Installed kicker key, now the bass is gone

[Mav916]

Been working on this all day, figured I'd look for some help here.

Base '23 hybrid system

Focal RSE 165 door speakers

Stock tweeters

Kicker key200.4 installed with hoel wiring harness directly to head unit

After the install of the amp (was working great with ONLY door speakers installation), I get audio just fine but my low end is completely gone. No amount of auto-dsp or tuning the EQ or dip switch combinations are working. Sound from the stock head unit without the amp provides some solid sound with great low end coming from my door speakers. Once the amp is plugged in, my volume, mids, and highs are all improved but the low end is non existent. Any ideas?

I was thinking of unplugging my rear speakers since it's a 4 channel amp and the head unit is sending a signal to 6 speakers but I'd rather not go that route.

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[Mav916]

Does the hoel harness not support bi-amp mode out of the box? Will I have to cut the harness to directly attach the tweeters due to Ford running the tweeters and woofer together?

 

[squirlz]

I would run the tweeters off on their own channels, door speakers on their own channels and keep the rears powered by the factory amp. Only send the front input to the amplifier.

Check polarity first. If the 6.5's are out of phase, you will loose all of the low end.
You can check this by setting the fade to the front, then balance to one side. If you are getting more bass, then they are out of phase.

I would also suggest disabling the EQ in Forscan, then retune. There is a high pass filter around 125 Hz.

 

[Maverick123]

Maybe same issue as this?
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/kicker-key200-4-dsp-setup-and-tuning-to-keep-bass.101132/

 

[Mav916]

I would run the tweeters off on their own channels, door speakers on their own channels and keep the rears powered by the factory amp. Only send the front input to the amplifier.

Check polarity first. If the 6.5's are out of phase, you will loose all of the low end.
You can check this by setting the fade to the front, then balance to one side. If you are getting more bass, then they are out of phase.

I would also suggest disabling the EQ in Forscan, then retune. There is a high pass filter around 125 Hz.

I'll try the polarity troubleshooting. As for forscan, I don't have a windows laptop so that will be a last resort to go buy a cheap one.

With a pre-wired hoel harness pulling from the head unit, how do I leave the rears factory amped? Would I need to splice into the harness to put the tweeters as a separate front intput and then run the amp in bi-amp?

 

[Mav916]

Maybe same issue as this?
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/kicker-key200-4-dsp-setup-and-tuning-to-keep-bass.101132/

I don't have a sub so I can't give that a shot. And I've tried the "far left" bass before dsp. Even without the sub, my head unit was providing some great bass to my door speakers. Could polarity be the problem if it sounds good without the amp?

 

[Tech Tye]

You def have a polarity issue. I used to do live concert productions for years. That was a dead giveaway when you loose sound when adding speakers. Here is a link for a iPhone to check phase. We had a box that would tell if it was in or out of phase. This app looks like the modern day version.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/krk-audio-tools/id1453700300

 

[Mav916]

You def have a polarity issue. I used to do live concert productions for years. That was a dead giveaway when you loose sound when adding speakers. Here is a link for a iPhone to check phase. We had a box that would tell if it was in or out of phase. This app looks like the modern day version.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/krk-audio-tools/id1453700300

I tried the above polarity troubleshooting (fading all the way to either side) and nothing happened.

I did wire my focal rse 165s myself (before the amp install, and they sounded great with plenty of bass). That leads me to believe it isn't the polarity as the amp is the only new variable that stripped away the low end. It wouldn't be the worst thing to swap the polarity but they were working just fine with hard hitting bass before the amplifier was installed to the head unit. Since the amp is a hoel plug and play harness install directly to the head unit wouldn't the polarity affect my output with or without the amp installed? I'll give it a shot if no other solution works, but sounds like a pain.

 

[Tech Tye]

I would say the amp got miswired from the factory. If it works better without the amp , I’m betting the polarity is ethe issue. It really affects the bass. Try the app on the polarity setting. Should be clicking coming from the speakers . I guess you can run it thru Bluetooth and hold your phone up to each 6.5 and test with the amp and without it

 

[Mav916]

I tried the above polarity troubleshooting (fading all the way to either side) and nothing happened.

I did wire my focal rse 165s myself. It wouldn't be the worst thing to swap the polarity but they were working just fine with hard hitting bass before the amplifier was installed to the head unit. Since the amp is a hoel plug and play harness install directly to the head unit wouldn't the polarity affect my output with or without the amp installed? I'll give it a shot if no other solution works, but sounds like a pain

I would say the amp got miswired from the factory. If it works better without the amp , I’m betting the polarity is ethe issue. It really affects the bass. Try the app on the polarity setting. Should be clicking coming from the speakers . I guess you can run it thru Bluetooth and hold your phone up to each 6.5 and test with the amp and without it

If the amp was miswired, should I return it or will swapping my speaker polarity have the same end result? I'll give the app a shot right now. I have no idea what I'm looking for on the app, can you give me a run down?

 

[Mav916]

So after testing the polarity, one speaker shows a red minus sign while the other shows a green plus. Fading to the red speaker yields the same results as fading to the green speaker. Neither have any low end. This is fixed by unplugging the amp (didn't test the polarity with the amp unplugged, but I can clearly hear solid bass and clear sound coming from both door speakers. Is this a faulty amp, harness, or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Tech Tye]

Up in the upper left corner of the app you will see a menu drop down. Select polarity and you should hear a clicking sound. Make sure your phone is running wireless car play or Bluetooth so this clicking sound is coming from your speakers. Hold your phone up to each speaker and you will see a PLUS or MINUS symbol . That is your polarity

 

[Tech Tye]

That is a faulty harness . Make sure the amp doesn’t have any switches labeled 180. That is a phase switch that needs to be off

 

[Tech Tye]

That is a faulty harness . Make sure the amp doesn’t have any switches labeled 180. That is a phase switch that needs to be off

 

[Tech Tye]

You could just swap the leads on the door speaker that has the RED Minus . Only thing is that if the amp is feeding other components , then they are out of phase

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