Kicker KiSL Speaker Wire to RCA Converter

Product Details
Manufacturer: Kicker
Distributor: CELSUS
Website: link
Typical Selling price: £9.99
This is simply a doodad to save you from having to learn how to ‘˜sodder’ as the Americans say. We say, ‘˜solder’ and pronounce ‘˜herbs’ with the ‘˜h’ hearable, too. It’s American-irregular and yet has nothing on Towcester, Cholomondely or Belvoir. (Pronounced ‘˜Toaster’, ‘˜Chumly’ and ‘˜Beaver’ go figure..)
A pair of RCA plugs. a pair of RCA female-to-female socket barrel connectors (which I have and always shall, call ‘˜lesbians’) and some 16Ga. speaker wire in a pretty display box is what you get for your tenner. The plugs are moulded as are the female-to-females, with the Kicker logo upon them and that 16Ga. speaker cable is kept from delaminating all the way to the plug by another moulded item near the prepared ends of the speaker wires.
You just join the car’s system’s speaker wires to the KISL thing and then plug it into the amp, extending the RCAs with a ‘˜real’ RCA cable if need be. However, I would try to use the fat 16Ga. wire direct to the amp input if you can. And extending a speaker wire to terminate in the KISL is better than fitting the KISL near the OEM loom and extending with the lesbians-and-RAC-cord. For even high quality ‘˜proper’ signal RCAs have scant metal in their centre conductor anyway and we know that chunky is better for any cables in our world that involve a few watts or amperes.

One little thing that Kicker and JL Audio alike did, was to utilise this wider-range capability of an amplifier’s RCA input sockets, to be able to accept higher voltage signals to said amplifier’s input stage. This more rugged input section has the circuitry to cope with the greater voltage. DO NOT try this with the wrong amp. As ‘˜normal’ signal level is just 500mV or half a Volt. Put twenty watts of OEM up that and the only audible sound will be a small quiet one that goes, ‘phutt!’
On the Kicker range, this means all amplifiers that show the F.I.T or Failsafe Integration Technology logo. On JL Audio amps, that means RD amplifiers upwards, so RD, XD and HD ranges can be used with the KISL. I gather JL Audio also make one of these adaptors as well..
The main point is that you cannot buy the plugs alone for a tenner, unless they are rubbish-grade. You cannot buy a brace of female-to-female RCA adaptors of any quality for a tenner, let alone a branded set, with a sweet little ‘˜woggle’ like a scarf-ring to stop the pretty wire splitting.
A simple and worthy accessory, no ‘˜ratings’ needed, apart from build quality and VFM, both of which are very high scoring. A tenner well spent.