AMPLIFIERS

1. What speaker impedance loads do I need for proper operation of my MOHAWK series multi channel (.2, .3, .4, .5) amplifiers?
MOHAWK series amps will perform perfectly at speaker impedance loads of NO LESS than 2 ohms on any individual channel or 4 ohms on any bridged pair of channels. 4 Ohm and higher impedance will provide better sound quality and your amplifiers will run cooler.

2. What speaker impedance loads do I need for proper operation of my MOHAWK series single channel (.1) amplifiers?
MOHAWK series subwoofer amps will perform perfectly at a speaker impedance load of NO LESS than 2 ohms. KX1200.1 and SX1250.1 amplifiers make maximum power at 1 ohm. Using impedance loads below Kicker recommendations will not make more power but it will eventually damage your amplifier (it will trigger the amps over-current protection) and void your warranty.

3. My friend told me that my amplifier will make more power if I use a speaker impedance lower than the manufacturer recommends. Is that true?
NO! The bottom line is that your amplifier will try to make more power, but the protection circuitry will try to prevent that from happening to protect itself. The amplifier will also draw significantly more current (in Amps) and make more heat trying to make that increased power. It may work for a short time, but will eventually fail. Running your amp below recommended impedances could be compared to buying a new Ferrari and driving it all day every day with the gas pedal to the floor while towing a ski boat. Bad idea.

4. Is the gain control on my amplifier really a volume control?
NO! The gain control matches the RCA output voltage of your source unit (radio, CD player, MP3 player, equalizer, etc.) to the input circuits of your amplifier. Your system gets louder when you turn the control clockwise because as you turn up the gain, the amplifier inputs become more sensitive and will look for more things to amplify such as alternator whine, ignition tick and hiss. Keep this control as low as possible.

5. Where do I set the gain on my KX amp?
For best results, gain adjustments should be made by an authorized Kicker dealer. Here is a major tip: If you can smell your woofer burning, turn down the gain! Burnt voice coils are caused by clipping (square wave distortion). The following can cause musical clipping and/or burnt voice coils: Excessive head unit volume, incorrect equalizer setting, improper gain matching between components or using an amplifier that is not powerful enough for the way you listen to music.

6. How do I set the gain on my SX amplifier?
Download the Quick-Start Guide for KICKER SX-Series Amplifiers. It provides step by step instructions. Note: You will need to set the "Gain Range" as well as the "Gain". "Gain Range" can be found in the "System" menu.

7. I want to strap 2 MOHAWK .1 subwoofer amps. What speaker impedance do I need?
If you are strapping two MOHAWK amps, their individual impedance load needs to be 2 Ohms. The load impedance of these amps when strapped needs to be 4 Ohms. If you are strapping a pair of MOHAWK amps, the individual amplifier impedance is 1 Ohm, so the impedance load of the strapped amplifiers needs to be 2 Ohms.

8. Why do my lights flash along with my bass? Sometimes my amp will shut off.
This usually means that the current draw (in amps) of your audio system is exceeding the ability of your cars charging system. Reinforce the ground cable from the battery ground terminal to the vehicle body. Adding batteries will not correct this problem long term. If your car can t charge one battery, it will never be able to charge two batteries. A capacitor may fix the problem for a short time, but it will probably return. The only correct solution is a higher capacity alternator.

9. I have two or more MOHAWK subwoofer amplifiers. I don' t want to use all those separate bass level controls. Is there a way to make them all work with a single Kicker control knob?
Yes. Purchase an RJ-11 modular adapter. You then plug the sub level cables from the individual amplifiers into the adapter. Then run a cable from the adapter to a single Kicker remote knob. All amps will now work with a single knob.

SPEAKERS

1. Why do my woofers keep burning up?
Excessive distortion is the cause. Too much amplifier power is actually safer than not enough. When your music "clips" or distorts, the top and bottom of the sine wave (your music) are cut off or flattened (hence the word clipped). When this happens, your woofers cone stops moving smoothly in and out. As the speaker tries to reproduce the flattened peaks of the sine wave, it is held by extremely high electromagnetic force. High levels of heat are generated. If the clipping is excessive, or continues for a long time, burnout will occur. This problem is corrected by turning down the head unit volume and/or reducing amplifier gain.

2. Can I wire a four Ohm woofer and a two Ohm woofer together on the same amplifier?
No. You can wire them together, but the two ohm woofer will be louder. Your audio system will be unbalanced.

3. I can’t decide if I want a sealed or a ported enclosure. Which is better?
They both have their pros and cons.

4. I have a 2 channel MOHAWK amplifier. Can I bridge a woofer and run a component set in stereo on this amp?
Yes. You will need to use a passive low-pass crossover (coil) for the woofer and a pair of 12dB/octave high-pass crossovers (one for the left and one for the right channel) for the component set. The low and high-pass crossovers are used to make sure the low frequencies go to the woofer and the high frequencies go to the component set. If you don’t use the additional crossovers, anytime the woofers and components are playing the same frequencies, the combined impedance load will be lower than MOHAWK recommends and your amp may shut down.

5. Can I use a custom ported SPL enclosure for playing music?
Probably not. You need to know more about the enclosure before attempting this. If the SPL enclosure is tuned above 50Hz, it should not be used for music. Music can go significantly lower than 40Hz. If you play music below the port tuning of the enclosure, the woofer can (and probably will) be damaged. Below the port tuning frequency, the woofer becomes "unloaded" resulting in loss of control and physical damage.

6. Can I use more than two woofers in the same enclosure?
Using more than two woofers in the same enclosure is not recommended. If a problem develops with one or possibly more woofers, the remaining woofers will be negatively effected. Our new "loaded" enclosures for 2005 feature two woofers in specialized enclosures.

7. My car has less available space than the minimum enclosure volume recommended in my woofers owners manual. If I build a box that is too small, will that be OK?
Probably not. Putting a woofer in a box that is too small can result in less than optimum performance. All Kicker recommended enclosures are designed to provide our customers with the best possible performance from our woofers.

8. How do I figure out how much space I have for woofers?
All you need is a calculator and the following formula:
Length (in inches) X Width (in inches) X Depth (in inches) divided by 1728 = volume in cubic feet.

9. I’m installing a sub enclosure in my car. Which way should I aim my woofers?
Experiment! There is no absolutely right answer. Try aiming the enclosure in different directions while sitting in the drivers seat. Listen to how the sound of the bass changes. Try and mount the enclosure in the location where the bass sounds the best to you.
Two general suggestions that work quite well include placing the enclosure behind the seat facing rearward and all the way back in the trunk facing forward.

10. I built a sub enclosure with two dual voice coil woofers. The bass isn’t very loud. What could it be?
Check to make sure your woofers are wired correctly. Wiring four voice coils can be confusing. If you accidentally wired the woofers out of polarity with each other (one is wired backwards) they will cancel each other out resulting in a huge decrease in volume. Also, if one of the two voice coils on each woofer is wired backwards, the woofers will just sit there and get hot.

CROSSOVER

1. What is a crossover?
A crossover separates the high frequencies and the low frequencies to allow optimum and efficient operation of the speakers in your audio system.

2. What is a "slope"?
The slope of a crossover is the amount of reduction in output that takes place above or below the chosen frequency. Slope is measured in decibels per octave (dB/Oct.). The steeper the crossover slope, the greater the reduction.

3. What is a high-pass crossover?
A high-pass crossover does exactly what it says. It allows high frequencies to pass to the amplifier and speakers. It gradually reduces the output below the chosen frequency by a certain amount based on the crossovers "slope". Set the switch on your KX amplifier to “HI” if you’re installing coaxial or component speakers.

4. What is a low-pass crossover?
A low-pass crossover does exactly what it says. It allows low frequencies to pass to the amplifier and speakers. It gradually reduces the output below the chosen frequency by a certain amount based on the crossovers "slope". Set the switch on your KX amplifier to "LO" if you’re installing woofers.

5. What is a "Sub Sonic" filter?
The sub sonic filter on your KX amplifier is designed to clean up your subwoofer system. It will reduce or eliminate low frequency "trash" present in some musical program material that you can’t hear but your amplifier wastes power trying to amplify. Using the sub sonic filter will increase subwoofer amplifier power and efficiency.

6. What's the difference between an "active" crossover and a "passive" crossover?
An active (or electronic) crossover works in the RCA or signal level of an audio system. Active crossovers are built into all newer Kicker amplifiers. They are more efficient than passive crossovers and in most cases they can be adjusted. A "passive" crossover is located between the speaker outputs of your amplifier and the speakers connected to them. They are called passive because they don’t use 12 volt DC to operate. Dedicated passive crossovers are supplied with all Kicker component sets. They provide optimum frequency separation between their tweeter and midrange speakers.

7. I'm installing some woofers. Where should I set the crossover on my KX amplifier?
Move the crossover switch on the end of the amplifier to the "LO" position. Set the "X-Over Freq." control on the top of the amp to the 12:00 position (half-way up). This is a good place to start. The crossover frequency will now be somewhere between 80 and 100Hz. Play some of your favorite music at a good volume. Listen to the lower frequencies. You can now raise or lower the crossover point to minimize or eliminate voices or higher frequency sounds that have a tendency to make you think there’s someone singing in your trunk.