Old Kickers

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

I have an old kicker 40ss with 30 amps of fuse. Do you think it will out do an old rockford 40x2? Anyone familiar with the power supplies in these amps or know really anything about them? I was told the little guys can put out 300+ and can carefully be run at 1ohm (this i have seen but it was very carefully)

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[michaellane 5,000+ posts]

why would you run them at 1ohm anyways? ask kman or...crx

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

Guy on ebay is tryin to stump me lol, gotta do work for this sale

 

[bigdwiz 10+ year member]

Yeah, CRX would prob be the man to ask about the Kicker 40ss, but since watts = volts x amps, an amp with 30A fuse will max out at 360w before popping the fuse (at 12v). Since these amps usually see 13-14.4v in a car, it may be a little more output. I guess the better question overall is can you tell the difference b/t a 300w amp and a 350w amp? I doubt it...

Just for reference, I ran the rear channels of my 400x4 at 1ohm (2 ohms mono) for 6 years w/o a prob

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

Yeah, CRX would prob be the man to ask about the Kicker 40ss, but since watts = volts x amps, an amp with 30A fuse will max out at 360w before popping the fuse (at 12v). Since these amps usually see 13-14.4v in a car, it may be a little more output.

You also have to factor in efficiency, which is going to be ~60% in this case. And fuses can survive a good deal more current than they're rated for in short bursts. I believe the standard is 50% more for 3-5 seconds before a fuse will blow...depends on the exact fuse though. And even then, fuse rating can be misleading due to how certain companies decide to fuse/rate their stuff.

All in all, it's a shot in the dark unless you actually bench the amps and find out real world figures. But like you said, he probably won't be able to tell the difference in power anyways unless one is supposed to put out a good deal more power than the other.

 

[Suicide Bobb 5,000+ posts]

I ran the 500sx at 1ohm. Got hot and protected every now and then, but the protection circuitry was stout.

I wouldn't even waste a second deciding between the Rockford and the Kicker. The Kickers will dish out more power, and they will sound better.

 

[bigdwiz 10+ year member]

I wouldn't even waste a second deciding between the Rockford and the Kicker. The Kickers will dish out more power, and they will sound better.

Maybe you should include "in my opinion" in this statement?

 

[deez283 10+ year member]

I've had both and would take the kicker all day...

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

I like my Kicker XS and ZR old school amps

 

[Shinju 10+ year member]

I would not run them at 1ohm they are not ment to handle that kind of stress, 2 ohm bridged is the lowest I would go. Those 40ss amps cap out at 160rms at 14.4v bridged at 4ohm 2ohm you might get another 20-30 wats but thats it.

Both the fosgate and the Kickers of this era are good amps its all about what you want out of them, Install both and see what one performs to your standards.

I can tell you right now they do not do 300+ clean, That would be pushing them well beyond their clipping point. Beefy power supplies but not that beefy.

I played with those amps a ton before I sold them I know them quite well.