Tiny New Amplifier From Kenwood & 6×9 Mountable Comps With Bigger Cone/Dome Area

30th January 2013 Adam Rayner

There are some lovely new ‘˜cleverness’ products coming out of Japan and in particular from Kenwood. They have a sexy set of component loudspeakers called XR-1800P that have more surface area than regular ones in that size and come complete with a fitting plate to have them mounted in a six-by-nine hole if you have crappy ones in such a mounting space and wanted better quality. Also, there is a skinny four channel amplifier called XR400-4 that outskinnies the lot, yet has righteous amounts of muscle.
Only wee but with a mad amount of power for its size, Kenwood’s new XR400-4 amplifier is a bit of a brute. Product manager Mike Edwards of Kenwood Electronics said, ‘This is our brand new 4 channel micro amp. Although small, it is really powerful and sounds fantastic. The figures attached are real RMS (they are the CEA Compliant 2006 rating, which is THE righteous one! Ed) and it can be bridged into a two channel or two plus sub etc. Some very clever design work has gone into this miniaturisation. Especially regarding the heat dissipation issue. Connections are neat and can take serious size wire due to the new construction. Multi filters are also included. Also, we are introducing a high end speaker package which uses an oversize woofer cone to get real bass from front doors. And it comes with a 6×9 adaptor for cars that are fitted with poor 6×9 speakers. Release date is around the first of March but you can run it now.’ So we will!
This is the new Kenwood XR400-4 shallow-chassis amplifier:

And here are the remarkable specifications of this 35mm-deep teeny weeny amp:
Rated Power Output (14.4V)
75Wx4 (14.4V/4 Ohms)
100Wx4 (14.4V/2 Ohms)
200Wx2 (14.4V/Bridged 4 Ohms)
General Features
Class D Amplifier Circuit
2 Ohms Load Capability
Extruded Aluminum Heat Sink Design
Power MOS-FET Switching Power Supply
Built-in Variable Low-pass Filter 50-200Hz (-12dB/oct)
Built-in Variable Low-Pass Filter 2.5k-10kHz (-12dB/oct)
Built-in Variable High-pass Filter 50-200Hz (-12dB/oct)
Built-in Variable High-Pass Filter 2.5k-10kHz (-12dB/oct)
Size: WxHxD 220mm x 35mm x 169mm
Now, marvel at the cunning bigger-than-that design of the woofer cones and tweeter domes in this set of components. Called XR-1800P, they do look clever.

Here are the details:
Peak Input Power:ãƒ»330W
Rated Input Power:ãƒ»110W
Woofer:ãƒ»180mm Advanced Hybrid Pulp Cone
Tweeter:ãƒ»30mm Soft Dome Tweeter
Crossover Network:ãƒ»High-Quality Compact Size Crossover Network,Tweeter Protection Circuit
Component 2way speaker system
Supplied with a pair of grilles
Included Multi Bracket for TOYOTA/NISSAN/ GM / 17cm
Included Bracket for 6×9
Included Tweeter Bracket for Angled Mount
Supplied with Crossover Network
Sensitivity: 86dB at 1m
Frequency Response: 57-20kHz
Impedance: 4 Ohms
Size(WHD): 176mm x 176mm x 69.5mm
Mounting Depth: 62mm
Net Weight: 1,060g (with Grille)
Magnet Weight: 330g
Kenwood’s website is here: link
Expect to pay around £299.00 for the Kenwood XR400-4 thin chassis amplifer and £150.00- odd for the XR-1800P component loudspeakers.