires from the amp output green and purple wires to the woofers.

Good luck! I can try and help if you have additional questions or something isn't clear.

 

[CG32]

Just an fyi, but for anyone looking for a kicker key, I just snagged one off of an early Black Friday sale on Best Buy for $60 off list. I have been waiting for them to go on sale and bam, today it happened.

 

[drewski]

Got mine done today. If you are running a kicker 200.4 or ready to install one, bi amp is the way to go. I have 6.5" pods in the back did the forscan change to "speaker" from tweeter prior to this change and even the rear pods sound better than it did wired to the plug and play harness. You won't regret the trouble.

 

[Ninjaroz]

I fixed my issue. If you run into fading issues could be the wires from radio to amp. I used 18g initially (do not recommend). I would highly recommend keeping that run as short as possible and use at least 16g. I used 12 myself to be safe and its working great now!

 

[MannyG20]

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.

For clarification sake: you say that you tapped off the factory sub harness. Did you have a factory sub? Or is there a sub harness on the head unit whether you have a sub or not?
I did not have a sub on my 2022 non-B&O. I currently have tapped the rear pod inputs.

 

[AZCoyote]

For clarification sake: you say that you tapped off the factory sub harness. Did you have a factory sub? Or is there a sub harness on the head unit whether you have a sub or not?
I did not have a sub on my 2022 non-B&O. I currently have tapped the rear pod inputs.

I did have a factory sub. However, I have heard the harness is there but requires activation in FORSCAN. You should be able to look behind the panel.

 

[MannyG20]

Ok, need a little help. I have done this - I thought about going bi-amp when I installed the Key in 2022 but didn't and now this thread has prompted me to go ahead and do it - but I have lost sound in the dash speakers. I have sound in the rear pods and the kick panels but not the dash. This is what I have done:
1. Cut the four wires from the input side of the Key that powered the rear speakers. The cut wires are all individually wrapped and left as 2 inch stubs in the input adapter of the Key.
2. Cut the four wires from the output side of the Key that ran to the rear speakers and joined the rear speaker wires to bypass the Key altogether. I have sound in both rears.
3. Unplugged the two kick panel speakers and wired each one directly to the cut wires on the output side of the Key. I have them wired directly - no adapters between the kicks and the Key. I have sound in both kicks.
4. Tapped into the rear speaker wires that now bypass the Key with my sub speaker wires - I have sound to my sub.
5. Dash - no sound to the dash in either bi-amp mode or non-bi-amp mode.

What am I missing? Is there some opened circuit on the unplugged metra adapters from the kick panel speakers?

 

[AZCoyote]

Ok, need a little help. I have done this - I thought about going bi-amp when I installed the Key in 2022 but didn't and now this thread has prompted me to go ahead and do it - but I have lost sound in the dash speakers. I have sound in the rear pods and the kick panels but not the dash. This is what I have done:
1. Cut the four wires from the input side of the Key that powered the rear speakers. The cut wires are all individually wrapped and left as 2 inch stubs in the input adapter of the Key.
2. Cut the four wires from the output side of the Key that ran to the rear speakers and joined the rear speaker wires to bypass the Key altogether. I have sound in both rears.
3. Unplugged the two kick panel speakers and wired each one directly to the cut wires on the output side of the Key. I have them wired directly - no adapters between the kicks and the Key. I have sound in both kicks.
4. Tapped into the rear speaker wires that now bypass the Key with my sub speaker wires - I have sound to my sub.
5. Dash - no sound to the dash in either bi-amp mode or non-bi-amp mode.

What am I missing? Is there some opened circuit on the unplugged metra adapters from the kick panel speakers?

Did you set the Fader dip switch? That tells the amp to send signal to all four output channels using just the amp 1 inputs. Also, you have Dash on Amp 1 and Kicks on Amp 2, correct? See post #1 for images.

 

[MannyG20]

Did you set the Fader dip switch? That tells the amp to send signal to all four output channels using just the amp 1 inputs. Also, you have Dash on Amp 1 and Kicks on Amp 2, correct? See post #1 for images.

I do have the fader set to off and the kicks on on amp 2 and the dash to amp 1.
I am stump at this point. I can’t figure out what went wrong.
I will recheck everything tomorrow and report back.

Sponsored