Component speaker options with Mobridge DSP/AMP

[jabrax]

My first dive into car audio, so please be patient I'll try to jump straight to the question

After a month of researching decided to pull trigger on Mobridge. If I were to go component speakers, which way would be easier to install and tune. I am assuming I would use active crossover dialed in from the hardware.

Current setup as I started piecing things together:

Front left/right - Focal ACX 100 (caught a great sale). Sound very bright in stock setup, bronco glass maybe?​

Center - B&O​

Kicks - B&O​

Rear - SSV pods with Kenwood Excelon X174​

Sub - Audio Control in StingertTailgate (on its way)​

AMP - Mobridge 8.1.1 AMP (on its way)​

​

I dont even have it up and running yet as it stands but you know the rabbit hole is real!

Options

1. Replace the 4 inch Focal coaxial with 4 inch component setup of 4 inch mid bass and tweeter. Hard to find. Crutchfield only has three. Something like this Apline https://www.crutchfield.com/p_500S2S40C/Alpine-S2-S40C.html?tp=106 - Focal ES series has 2 options and they are a tad pricey
2. Buy separate 4 inch mid base speakers and set of tweeter and wire them direct to the amp
3. Replace the stock 6.5 inch Kick Panel with 2 way components, mid bass and tweeter (installed on dash). Not sure how this would get wired.
4. Replace the whole front stage with a 3 way component set. I noticed that in the 3 way setups, the mid bass tends to be smaller than 4 inches - Would doing it this way waste having an 8 channel amp.

Still haven't figured out what to do with that center speaker

Sponsored

 

[thenewjs]

My first dive into car audio, so please be patient I'll try to jump straight to the question

After a month of researching decided to pull trigger on Mobridge. If I were to go component speakers, which way would be easier to install and tune. I am assuming I would use active crossover dialed in from the hardware.

Current setup as I started piecing things together:

Front left/right - Focal ACX 100 (caught a great sale). Sound very bright in stock setup, bronco glass maybe?​

Center - B&O​

Kicks - B&O​

Rear - SSV pods with Kenwood Excelon X174​

Sub - Audio Control in StingertTailgate (on its way)​

AMP - Mobridge 8.1.1 AMP (on its way)​

​

I dont even have it up and running yet as it stands but you know the rabbit hole is real!

Options

1. Replace the 4 inch Focal coaxial with 4 inch component setup of 4 inch mid bass and tweeter. Hard to find. Crutchfield only has three. Something like this Apline https://www.crutchfield.com/p_500S2S40C/Alpine-S2-S40C.html?tp=106 - Focal ES series has 2 options and they are a tad pricey
2. Buy separate 4 inch mid base speakers and set of tweeter and wire them direct to the amp
3. Replace the stock 6.5 inch Kick Panel with 2 way components, mid bass and tweeter (installed on dash). Not sure how this would get wired.
4. Replace the whole front stage with a 3 way component set. I noticed that in the 3 way setups, the mid bass tends to be smaller than 4 inches - Would doing it this way waste having an 8 channel amp.

Still haven't figured out what to do with that center speaker

Reach out to Fraser at Mobridge. He will get you squared away!

[email protected]

 

[Alassise]

Jeff,

I do not have experience with the B&O system, but had the same concerns with my speaker selection. What I learned in the last 2 years from this site is that our options are limited to budget. Based on your current equipment, I say that your amp selection will allow you to build a great sounding system.

Your Focal speakers are very bright, nothing to do with the Bronco windshield. I was going with Focal also, and after researching decided for another brand. 4 in speakers will not produce the bass you want. Our options (cheaper solutions) are limited to 3.5 or 4 in coaxial on the dash. Custom plates can be purchased from MTI acoustics (pricey) and they can be made to fit a 3.5 midrange with a tweeter for the dash location.

As far a speaker selection, Crutchfield is the best place to "listen to speakers" using your computer audio without going to a shop and select from their stock. To answer your questions,

1./2. To do this, you will need custom fabrication for whatever you decide to get. You don't need a component set kit. Your search for components will be limited to that size, but you can do separate's (midrange and tweeter). This option is pricey like the Focals, but allows you to buy and match a quality center channel speaker to your selection. Check Audio Frogs, Morel selections or JL Audio's offerings. When I listened to them, the only perceived difference was brightness (and price) when compared to cheaper options. I know there are more differences, but my ears couldn't tell. Anyway, as soon as you place your Bronco on Drive and move forward, all that DSP stuff goes out of the window...well top.

3/4. I did this using JL Audio C3. The installer did not liked the sound of the tweeter on the dash and mounted a 4in coax (Memphis Audio PRX4). This provided a better soundstage without using a DSP (not in my budget and they did not feel it was necessary as the Bronco acoustics are tricky. At first I was skeptical on this recommendation, but once the vehicle was finished, I really liked the way it sounded. Now, my installer specializes in boats and UTV's, so a topless Bronco is like a boat.

If I was going to do it all over again, I will spend my money on the front stage. Custom plates for 3.5 midrange and tweeter on dash and 6.5in mid bass on kick panel with as much power as they can handle. Matching speakers for the rear pods and a the sub in the back. The advantage you have is that your amp can push all the speakers.

 

[vicorjh]

My first dive into car audio, so please be patient I'll try to jump straight to the question

After a month of researching decided to pull trigger on Mobridge. If I were to go component speakers, which way would be easier to install and tune. I am assuming I would use active crossover dialed in from the hardware.

Current setup as I started piecing things together:

Front left/right - Focal ACX 100 (caught a great sale). Sound very bright in stock setup, bronco glass maybe?​

Center - B&O​

Kicks - B&O​

Rear - SSV pods with Kenwood Excelon X174​

Sub - Audio Control in StingertTailgate (on its way)​

AMP - Mobridge 8.1.1 AMP (on its way)​

​

I dont even have it up and running yet as it stands but you know the rabbit hole is real!

Options

1. Replace the 4 inch Focal coaxial with 4 inch component setup of 4 inch mid bass and tweeter. Hard to find. Crutchfield only has three. Something like this Apline https://www.crutchfield.com/p_500S2S40C/Alpine-S2-S40C.html?tp=106 - Focal ES series has 2 options and they are a tad pricey
2. Buy separate 4 inch mid base speakers and set of tweeter and wire them direct to the amp
3. Replace the stock 6.5 inch Kick Panel with 2 way components, mid bass and tweeter (installed on dash). Not sure how this would get wired.
4. Replace the whole front stage with a 3 way component set. I noticed that in the 3 way setups, the mid bass tends to be smaller than 4 inches - Would doing it this way waste having an 8 channel amp.

Still haven't figured out what to do with that center speaker

In the vehicle that I have, there is a pair of Audiofrog co-axials in the front corners. They also exhibited harshness which varied between the driver and passenger. Tuning was able to tame that.

Coaxials on the dash works fine but perhaps they make for more difficult tuning. I feel that many car audio enthusiasts would prefer components shared between the dash and the kickpanels, if they could.

I also had installed co-axials in the kickpanels but those were tuned mostly towards the mid-bass crossing into low-mids such that the tweeters aren't really utilized. Mid-bass drivers, as opposed to coaxial, probably would have been fine there.

In retrospect, I'd probably dither between a 2-way component set-up on the dash, loosing the center channel, versus co-axials in the corners. Dash: mid-range and tweeter. Kickpanels: mid-bass. Loosing the center channel.

As far as the center channel, I did replace that also with a co-axial. I have the gain and filtering set to help reinforce the mids up and forward.

In any case, even without component speakers, the audio is a 10x improvement after spending some time tuning. Muddiness in the low-end is much improved over stock where everything tended to have a resonant peak around a narrow frequency band. Harshness from the dash was eliminated also by tuning.

I've been happy with that and feel little need to swap anything at this point. Doing some tuning is important. As a do-over, I'd probably try going with components up front with the co-axials in the rear pods along with the swapped sub-driver.

Congrats on the mObridge amp, it's a a very nice and capable multi-channel amplifier.

 

[Brian_B]

Ideally, you would just select speakers that sound good to your ear. That's a little bit different for everybody.

Beyond that, it's generally a good idea to stick with a single brand, and within a series inside of that brand - just because they will generally be designed to compliment each other well with regard to how the frequencies from various speakers cross over. That isn't a universal thing, and certainly don't have to follow this thumbrule (it doesn't always hold true anyway), but it's usually a good start if you don't have anything better in mind.

Certain brands are known for certain sounds. Klipsch, for instance, is known for sounding bright and sharp - mainly because they like to use a horn design for their tweeters. Sounds like Focal are known for that too.

If you can get a chance, go to a car audio shop, Best Buy (particularly with the Magnolia substores) used to have listening stations as well, and listen to demo speakers. That's really the only way to tell what you will like.

Now, I don't have first hand knowledge on this, some people swear by using components in their system and end up with what they think sounds good. I have my personal opinion. Most of your sound is coming from the dash speakers, and i think you probably want at least a coax up there. The kick panels don't put a lot into the sound stage (being aimed at your ankles) - if you wanted to put a component midwoofer there on a cross over I could see it working out well, but I don't know that it would necessarily sound much better than just a good coax either.

The rears are what are really completing your sound stage moreso than the kick panels. Again, I would think a coax would be better served there than a component for the same reason as the dash - but for those that have components there and enjoy them I'm not about to say they are wrong either.

Each speaker brand/model is going to tune out to sound a bit differently. If you don't like the sound from it and can't adjust it with tuning, and it's not sounding muddy (can usually be fixed with a passive crossover) or clipping (insufficient power rating or too much gain), then it's probably just a matter of you don't like the way that particular speaker sounds and should try another brand.

Once you find speakers you like - the installs are ~nearly~ identical, and the tuning will more or less be the same. Adding in active crossovers on the speakers are likely to make it more difficult, if for no other reason than it's adding in more stuff you have to twiddle with. I'd see how well you can dial it in with the amp first - then if you are still having issues such as muddy sound you could look at adding in passive blockers or something and re-tuning.

 

[Spiderwolf]

My first dive into car audio, so please be patient I'll try to jump straight to the question

After a month of researching decided to pull trigger on Mobridge. If I were to go component speakers, which way would be easier to install and tune. I am assuming I would use active crossover dialed in from the hardware.

Current setup as I started piecing things together:

Front left/right - Focal ACX 100 (caught a great sale). Sound very bright in stock setup, bronco glass maybe?​

Center - B&O​

Kicks - B&O​

Rear - SSV pods with Kenwood Excelon X174​

Sub - Audio Control in StingertTailgate (on its way)​

AMP - Mobridge 8.1.1 AMP (on its way)​

​

I dont even have it up and running yet as it stands but you know the rabbit hole is real!

Options

1. Replace the 4 inch Focal coaxial with 4 inch component setup of 4 inch mid bass and tweeter. Hard to find. Crutchfield only has three. Something like this Apline https://www.crutchfield.com/p_500S2S40C/Alpine-S2-S40C.html?tp=106 - Focal ES series has 2 options and they are a tad pricey
2. Buy separate 4 inch mid base speakers and set of tweeter and wire them direct to the amp
3. Replace the stock 6.5 inch Kick Panel with 2 way components, mid bass and tweeter (installed on dash). Not sure how this would get wired.
4. Replace the whole front stage with a 3 way component set. I noticed that in the 3 way setups, the mid bass tends to be smaller than 4 inches - Would doing it this way waste having an 8 channel amp.

Still haven't figured out what to do with that center speaker

I’m going to do the Mobridge thing as well and have already ordered the bigger pods for 6.5 speakers for the roll bar in back of my Raptor. What I’ve done while waiting for that to come in is replace all three speakers across the front with Hertz DCX 100. That alone made a huge difference clearer music, more bass. Since that sounded so good I’m going to replace the kick panel speakers with some 6.5 mid base Hertz. If I wasn’t doing the amp I’d leave those alone but since an amp is coming and the dash sounded so good I may as well go all out.

Sponsored