Kicker 12 ZXS1500.1 Mono Class D Car Amplifier Review

When Kicker first launched their ZX series, the market responded well to its overall performance and form factor. Those amps had enough juice in them to run decent systems, and the price was relatively reasonable for the type amplification you got.

However, as time went by it became obvious that it was time for a new series of amps, ones that were able to keep up with the most recent requirements of automotive audio systems.

Kicker’s answer came in form of the all new ZXS series of amps. The one we are looking at today is one of the more powerful members of this family. ZXS1500 brings an abundance of very controllable power to those who need some extra juice in their subwoofer section.

With that said, Kicker didn’t simply scale up the formula that has proven to work. No, they’ve introduced a number of rather significant improvements, and essentially designed a whole new amp that is smaller, more efficient, and way louder.

Best of all, their price points didn’t escalate. ZXS1500 is still a very affordable amp considering the performance it offers. Let’s take a closer look at this black box, and see what kind of specs we are talking about here.

Kicker 12 ZXS1500 Review

A quick glance at overview sheet will tell you that there’s technically nothing too special about this amp. It’s a monoblock design, just like any other in terms of what it was designed to do. There are no bells and whistles you might find on high-end monoblocks, which is perfectly fine.

The intended user group this amp was developed is all about raw performance. As long as you can move some serious air, and do it without anything overheating in the trunk, life is good. Fortunately for us, Kicker 12 ZXS1500 delivers just that.

Features of the ZXS 1500 Kicker Monoblock :

Once you open the box and remove all the packaging out of the way, you greeted by the beautiful chassis of looks like a well designed monoblock. The whole amp features that brushed metal texture, which fits rather well with its all black design. At this point, one thing becomes obvious. The heat syncs are not massive as you would expect them to be on a 1500 Watt unit.

Instead, they are pretty discrete thus reducing the overall size of the amp. Kicker was able to do this thanks to an all new MOSFET power supply that is capable of delivering more than enough current where it’s needed the most, with over 90% efficiency. Generally speaking, not a lot of power is lost to heat, and that is pretty amazing when you consider the price of this unit.

As we have mentioned before, this is a 1500 Watt monoblock amp, so you get one channel delivering the stated RMS power output at 2 Ohms and 14.4V. This model, just like its 1000 Watt smaller sibling, both come with a 24dB low pass electronic crossover.

On top of that, you also get a 24 dB high pass filter that runs around 25 Hertz stable. The total amount of bass boost you are looking at here reaches to about +18 dB and is steady at 50 Hertz. You can control all of these features and more, using Kicker’s ZXRC remote bass controller.

For a Class D amp, ZXS1500 runs pretty smooth and quite. Thanks to its efficient power supply that we talked about earlier, there is no need for any additional cooling systems. What all of this translates to is a compact form factor, smaller number of components, and overall improved the effectiveness of the amp.

How Does this Kicker Amp Perform? :

Installing the Kicker ZXS1500 is more or less an easy task. Its compact nature allows you to be very liberal with your space management in the trunk, which is great for more complicated builds or stealthy configurations. Once you’re done with the installation, and turn everything on, you will be impressed with the amount of volume you will get from your woofer. No matter what you’re trying to build, 1500 Watts of power to the woofers is a lot.

With that said, raw performance doesn’t mean much without decent sound quality. Thankfully, Kicker has this covered with a number of safety features that also serve as signal insulation. Their FIT technology ensures that all of the residual electrical interference and there is a lot of it in just about any modern vehicle, is rejected and filtered out. FIT alone will get the signal to its destination unobstructed and unaltered.

Aside from moving air with great efficiency, Kicker also offers a lot of visual customization with their ZXS line. You can get personalized vinyl straight from the factory, ensuring that your new amp matches the interior design of your car.

Would We Buy the Kicker ZXS 1500? :

The inherent simplicity of Kicker’s design and their no-nonsense approach to subwoofer amps is something we would definitely like to see more often in the industry. Kicker ZXS1500 is all about performance, and we are happy to report that it gets the job done rather well. The amp pushes a lot of power to the woofers, runs cool, and fits just about anywhere.

For the price you’re being asked to pay for one of these, it doesn’t get much better than this. The only thing you need to make sure of is that your car batteries can handle this type of amp. ZXS1500 is an efficient unit, but it still needs a good amount of power to run properly.

Overall, this is a solid product and a worthy investment for the listed features and price range. The company has pulled off a few quality moves and delivered a product that shoots from the hip and presents nothing but top-notch goods. Neat stuff, we like it