The new Kicker Key 200 4 vs the old Key 180 4 

1) Get your sub RCA signal BEFORE the key amplifier. If you installed it after the KEY amplifier, it would have time correction and EQ for your speakers stacked on top of it, as well as being 50W of power. 2) You always want the strongest signal upstream, and less gain downstream to maintain the highest signal-to-noise. So turn the gains on the RCA harness to 3/4, then slowly increase gain in the powered subwoofer until it starts to distort. The gain on the powered sub shouldn't need to be turned up much. Ideally, you'd use a multimeter and some math or an oscilloscope here. However that's usually not possible on a powered subwoofer as you don't have access to the amplifier's outputs. 3) Make sure the powered subwoofer is unplugged while running the setup for the KEY amplifier. Any speaker not connected to the KEY needs to remain quiet. So pull the harness from the powered sub or pull the fuse.

@@firebirdude2 I wanted to thank you for the excellent information. I’ll be installing next weekend and I feel better prepared to possibly get it right the first time. I wished the ability to get information like today with Google, RU-vid or DIY website’s had been around when I was a younger man. Thank you again!

@@pabloheaf1708 No problem! I've put.... A LOT of them in. So hit me up if you need anything.

@@firebirdude2 can I ask you a question Mr Firebird? Lol. I have a newer Honda Accord Hybrid EX-L with the supposedly 10 speaker, 480 watt crap of power. I had Best Buy install the kicker key 200.4 and upgraded my front and rear speakers to those nice Morel ones. I also upgraded the deck subwoofer to a nicer kicker sub. I am not satisfied at all with the sound. I don't have much bass. I don't have much dynamic range. Does not feel the Kicker Key power is being optimized. No 50 watts per channel rms at all. Will go back to a different Best Buy location next week for another guy to hopefully figure things out and hopefully tune things better. Would I need to add a line output converter like an LC71 to feel the music come alive? Would I need to replace my deck subwoofer with maybe one of those compact powered subs like the Pioneer TS-WX130DA Compact Active Subwoofer? Appreciate all the input!

Would I need to replace my rear deck subwoofer to a compact powered one like the Pioneer ts-xw130da? Thank you for all the inputs!

You don't need passthroughs... its intended to be ran off of highlevels... You'd just grab run the same high level signal to the Key 500.1 or whatever other amp. Heck even this Kicker CX1800.1 I just installed for someone had high level compatibility. I was like really... Anyways if kicker added an extra DAC and used the DSP to control a "passthrough" they'd be turning this thing into a baby DSR1 for the same price as a DSR1. They want you to buy the 500.1 which can rebuild the audio signal and turn it into something useful. Adding an output to the Key 200.4 would either set you up for failure if it didn't do that for you OR it would set kicker up for failure if it did to it for you plus it would increase the retail cost by at least $10-20 for adding more DACs and possibly a more powerful processor.

Did you ever figure this out?

Having sub amp installed in February. Kicker key in the spring. I will update then.

I wouldn’t… you lose your fade ability… it’ll all be 1 control, I’d use the high-level in or get a KEYLOC instead

Had everything installed as planned and it sounds amazing. I do plan on switching over to a 12 inch kicker comp R in two ohms so I can pull more power from the amp. Only pulling about 300W for the 10 inch right now because of the sub ohms. Definitely brought the sound stage up higher, to the dash. That was the most noticeable improvement.

@@steelydan8421 ooohhhhh so you used the LC2i on your fronts, then RCA out to the 200.4? I get it now

Maybe you can tweak the EQ on the stock radio a bit? Also, during the setup tuning process, play with angling the mic upward or straight forward. One of the Kicker trainers also told me I could put a towel over the mic too. Just some small things to change how the mic responds and calculates the EQ changes. I usually don't have to jump through any hoops to get great results, but if you're having issues it might be worth trying out. Also ensure your vehicle isn't running and the AC is turned off when you run setup.

@@firebirdude2 I actually don't have many options unfortunately with the stock radio. Just basic treble,bass,fade, etc. I tried setting up the mic in different areas on the headrest and it still gives me the same issue. I havent tried putting anything over the mic but I did try putting a thin fabric over the tweeters at one point but it just made it sound even more lifeless. It's like I'm wanting to turn the treble up to hear more clarity and details but all I really get is high frequency from the tweeters that is not pleasant to listen to. Anytime I do the set up i always make sure to have everything off, including the subwoofer. It's just every time I play a song that has a lot of instrumentals, they drown out the singer and it gets to a point where I cant even hear the person at all anymore. It reminds me of when you have the "surround sound" button on a pair of speakers and it makes the background come out more artificially. I was kibd of wondering if it was the tweeter placement that could be messing things up since they're reflecting off of the windshield cause I'm my old vehicle they were on the A pillars. The people who installed the amp told me that I shouldnt move them though cause they're where they should be for my vehicle. I don't know but it's just really a boring music experience compared to what i used to have. No excitement to the music really. If I could describe it, I would say my old system had more of a punchy/splashy sound where it felt like you were at a concert getting hit in the face with the music and now it's just lifeless. Drums, guitars, overall key changes and the tone of the song is just bland. The amp eq on this doesn't seem to really do a lot. I'm kind of screwed because I have to stick with my stock unit and its hard to find an amp/dsp hook up for that which is why I got this amp.

The Alpine would be the way to go since properly setting up the 4400Nex would include utilizing its internal DSP with the pioneer setup mic. Not sure if the mic is included with the 4400nex but if not they are $20 I think but I'd probably go with that. If you ran a factory head unit id say kicker all the way.

After setting them flat for the setup of course

@@mbrine11 Up to you. Flat for the setup, then you can adjust them to your liking after the tune. Keep in mind, boosting any EQ on any system increases signal to the amp, which means increased distortion out if the gain is not adjusted accordingly. (ie. Setting everything properly, then boosting bass to +10 means you're gonna have a bad time)

Yes

Typing "kicker keyloc" into google would have answered that very quickly.

How the build?

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZwWggIfQHqM.html

You can cut the wires on the aftermarket harness. So cut the wires between the plug on the radio and the plug that plugs into the stock harness. Do NOT modify the factory harness. Once you have disconnected the speaker wires from the radio then yes certainly you can feed the amp outputs into the wires on the aftermarket harness adapter. The only thing is that IF you replace the front car speakers with components then the answer could possibly change depending on a few things.

@@MrGivmedew thanks for the reply. So the speaker wires themselves will be capped off from the head units wires. The speaker wires will be ran out of the Kicker to the other end of the adapter harness that goes to the car? That’s how I’m seeing it right now.

Depends on the factory amp. Many times, yes. But keep in mind that A) this is only 4 channels B) some factory head units communicate with the factory amp through digital means. So volume control is done within the factory amp. In short, it's different on every car and it's case by case.

A sweep is a sweep is a sweep. There's nothing special about the sweep track for the KEY amps. You can either set gain as you would on any other amp (sine wave and scope or meter or ear), or you can use the sweep track for the 500.1 if you'd like.

​@@firebirdude2 the sweep on kickers site is 20Hz~200Hz which isn't very useful for setting/testing mids and high

@@santiagoescala7737 You can download one from wherever. Just saying the KEY200.4 doesn't require a special test track for setting gain, like it does for other purposes. Using a tone to set gain isn't even discussed in the manual for the 200.4, just the 500.1.

@@firebirdude2 I found Rockford's test tones on spotify, i want to set gains with a 1kHz test tone and then the sweep, just to see if there's any difference in case the kicker EQ has a dip at 1kHz (doubt it but wanna make sure)

No, I didn’t, bother using the passive x overs, however I did use some in line caps that came with my jl audio c2 tweeters just as a backup in case the amp ever failed and sent full range to the tweeters. I have the key 180 running active front in a my b7 Audi rs4 with 2 8” subs in the boot. I run from a kenwood 5180 head unit. It just sounds like a hifi, I’m a drummer and spend a lot of time listening to music, this makes the hairs stand up on my neck. I put some jl c1 in the rear doors which run off the head unit but they are set very quiet so not to ruin the soundstage up front. It goes plenty loud enough (especially considering it’s size!) it’s a bargain)

@@dwdrum11 that's very helpful. In my own car I have morel components with DLS amps and I'm very happy with the sound but my wife's car is awful and I've avoided it for too long. These look easy to install and very compact. Does your B7 have the 6 rivet front speakers from the factory or the 4 rivet? I hear the 6 rivet type in our car can easily be replaced with 8" components like the Focal ISU200. That would be helpful as the extra bass from a 8" will make up for the lack of sub...at least a little.

The official manual explicitly says not to use a passive crossover when bi amping, but the five star guys appear to fit and wire in the passive crossovers? I thought they were using them in bi amp mode?

@@UpsideDownFork hi mine had the standard bose system, so 6.5” speakers, held in with 3 large screws. I fabricated MDF spacers. I can’t see an easy way to squeeze an 8” in. However if you spend the same time I did sealing the door with dynamat then it’s impressive the midbass those actually speakers produce.

@@UpsideDownFork no they’re not using it bi amp to run active front. It’s running all 4 speakers front and rear hence having the fader on and using passive x overs

The 4ch Key was never designed to run subs. Sadly Kicker fumbled the ball by not giving the 200.4 a sub out to drive the 500.1. Hopefully they'll fix that in the next variation.

@@thenotoriousrvh6091 An output to the 500.1 how? Just a signal pass-through? Pretty dang minor...

@@firebirdude2 It's be nice to see the out put DSP controlled auto eq of the sub etc.

@@thenotoriousrvh6091 The 500.1 does that. It has DSP built in as well. There's no need to have it literally connect to the 200.4.

@@firebirdude2 it processes the input signal NOT the output. I was referring to it auto eq'ing and adding the sub into the time delay equation.

Just get speakers that are at least 90 db sensitivity if you plan to use only deck power

Yes... a parametric is about you and your preferences as much as it is about fixing the output of speakers. You'd set the EQ flat run the DSP then you'd adjust the EQ to your liking to make the sound the way you want. During blind tests Mirage found out a long time ago the hard way... people don't like flat perfectly responding speakers. So its really your preference. The factory EQ will work if it's any good. (Sometimes they are horrible) make sure to run the DSP with the EQ flat.