Kicker Amps & Wetsounds Pro 80s

[Matt Garcia]

Hey guys I wanted to get the stereo gurus input on this. I have the factory Kicker stereo setup which includes:

6 Kicker interior speaks
2 Kicker tower speakers
1 Kicker 700.5 Amp
1 Kicker 350.5 amp
10 Kicker Sub

I wanted to replace the two tower speakers with some Pro 80s. However my question is will my current amps work or will I need to add another ? Without looking, I think the 700 is powering the sub and tower speakers while the 350 is powering the interior speakers.

Thanks.

[chpthril]

The typical factory set up should be: Sub and 2-3 pairs of mids power by the zx700.5 and the 1-2 pairs of tower speakers powered off the zx350.4

The zx350.4 will produce about 175W's RMS @ 4ohm when bridged. That is enough to power a single pair of Pro80's, but they can certainly take more!

[philwsailz]

The ZX550.2 will be the perfect hookup for a pair of Pro 80's if you wanted to swap amps, otherwise the ZX350.44 will do pretty good.

We do not talk about it tons, as we like being conservative, but each amplifier delivered comes with a "birth certificate" and on there you will find the actual measured output power of your particular amp. It is almost always higher than rated.

You might look through your documents to see if you can find the owners manuals for the stereo equipment. You might find the birth certificate in there, and it might very well tell you that the amp is making 400 watts or close to it.

Let us know!

[Matt Garcia]

Thanks guys. I still have the owners manual and will take a look.

One other question. Would it be just as simple as removing my two tower speakers and hooking up my Pro 80s? Or should I mess with the settings on the amps? I have to be honest I don't know crap about audio. I may get one of my buddies to help me out.

[philwsailz]

Thanks guys. I still have the owners manual and will take a look.

One other question. Would it be just as simple as removing my two tower speakers and hooking up my Pro 80s? Or should I mess with the settings on the amps? I have to be honest I don't know crap about audio. I may get one of my buddies to help me out.

It might be as simple as removing the old Skylon / Kicker cans and reinstalling the Pro 80's but we should take the opportunity to check to see it was wired and dialed in right at the factory.

We had some issues on occasion, more with the Tower of Power X installs, but it is worth a look. Post up here, and we can talk it through.

In a nutshell:

When bridging the ZX350.4, if you want stereo, you need to use y-adaptors on the RCA inputs. Take the left RCA into the Y and then connect both outputs of the Y into AMP1. Take the right RCA, go into the y and then use the Y outputs into AMP2. THIS IS THE PART THAT IS PROBABLY NOT DONE RIGHT
The speakers will be wired left to AMP1 and right to AMP2, bridged as shown on the endcap of the amp.


Turn the crossovers to HI-PASS, and set them to 70 Hz or so. YOu want to remove low bas, but not turn it up so high that the Pro 80's start to sound thin. Make sure bass - boost is totally off.

The gain setting is going to be more detailed, so let me leave that out.

The y-adaptor thing is important if you want stereo. Most people can never see and understand that the amp wil operate in mono mode, if you connect the RCA cables to the amp as shown on the amp... Wire it THIS way and you will have stereo.

[Matt Garcia]

Thanks for the detailed reply philwsailz. I'll let you know how it goes once I get them.