Kicker has begun shipping its new audiophile car audio line including some of the square L7 subwoofers and advanced amplifiers shown first at CES in January.
The new audiophile line, three years in the making, is not available on the Internet, said Kicker.
Called the Q-Class series, it includes the square L7 subwoofer models available in 8, 10 and 12 inch sizes. Also available now are four Bluetooth-ready amplifiers that can stream music from a phone or tablet (when used with an optional Bluetooth module to be available from Kicker). The amplifiers also have built-in digital signal processing and OEM integration with channel summing and mixing. So if a user wants to keep a factory radio and add speakers, the amplifiers allow a simple way to add power and manage time alignment, compression and eq. The DSP set up takes 2 minutes and can be performed via a phone or tablet, said Kicker.
The Bluetooth module for the amp/processors will ship in the second quarter. It is about half the size of an iPhone (it works with Android and iPhone devices) and it runs Bluetooth 3.0 EDR. The module, called the IQ Interface, comes with a mic and buttons for handsfree calling and for controlling music.
Specifically, the Kicker L7 models now shipping are the L7 8-inch 2- and 4-Ohm, the L7 10-inch 2- and 4-Ohm, and the L7 12-inch 2- and 4 Ohm. The IQ-Series Amplifier models available are the IQ1000.5 5-channel, the IQ500.4 4-channel, the IQ500.2 stereo, and the IQ500.1 mono.Other L7 loaded enclosures will also ship in the second quarter.
Also shipping are Q-Class component speakers.
At CES, Kicker announced amplifier pricing as:
IQ1000.1 (1000w 2 Ohm mono) – SRP $1199.95
IQ500.1 (500w 2 Ohm mono) – SRP $699.95
IQ1000.5 (250wX4 stereo; 500wX1 mono) – SRP $1199.95
IQ500.4 4-ch (125wX4 2 Ohm stereo) – SRP $699.95
IQ500.2 (250wX2 2 Ohm stereo) – SRP $699.95
IQ Interface – MSRP $599.95
