Speaker comparisons for B&O upgrade

[sphaller]

Alright, so the brake controller, tailgate table, and various other accoutrements are installed and ready to head up camping this weekend. That said, on to the next one, as seems to be the case in these parts.

Factory B&O system, while seemingly a good bit ahead of the stock, is a little muddy for me in the mids/lows. I'm looking to replace some of the factory speakers with a plug and play-ish option avoiding replacing the sub at this point, but possibly dynamatting behind it (and likely everywhere else) to help it out a touch. Primarily listening to Dead/jam type stuff, with some 90s/00s punk/pop punk sprinkled in for good measure, so I'm sure that totally makes sense.

I've also been out of the car audio game for about 20 years, so when my brain immediately jumped to Alpine and almost immediately grabbed a few pair of S-S40s to change out the dash and pods to, I realized a lot of the game has changed over the years.

I see a bunch of threads referencing some the following for speakers on the mid-range end.

• JL C1s
• Kicker KSCs
• Alpine Type S's
• Focal ACX's

I'm not looking for anything insane, but is there a good compare/contrast between the pros and cons of these sound wise between these or other options in the $75-$125 range?

Do any of the 4" locations or the 6.5s in the doors tend to have more of a lasting impact on sound quality than others have seemed to at this point?

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[ctandc]

Granted our BB has the Base system - but I can tell you that replacing the 4" dash speakers BY THEMSELVES was the biggest difference initially in sound. I replaced the 4" dash speaker with Kicker CS series. The difference in volume and clarity was kind of ridiculous. I honestly thought something was wrong with the factory speakers.

The kick panel speakers - in my opinion - are basically just for mid bass, since any vocals / highs tend to get lost down there. Granted - most of the time we have the soft top down in our 2 door - but I can't see it making that big of a difference even with the top on / up.

I've got Kicker DS in the kick panels, 4" Kickers (as mentioned) in the dash and the Kicker 200.4 Key amp. Difference isn't even comparable. The largest improvement was finally running the Auto DSP amp setup a different way.

I set the gains all the way down, set the factory EQ where I liked it - then played Kicker pink noise (via USB) and jacked the volume to 20 or so. Then I ran the DSP setup. Then with the same pink noise playing at the same 20 volume, I set the gains until I hit the limiters, then backed them off.

System sounds great. Even with the top down at interstate speeds, depending on music source, volume rarely goes beyond 13-15.

The Kicker 8" hideaway sub arrive today.

 

[fitterhappier]

The JL C1's tweeters do extend to the point where they will push up on the dash/pod speaker grilles.

The Alpines are a fine choice, especially with the B&O. Upper mids/highs are pronounced but not harsh.

 

[cobro92]

An amp is going to be a lot more bang-for-your-buck than speakers, IMO. Kicker key 200.4 is very well regarded and should improve the B&O system greatly. Personally I would go with the amp first and see how it improves things before buying new speakers.

 

[Jhuff]

Before going for the amp, read some of the threads regarding the B&O and amps. Last I saw, you had to buy a $700+ interface in order to retain control of the system.

I havenct kept up on the threads, but last I saw, the B&O guys thought they got the best increase by swapping the 6.5“ speakers.

I plan on installing Polk DB series all the way around. They have great reviews and specs, and are one of the few "marine" grade speakers, for whatever that's worth. Haven't seen any Bronco specific reviews on them yet, though.

 

[djn3400]

Before going for the amp, read some of the threads regarding the B&O and amps. Last I saw, you had to buy a $700+ interface in order to retain control of the system.

I havenct kept up on the threads, but last I saw, the B&O guys thought they got the best increase by swapping the 6.5“ speakers.

I plan on installing Polk DB series all the way around. They have great reviews and specs, and are one of the few "marine" grade speakers, for whatever that's worth. Haven't seen any Bronco specific reviews on them yet, though.

I have the Polk DB's in the dash and kick panels running in Bi-amp mode off of the Kicker Key 200.4. I don't use the rear pods at all (faded the head unit to the front). Sounds great, just need to add a sub for the lows now. I'm thinking about the powered JL ACP112LG-TW1.

 

[Snowdogyyz]

Before going for the amp, read some of the threads regarding the B&O and amps. Last I saw, you had to buy a $700+ interface in order to retain control of the system.

Yep- this. If you add an amp without the interface you’ll lose controls (balance, fade, etc, etc).
I replaced all speakers in my B&O and added a sub and sub amp- much much better. Still may consider the interface and amp for the fronts at some point but it cooks for now.

 

[BRBlue]

You should also consider the Hertz 100.3s for their high sensitivity. I replaced my B&O speakers with them. Details here:

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/b-o-system-looking-to-upgrade.35532/post-1454994

Crutchfield allows you to compare the simulated output of different speakers on their site. Best to use AirPods or other known headphones to get the best results. Not as good as an in person demo but probably a pretty decent approximation to how they sound.

 

[BRBlue]

Yep- this. If you add an amp without the interface you’ll lose controls (balance, fade, etc, etc).
I replaced all speakers in my B&O and added a sub and sub amp- much much better. Still may consider the interface and amp for the fronts at some point but it cooks for now.

I’ve seen this stated in multiple threads but I don’t think it’s necessarily true. From what I understand you can use an amp with a DSP like an Audio Control D-6.1200 and run it off of the high level speaker outputs from the factory B&O amp. Wouldn’t this allow you to maintain balance and fade controls. What am I missing?

 

[Dmorty217]

I replaced all of my speakers with the kickers you mentioned, kicker key 200.4 and 500.1, plug-and-play.com harness also added a kicker 12” sub which you mentioned you didn’t want to do. The 4” and 6.5” speakers in the front is where I would start but for another $100 you can replace the speaker pod 4” too. Unfortunately there are 3- 4” speakers in the dash with the B&O so you will be left with a single 4” speaker. Without putting a amp on the speakers I think you’re still going to be disappointed/underwhelmed. It’s worth the investment, it made my bronco sound 100xs better and I haven’t turned it up past 17.

 

[RedHotFuzz]

I plan on installing Polk DB series all the way around. They have great reviews and specs, and are one of the few "marine" grade speakers, for whatever that's worth. Haven't seen any Bronco specific reviews on them yet, though.

I also went with the Polks. The Kickers seem to be the default choice around here, but the Polks sounded better to me on Crutchfield's listening comparison feature, for whatever that's worth. The Polks were also less expensive and more readily-available than the Kickers.

 

[Snowdogyyz]

I’ve seen this stated in multiple threads but I don’t think it’s necessarily true. From what I understand you can use an amp with a DSP like an Audio Control D-6.1200 and run it off of the high level speaker outputs from the factory B&O amp. Wouldn’t this allow you to maintain balance and fade controls. What am I missing?

Not sure on that one. I asked my stereo guy who installed my sub/amp and he said to retain controls you need an interface.

 

[Jhuff]

I’ve seen this stated in multiple threads but I don’t think it’s necessarily true. From what I understand you can use an amp with a DSP like an Audio Control D-6.1200 and run it off of the high level speaker outputs from the factory B&O amp. Wouldn’t this allow you to maintain balance and fade controls. What am I missing?

This seems like it should work, but I am hesitant to amplify a signal that has already run through another amp; I need to do more digging as to the limitiations of that setup, as I would rather keep my factory sub than drop that kind of money on sub+amp+interface.

 

[sphaller]

The JL C1's tweeters do extend to the point where they will push up on the dash/pod speaker grilles.

The Alpines are a fine choice, especially with the B&O. Upper mids/highs are pronounced but not harsh.

Alpines are where I was leaning from familiarity and price point, but wanted to make sure they held up in today's market or there wasn't something stupid I was missing.

If that tightens things up even a little, I think it would be the right move. The B&O isn't bad, just a little off for my ears.

 

[sphaller]

You should also consider the Hertz 100.3s for their high sensitivity. I replaced my B&O speakers with them. Details here:

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/b-o-system-looking-to-upgrade.35532/post-1454994

Crutchfield allows you to compare the simulated output of different speakers on their site. Best to use AirPods or other known headphones to get the best results. Not as good as an in person demo but probably a pretty decent approximation to how they sound.

Thanks! Just checked out that video you posted. Was that a straight 1:1 speaker swap of the 4"-ers, no other changes when you recorded that? Seems night and day.

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