I was installing an amp in my boat and the thing just went on me within the course of 6 hrs. In the driveway it fired up fine and music played through the speakers no problem. I fire the stereo up on the water, no problem, plays great. Then about 5 mins later it blew both fuses. Take it home and replace the fuses thinking all is good; nope blows em again. So I triple check the pos, neg and acc wires... all good on the voltmeter. Pull the speaker leads thinking maybe one was shorting out (which would be odd, but whatever). Put the positive wire back to the battery and I get the burning smell and smoke raising from the amp. <BR> <BR>Is it just a crappy product from kicker or something else I dont know about?

Well, if you let the smoke out of your amp then you are going to need to either replace some parts yourself, get it repaired, or send it back to Kicker. <BR> <BR>Where did you ground your amp to?

It was grounded to the battery. I that was the only ground underneath the passenger compartment. <BR> <BR>I plan on sending it back to Kicker if I continue to believe that it was poorly produced. I am running another amp in the exact same fashion without any problems, a kicker amp that came with the boat.

Not a uncommon experience. I have had amps come out of the box straight up dead. Others work for a short time then let go. Not as common with the large manufactures but yes it does happen.

Okay I have an update. I talked with Kicker warranty today and they are letting me return the thing. I first talked with a receptionist who seemed to be going by a protocol of sorts. I say this becuase they initially implied that I should pay the shipping to deliver the amp for fixing. Once I mentioned that it seemed unfair for me to spend more money on a product that I didnt break; she quickly gave me a shipping label without hassle. Since I would like the amp sooner than 3 weeks I asked about an exchange type deal, which she said she couldnt do herself. She transferred me to another gentleman. <BR> <BR>Once I was transferred to another gentleman, things got waay easier. He made everything work no-problem. Bill me for a second amp, send it out asap. Credit me for the first amp upon reciept. <BR> <BR>Overall I am happy thus far with kicker's service. We will see how things go, but I have high hopes thus far.

A good share of "factory" problems can usually be tracked back to UPS, or Fed Ex. One good fall from 4-5 feet, no matter how well they are packed could easily create problems, as fore mentioned. <BR> <BR>My .02