Nothing wrong with Kicker subs...I dunno about Clarion amps, never used them myself. But like you said, if it works, it works. If it sounds good, that's even better. Some folks would look down on them because they're not known for their amps. I personally don't care about what you use, as long as it works for you and it sounds good. As far as shows....if it's a car show and the install is done cleanly, I don't think it should matter very much what you use, as long as it's clean. But if it's a car audio show or whatever, you probably won't win much with using Clarion amps.