B&O System Speaker Upgrade Options - Back to basics and keeping stock amplifiers and subwoofer

[mdube72]

Will do. Seems the hertz lines Crutchfield carries are the lower lines. The shop I went to had the milli pro line and they sounded pretty good.

Yes - the Mille line is a different beast, and I dont have first hand experience with them.

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[YellaHEL940]

Yes - the Mille line is a different beast, and I dont have first hand experience with them.

Think I am going to go with the 3 way Mille system for the fronts. The pods and 6 1/2” Mille for the rears.

Sub is up in the air. JL makes a stealth box now but it is $1000 and I will need an amp.

Guy at shop said they have done half a dozen new broncos and it should be killer.

Also said the rears are not fed off of the amp in the back and that is why people complain about them sounding weak and muffled. That the efficiency of the aftermarket speakers helps but an amp would help more. Then starts talking about having to use some sort of integrator if we don’t have rears hooked up and he lost me there.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Try the swap without doing the center and see what you think first IMHO.

FYI -the stock B&O center speaker is 1-way, and the dash corners are 2-way. So after I replaced the dash corners, I just moved one of the original dash corner speakers to the center. I haven’t done a lot of testing on that center speaker replacement, but I’m guessing its better than the original (and cheaper than buying another pair of speakers!).

 

[mdube72]

FYI -the stock B&O center speaker is 1-way, and the dash corners are 2-way. So after I replaced the dash corners, I just moved one of the original dash corner speakers to the center. I haven’t done a lot of testing on that center speaker replacement, but I’m guessing its better than the original (and cheaper than buying another pair of speakers!).

Very interesting idea - it seems as though the B&O DSP is configured to use the center channel speaker as more of a midrange and not trying to drive highs/treble from it. Can you offer an opinion on how adding that factory coax speaker sounds versus the factory center ? Do you notice more highs from it ? Does it play louder ? The whole reason I have not replaced my center speaker with another Hertz coax speaker is that I can't envision I'm going to get great sound out of it, as the center speaker is really to fill a midrange sound stage when using the Surround setting on the head unit. If you run the system in Stereo mode, my observation is that the center channel becomes quite muted, unless it is being used for things like navigation and phone calls. My 2 cents......

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Think I am going to go with the 3 way Mille system for the fronts. The pods and 6 1/2” Mille for the rears.

Sub is up in the air. JL makes a stealth box now but it is $1000 and I will need an amp.

Guy at shop said they have done half a dozen new broncos and it should be killer.

Also said the rears are not fed off of the amp in the back and that is why people complain about them sounding weak and muffled. That the efficiency of the aftermarket speakers helps but an amp would help more. Then starts talking about having to use some sort of integrator if we don’t have rears hooked up and he lost me there.

Yes, I looked it up in the circuit diagrams of the Ford workshop manual. The center dash speaker and rear pods are driven by the head unit (ACM). The ACM sends audio to the DSP amp (via Automobile Audio Bus, A2B), which drives subwoofer, dash corners, and kick panels.

Another possibility why the original rear pods sound bad, is that they are one-way speakers.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Very interesting idea - it seems as though the B&O DSP is configured to use the center channel speaker as more of a midrange and not trying to drive highs/treble from it. Can you offer an opinion on how adding that factory coax speaker sounds versus the factory center ? Do you notice more highs from it ? Does it play louder ? The whole reason I have not replaced my center speaker with another Hertz coax speaker is that I can't envision I'm going to get great sound out of it, as the center speaker is really to fill a midrange sound stage when using the Surround setting on the head unit. If you run the system in Stereo mode, my observation is that the center channel becomes quite muted, unless it is being used for things like navigation and phone calls. My 2 cents......

Since the center speaker is being driven by the head unit (not the DSP amp), I’m guessing that not much equalization is applied. I verified that the center speaker still has output in Stereo mode (although less than in Surround mode, as you said). Hard to tell if the sound is improved when it is replaced by the OEM corner coax, esp in Stereo mode (I don’t use and haven’t tested Surround mode). My only rationale for doing the swap is that the OEM corner dash speakers seemed to be of higher quality. In the end, probably doesn’t matter much which center speaker is used when in Stereo mode. Might be a noticeable improvement in surround mode, but I don’t have any listening experience to support that.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Yes, I looked it up in the circuit diagrams of the Ford workshop manual. The center dash speaker and rear pods are driven by the head unit (ACM). The ACM sends audio to the DSP amp (via Automobile Audio Bus, A2B), which drives subwoofer, dash corners, and kick panels.

Another possibility why the original rear pods sound bad, is that they are one-way speakers.

Another reason for the stock B&O 4” rear pods sounding bad is that the 6.5” kick panel woofers fade out (along with the dash speakers) when fading to the rear. With front fade you get the 4” 2-way dash corners plus the woofers (and some sub and center channel). With rear fade you only get 1-way rear pods (and sub).

 

[YellaHEL940]

Yes, I looked it up in the circuit diagrams of the Ford workshop manual. The center dash speaker and rear pods are driven by the head unit (ACM). The ACM sends audio to the DSP amp (via Automobile Audio Bus, A2B), which drives subwoofer, dash corners, and kick panels.

Another possibility why the original rear pods sound bad, is that they are one-way speakers.

Awesome. Thanks for confirming that.
I went to a different shop this am and got some other ideas.
Focal 3 way components in kick/dash corners
leave center and rears as is.
JL Stealthbox with JL mono block to drive it.
Mosconi Pico 8/10 with the on board dsp to drive the front components and dsp function.
It also need an integration piece that is not cheap.

 

[Johnny Mo]

Wondering how everyone feels about the JL Stealthbox with the factory B&O amp? https://www.jlaudio.com/products/sb-f-broncg6-10tw1-car-audio-stealthbox-ford-bronco-94718

Factory amp won't drive that, it's wired for 2 ohm and it says discontinued.

 

[Cormeister]

Factory amp won't drive that, it's wired for 2 ohm and it says discontinued.

They redesigned the Stealthbox, this link is the older version. I believe the newer version is easier to make to help keep up with demand, at least that’s what I heard from JL. Here’s a link to the newer version (the newer grill blends nicer with the interior too).

https://www.jlaudio.com/collections...-10tw1-car-audio-stealthbox-ford-bronco-94747

 

[Johnny Mo]

They redesigned the Stealthbox, this link is the older version. I believe the newer version is easier to make to help keep up with demand, at least that’s what I heard from JL. Here’s a link to the newer version (the newer grill blends nicer with the interior too).

https://www.jlaudio.com/collections...-10tw1-car-audio-stealthbox-ford-bronco-94747

A factory amp STILL won't drive a 2ohm sub. Pretty disappointing specs page on that for $1100 - they should at least give some basic info. I spent that amount on my entire upgrade and couldn't be happier. It's not an audiophile type vehicle, it's loud and brash and when the top and doors are off you won't need or be able to appreciate the sound differences. For the money - best bang for buck upgrading a B&O system is the speakers (all 4" and the kick panels) and Kicker Key 500.1 for the sub mated to a Kicker Comp R 8 wired for 2 ohm 300 watts. For my preference I was not impressed with the Kicker speakers - although others seem to be happy with them. I have a combo of Infinity and Memphis (could it use a little more mid - yeah) but for 1200 it is remarkably better than stock - and I don't think spending 2-3-4 x that would make me any happier.

 

[coach_lambo]

Thank you so much for this thread! I replaced the corner dash speakers with hertz and upgraded to 6.5 pods from ssv with hertz. Sounds amazing. Your instructions were super clear.

I did this over the weekend. Replaced corner dash speakers and also the rear speakers with 6.5 inch Polk speakers and SSV pods. Deadened the rear pods. Also did a Forscan adjustment for those rear pods. It’s a big difference. Way more sound coming from the rear speakers. It’s an easy change and not that much money. I am really happy with the improvement overall.

 

[mdube72]

I’m looking for any feedback from people that that’s have tried the Hertz 165L in the kick panels using the factory B&O system (the purpose of this thread to begin with)
https://a.co/d/aCKwDPg

 

[Bucking_Will]

OK so I have been reading post after post for the past 2 days. this is what I have come up with since it doesn't seem to be anywhere. B&O system
center speaker and rear pods controlled by head unit at 25 watts per speaker
front corner, kickers and sub controlled by B&O amp at 110watts each except sub has 2 channels so 220 watts. ( B&O Bronco specs )

So now obviously changing the rear pods any speaker would be severely under powered.
Looks like changing every other speaker you should have enough power except if you want to go big on the sub.

So my question is why is there not much talk anywhere about adding power to the rear pods? I know @plugnplaykits has s solution but I haven't seen any reviews and if its worth it... I mean logic would say it is because that would give you 100watts to those 2 and then every speaker in the bronco would have 100 watts. But just trying to get some talk and or debate and or info.

 

[mdube72]

OK so I have been reading post after post for the past 2 days. this is what I have come up with since it doesn't seem to be anywhere. B&O system
center speaker and rear pods controlled by head unit at 25 watts per speaker
front corner, kickers and sub controlled by B&O amp at 100watts each except sub has 2 channels so 200 watts.

So now obviously changing the rear pods any speaker would be severely under powered.
Looks like changing every other speaker you should have enough power except if you want to go big on the sub.

So my question is why is there not much talk anywhere about adding power to the rear pods? I know @plugnplaykits has s solution but I haven't seen any reviews and if its worth it... I mean logic would say it is because that would give you 100watts to those 2 and then every speaker in the bronco would have 100 watts. But just trying to get some talk and or debate and or info.

This would be an interesting idea to see someone pursue this option - I would like to see a review as well to someone that has the B&O but adds the PlugnPlay kit to power the rear pods. Here is my concern - let’s say you do add a lot more power to the rear pods - is it going to make that much of a significant difference in the sound stage ? This is assuming you keep the stock pods and upgrade the 4 inch speakers to a quality coaxial (Hertz, Infinity, etc) What will the total cost be to do it and will it be worth it ?? I have my doubts……Also, the PlugnPlay kit to provide an Amp and bypass the ACM for the rear pods is $440 - this doesnt even take into consideration the cost of upgrading the speakers - lets suppose you go cheap - lets say $200. Best case to address this issue is about $640 in parts alone. Take it one step further - upgrade to some 6.5 inch coaxials for $200 to $250 and then upgrade the pods - Metra on Amazon for $175. You are now at about ~$800. That's quite a bit of cash just to upgrade 2 speakers on the B&O. Its one of the main reasons I created this thread. Original purpose was to get the absolute most from the Ford B&O system with keeping the investment at a sensible amount and provide strong improvements. The cost alone of the parts is why I personally chose NOT to mess with the rear pods. Upgraded the shit B&O speakers with Hertz and call it a day. Much improved and cost $140. YMMV.......

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