Install of the kenwood x4r/x1r

[tyroneshoes]

Finally had some time to install my amplifiers and get rid of this mess.



They were just sitting in that basin on some foam so they would stay put. No venting, wires all over.

So I deadened the basin (peel n seal works fine), traced the stock floor, and whipped up a much more solid floor with a recessed area for the amps. Want to still be able to return to stock if needed and not take up trunk space and keep the ability to lower the back seats. Made it the right hight and reinforced with 2x4s. Countersunk the stock bolts to keep it down and not vibrate.







Then I had a friggin hell of a time carpeting this basin. Next time Imma just spray bedliner on the basin part and carpet the top.

Here they are for now


No covers on amps





Covers on





Next up is making the cover to protect the amps. Either will do grillmetal, expanded steel or just cut some holes in wood and cover it in grill cloth. Havent figured that part out now. Im tired.

[spudracer326]

pics dont work

[FrankstonCarAudio]

Pics are working fine, for me

Looking good..
Amps are very neat, and floor fits well.

Mark

[spudracer326]

Originally Posted by FrankstonCarAudio

Pics are working fine, for me

Looking good..
Amps are very neat, and floor fits well.

Mark

huh maybe i need to clean my cookies or something...

[tyroneshoes]

Maybe its my host, shutterfly.

Edit: got it working, nevermind.

[spudracer326]

i see it now i just reset my internet...looks great!!

[tyroneshoes]

Originally Posted by FrankstonCarAudio

Pics are working fine, for me

Looking good..
Amps are very neat, and floor fits well.

Mark

Thanks man. I wasnt going for anything flashy. Just functional and clean with no truck space lose. The sub I could remove easily. Even tossed in bananna clips to make removal easy for hauling stuff.

[Antiwhy]

Nice work and thanks for making me want those amps.

[DS-21]

I'm thinking about replacing my 300/4 with one of those amps. How do you like them? Do you find the interface fairly intuitive?

Also, what's the crossover flexibility? I read sometimes that they're limited, and other times that they have at least as much flexibility as the Jello Slash-series amps (50-5k Hz, 12 or 24 dB/oct slopes.)

[the duce]

looks great! i really like those amps too. they look like they have pretty tidy dimensions.

duce

[tyroneshoes]

Originally Posted by DS-21

I'm thinking about replacing my 300/4 with one of those amps. How do you like them? Do you find the interface fairly intuitive?

Also, what's the crossover flexibility? I read sometimes that they're limited, and other times that they have at least as much flexibility as the Jello Slash-series amps (50-5k Hz, 12 or 24 dB/oct slopes.)

Im 100% content with the amps for my setup. The interface is easy to work. The main thing that sets the amps apart from the others (besides zapco) is the built in TA and I suppose the PEQ. But there are limitations:

No bandpass. You can use the subsonic but it only goes as high as 60 hz

This amp is perfect for a 2 way active setup but channels a&b only have a high pass, no lowpass option.

c&d and the line out have high or low and subsonic. So if you want to use two of these on a 3 way front stage bridged to 300x2 on some 8"s, the crossover on channel a&b is something that might make it tricky. Im sure you could use the line out lowpass to that input but I havent tried. I know someone on this board was tying to address this with these amps.

The crossover points are much like the active headunits and digital. Not the typical screwdriver pot knob like the jls. they do jump like the headunit active crossovers do. For my two way active, I know there's 2k, 2.5k, and 3.15k ect. crossover points for example. The adjustments are made on the amp themselves using the digital readout and clickwheel.


The peq has a selectable q and center freq but there a 5 channels of eq for a&b and 5 for c&d and another 5 for the line out. In my setup, my lotus mids are highpassed by the headunit at 80 hz an lowpassed at 2k on my x4r. I have two channels of PEQ that are being filtered out. I can use them as notch filters though. Same for the tweet. 2.5k and up leave me with 2 channels of peq I cant use. Dont need it, but it would be nice. Slopes are 12/24db selectable. Subsonic 24db.

Those are the only cons I can think of.

Personally I just use the x4r for a 2 way active and because I have an eclipse double din and wanted to go active with TA.

So it depends on your setup if its a good fit. No need for these amps if you have a headunit with lots of processing. For me, GPS and a double din was a necessity, so these worked out great after realizing I cant use passive crossovers anymore.

The manual breaks it down well.

http://inform3.kenwoodusa.com/manuals%5CKAC-X4R.pdf


I know these do the power plus and they run cool and efficiently.

[dtviewer]

The perforated metal grill I got from home depot works really well to cover amps. It was like 12 or 15 bucks for a piece that would easily cover your amps. Its silver but a quick coat of black spray paint takes care of that.

Heres a pic of it on my amp rack:
http://dtviewer.smugmug.com/gallery/...15642706_f2gXc


By the way-Great job! I love how clean that amp rack is! Simple and functional.

[tyroneshoes]

Originally Posted by dtviewer

The perforated metal grill I got from home depot works really well to cover amps. It was like 12 or 15 bucks for a piece that would easily cover your amps. Its silver but a quick coat of black spray paint takes care of that.

Heres a pic of it on my amp rack:
http://dtviewer.smugmug.com/gallery/...15642706_f2gXc


By the way-Great job! I love how clean that amp rack is! Simple and functional.

Thanks, also thanks for the reminder. I used the expanded metal at lowes in a previous setup like this.



That is exactly what I'm going to do again. Worked perfect, cheap and easy.

[DS-21]

Originally Posted by tyroneshoes

The peq has a selectable q and center freq but there a 5 channels of eq for a&b and 5 for c&d and another 5 for the line out.

Seriously, these things have PEQ on the line-out? So one could run, say, this amp and cheap Class-D box for the subwoofer, and have PEQ for the cheap Class-D sub amp? That's damn impressive. I think you may have just sold me!

[tyroneshoes]

Made a makeshift top as I had some scrapwood so I made a top just to protect the amps before I bring in the metal grill. If I do. I added some a fan to each end amp basin and if fllows out of the basin underneath. The amps also have two fans each on themselves and ran cool even with no ventilation so it was overkill but I had the stuff. The result is pretty stealth, except the box and fully functional as far as hauling.

[BlueAc]

That looks awesome!!! Very nice work...
Any plans to make a fiberglass sub enclosure?

[tyroneshoes]

Originally Posted by BlueAc

That looks awesome!!! Very nice work...
Any plans to make a fiberglass sub enclosure?

Thanks

Yeah, I plan to do a corner firing sub but I dont want to do it myself. I hate fiberglass working. I know a place that will do it for 300 hundred and have it done in a couple days but I dont know how good their work is. Anyone you might recommend in the NJ area for around that price range?

[BlueAc]

Nah... I actually had trouble finding anyone in my area that made one for a reasonable price. I found this place online that had one for my car and it fit like a glove. http://www.wickedcas.com/product.php...&cat=12&page=1. Carpet is off but I'll change that a little later!

[tyroneshoes]

Mtx makes a thunderform for my car up to 2004 but in the 2005 model, they changed the rollout curtain hook locations on the rear panels and I would have to chop them off which I dont really want to do in case I sell the truck. I made the false floor so I could just pop the stock one back in , Im trying not to damage any of the car. But Im getting to the , why not? point. Plus Im not sure if the icon will fit depth wise for the MTX thunderform. So for now, I just have the box hooked up to some banana plugs so I can just remove it when I need to easily.

[quality_sound]

It looks good but it seems like you wasted a ton of space in there.