Kicker Audio Powerstage amp and sub kit.......worth it?

jrkane77 · August 13, 2019

Hey all,

Just bought my first Silverado. 2015 double cab with a non-bose factory radio. It sounds okay, but there is a serious lack of treble and midrange, and the bass is actually good for the being paper coned speakers, but I am a musician, and an audiophile, and like music to sound good. I don't want to have an over-the-top system that you can hear across town, but just a little more clarity and thump. I have a family now, and I will only really crank it up when they aren't with me.

I came across one of these kicker powerstage kits brand new on ebay and I got the seller to go down to $640 for the best offer. Since these are over $1200 new, that is a pretty good deal, but still a lot of money. Is that price really worth what you are getting?

kenny_r · August 13, 2019

I have it in my truck and I think it rocks pretty good [emoji2375].

Nasty · August 13, 2019

This all depends on how good of sound you want. For me it wouldn't satisfy me. You may be ok with it

truckguy82 · August 13, 2019

9 hours ago, jrkane77 said:

Hey all,

Just bought my first Silverado. 2015 double cab with a non-bose factory radio. It sounds okay, but there is a serious lack of treble and midrange, and the bass is actually good for the being paper coned speakers, but I am a musician, and an audiophile, and like music to sound good. I don't want to have an over-the-top system that you can hear across town, but just a little more clarity and thump. I have a family now, and I will only really crank it up when they aren't with me.

I came across one of these kicker powerstage kits brand new on ebay and I got the seller to go down to $640 for the best offer. Since these are over $1200 new, that is a pretty good deal, but still a lot of money. Is that price really worth what you are getting?

You are not paying for sq with that kit, you are paying for the custom enclosure and it being easy to install.

If I didn’t want to spend a lot and I want SQ, I’m buying a couple used amps, 4 speakers, a sub, and a diy enclosure.

jrkane77 · August 13, 2019

Well, I ended up ordering it. I guess I will just hook it up without bolting down the sub completely and not run the wires under the kick panels just yet, and see what kind of sound I get. I have seen some youtube reviews from guys that have F-150's that put them in and they say it's phenomenal what Kickers amp/DSP module does to re-amp the stock speakers and cross over all the frequencies and spread the sound a lot more. I'm in my 40's, so I'm not expecting the mirrors to shake on all the cars around me, but at least more clarity and good bit of thump for rock/country music with the 10"sub. I don't listen to Hip Hop or any of this new Dubstep stuff. Mainly the good 80's-2000's rock/metal like Metallica, Pantera, AC/DC, Korn, Limp Bizkit, KSE, Audioslave, Rage, etc. Ocassionally I'll throw on some old Cypress Hill or Dre, etc. Mostly just Rock and Metal though. Since I only payed half of what it would have cost from crutchfield or the stealership, I hope to not be too disappointed. The big thing for me is simplicity.

Nasty · August 13, 2019

1 hour ago, jrkane77 said:

Well, I ended up ordering it. I guess I will just hook it up without bolting down the sub completely and not run the wires under the kick panels just yet, and see what kind of sound I get. I have seen some youtube reviews from guys that have F-150's that put them in and they say it's phenomenal what Kickers amp/DSP module does to re-amp the stock speakers and cross over all the frequencies and spread the sound a lot more. I'm in my 40's, so I'm not expecting the mirrors to shake on all the cars around me, but at least more clarity and good bit of thump for rock/country music with the 10"sub. I don't listen to Hip Hop or any of this new Dubstep stuff. Mainly the good 80's-2000's rock/metal like Metallica, Pantera, AC/DC, Korn, Limp Bizkit, KSE, Audioslave, Rage, etc. Ocassionally I'll throw on some old Cypress Hill or Dre, etc. Mostly just Rock and Metal though. Since I only payed half of what it would have cost from crutchfield or the stealership, I hope to not be too disappointed. The big thing for me is simplicity.

Common misconception everyone has. "I dont listen to rap. I listen to rock and just need that nice bass drum kick" a good sub should be able to play everything not just 1 type of music. A subwoofer doesn't know what its playing

Tbek66 · August 16, 2019

On Tuesday, August 13, 2019 at 8:41 AM, jrkane77 said:

Well, I ended up ordering it. I guess I will just hook it up without bolting down the sub completely and not run the wires under the kick panels just yet, and see what kind of sound I get. I have seen some youtube reviews from guys that have F-150's that put them in and they say it's phenomenal what Kickers amp/DSP module does to re-amp the stock speakers and cross over all the frequencies and spread the sound a lot more. I'm in my 40's, so I'm not expecting the mirrors to shake on all the cars around me, but at least more clarity and good bit of thump for rock/country music with the 10"sub. I don't listen to Hip Hop or any of this new Dubstep stuff. Mainly the good 80's-2000's rock/metal like Metallica, Pantera, AC/DC, Korn, Limp Bizkit, KSE, Audioslave, Rage, etc. Ocassionally I'll throw on some old Cypress Hill or Dre, etc. Mostly just Rock and Metal though. Since I only payed half of what it would have cost from crutchfield or the stealership, I hope to not be too disappointed. The big thing for me is simplicity.

From this post, I would say you will be very satisfied.

I have the same system in a 2018 dbl cab LT.

Very happy with the sound stage it sets up on an otherwise stock system. it sounds great.

Jaychevy81 · August 16, 2019

Had the full kicker setup in my 15 I have the kicker sub in my 18 now with Bose. You won’t be disappointed it does the job with a nice clean factory install. It hits good on my 15 I upgraded the Interior speakers and it was even better. You won’t win any competitions but it’s def worth it to me.

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jrkane77 · August 18, 2019

Got the system installed, and glad I only paid $640 instead of the $1200 on crutchfield! Not very impressed. It does add obviously a good amount of bass, and clears up some of the highs and mids but by no means is it mind blowing in any way. The amp is supposed to supply better, more consistant power to the speakers, and it definitely woke up the corner dash speakers, but the rears are still almost non-existent, and even if you fade all the way to the back, they are still just a muddy mess. I think the sub would probably sound awesome with a bose system. But for the money, you are paying for the simplicity of Kicker taking the guess work out of where to mount the amp, sub, and utilizing the factory connections and still retaining steering wheel controls, etc. However, the amount of clarity it adds is marginal at best. Also, there seems to be no ability to add a bass control knob to the amp. Some people said if you take the amp off the sub, there is a hidden port somewhere to add the sub control, and also a series of dipswitches that control different amp settings. I unscrewed the amp from the sub enclosure, and suprise!.........no port or switches anywhere to be found. Now I don't know what to do. I like the sub, but no control other than the eq on the display, and the speakers only cleaned up a little bit. I think I would be pretty happy with it if the amp/dsp actually made a big difference, but for what they want for this system, they should give you speakers to replace the crappy stock ones as well. Not sure if I'm gonna just pull this system out and look for something different, or live with it and maybe find some decent speakers to replace the stock ones. But then, by that time you're almost close to building a custom set up. SMH!

mikedeezxxx · August 19, 2019

Stay away from Kicker packages. You need a good, standalone, DSP that will correct the crappy quality sound coming from the headunit. Otherwise, your just taking a crappy signal and amplifying it.

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Nasty · August 19, 2019

17 minutes ago, mikedeezxxx said:

Stay away from Kicker packages. You need a good, standalone, DSP that will correct the crappy quality sound coming from the headunit. Otherwise, your just taking a crappy signal and amplifying it.

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You also need some sort of module to tame the chime volume when amplifying the signal