Speaker upgrade, which location to start?

[Hemisfear]

I have the B&O system

planning on using Hertz speakers based off the research iv done but also have looked at the Kickers as the price is better on those but im not sure how much better the Hertz would sound over the Kickers.

i plan to keep OEM sub.

Hertz are much more superior to Kickers...I think of Kickers as the K-Mart of car audio...just my opinion, which Hertz, Deci or Cento, I went Cento?

Sponsored

 

[Area51BS]

Dash corner. Center can be ignored completely. The dash speakers are really easy to get at. Focus on getter something with a good tweeter.

kick panels 2nd. Look for a woofer, you don’t want a tweeter down there. These are also really easy to get at.

rear pods 3rd or just fade more to the front unless you need sound behind you. You also have the option of upgrading the pods to house a larger speaker.

dont be fooled into thinking the budget Kickers are much better than stock. Most brands have an entry-level speaker that are just not worth the time.

subwoofer requires more thought and work since you should also be adding an amp.

get some dampening, poly fill, and plastic trim tools. Also get speaker adapters and “bass blockers” to prevent the speakers from trying to reproduce low frequencies that they simply can’t handle.

This is pretty darn good advice to follow to start a system.
Next step is DSP and block all high frequencies above 4-500 from the kick panel speakers to keep sound stage high. Might be able to find some low pass passive crossovers to start. Just like bass blockers, except they block highs. Coil vs capacitor in bass blockers.

 

[DemonGT]

Which bass blockers is everyone using?

 

[Hemisfear]

There is no need for base blockers or crossovers when using a DSP...

 

[swamp2]

I guess that's easy to say when you start with a Raptor... My Big Bend speakers left ALOT to be desired.

I have no evidence, but I'd guess the factory (non B&O) speakers in the Raptor are identical to Big Bend. Very cheap regardless...

 

[Bill K]

Which bass blockers is everyone using?

I used these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JYZ3BG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Bill K]

I have no evidence, but I'd guess the factory (non B&O) speakers in the Raptor are identical to Big Bend. Very cheap regardless...

I looked at the standard stereo offering for the 2024 Raptor and it included the 10 speaker B&O... Can't say what was standard in earlier years but I thought it would be a premium audio package much the same as most everything else was upgraded in the Raptor.

The speakers I pulled out of the Big Bend were one way and severely disappointing.

I really wish I had your dash instrumentation system though!

 

[Brian_B]

I tried bass blockers just to see what everyone was talking about. They were horrible, I actually pulled over to yank them out at a gas station they were so bad

Now - for folks that like them, I won’t say they are wrong. I just don’t think they are needed for every speaker/amp/dac combination out there. They certainly weren’t welcome for my setup.

I have the bass blockers somewhere - if I can find them if anyone wants them they can have them

 

[Y2KFirehawk]

I looked at the standard stereo offering for the 2024 Raptor and it included the 10 speaker B&O... Can't say what was standard in earlier years but I thought it would be a premium audio package much the same as most everything else was upgraded in the Raptor.

The speakers I pulled out of the Big Bend were one way and severely disappointing.

Braptor B&O is identical to B&O of all other Bronco trims AFAIK.

 

[Boomer75007]

Would do dash panel and rear pods first (same speakers and wire connection needs anyway). Got noticeable improvement when I did those and reprogrammed in Forscan. Just to be clear - those are the only ones I did and used Infinities and am quite happy...

What did you change with Forscan?

 

[mpeugeot]

If you have the B&O bite the bullet and get a proper amp. I personally went with the MoBridge and I am extremely happy with the performance of the system.

 

[Y2KFirehawk]

If you have the B&O bite the bullet and get a proper amp. I personally went with the MoBridge and I am extremely happy with the performance of the system.

Just doing the MoBridge and nothing else yielded improvement? Does the MoBridge also sacrifice the front center channel functionality? (Nav speaking, etc.)

 

[mpeugeot]

Just doing the MoBridge and nothing else yielded improvement? Does the MoBridge also sacrifice the front center channel functionality? (Nav speaking, etc.)

I did the speakers first, but I am rather sure that the DSP in the MoBridge would allow tuning even crappy speakers to perform better than the stock B&O. If I was motivated enough to put the stock speakers back in and tune them, I am sure that I could prove it.

I put new speakers in my Bronco first and the results were noticeable, but nothing even approaching the difference the DSP/Amp made after tuning. Night and day difference.

So I when I upgraded the speakers in my 2021 Bronco with B&O, it was about equal to the girlfriend's Honda CRV EX-L stock system.

Later, I had a 2023 Bronco without the B&O, and only added an Kicker Key 200.4 DSP/amplifier and Kicker 11HS46 powered subwoofer, it sounded better than the B&O with upgraded speakers.

I was pretty annoyed that the 2023 sounded better than the 2021; the amplifier made such a huge improvement in the 2023 even with the stock speakers. That's what led me to get the amplifier in my 2021 Bronco. In the end, I am sure that I would have upgraded the speakers too, but I think that the biggest difference is the DSP/Amp.

My center channel functions just fine.

 

[ilostmydrink]

Just doing the MoBridge and nothing else yielded improvement? Does the MoBridge also sacrifice the front center channel functionality? (Nav speaking, etc.)

The moBridge amp has enough power to completely destroy the 4" factory speakers and the sub. I think the kickpanel speakers are pretty decent for their location and you may find leaving them in place the best option. You'd just want to knock down the power by 10 dB to begin with to understand when the speaker begins to distort.

I went the mObridge route and am very pleased with the option. At times I have issues with my firmware but they do tend to get fixed over time. For example, when I flash the current available firmware, the amplifier crashes and reboots when all speakers are on. It's an easy solve, however, as I just revert to the previous firmware and rock on.

The only two features that are lost are:

• Selecting from the head unit stereo or surround. This is controlled directly from the mObridge interface and generally will not be adjusted post tuning.
• Setting the head unit to adjust volume for speed down the highway.

I've probably spent 1000 hours playing with the tuning using REW and a umik-1 microphone and have finally settled on a nice sounding system for my needs.

• Fronts: Hertz CX100
• Kicks: Hertz 165L
• Rear: Audison AP4
• Subwoofer: Alpine R2 W8D4

I've also tried Audison APX4 for the fronts and Memphis Audio Mojo MPJ6 for the kicks. The APX4's are too bright to tune off the dash of the vehicle but do sound very crisp and blend well. The MPJ6's are too sensitive but sound great. I typically reduced those by 10 dB for it to sound balanced.

Tuning the system for the vehicle driver is very straight forward. Measure the distance to the driver, measure the system drivers, balance the driver SPL using audio tracks (specifically Sheffield Lab "Music for Evaluating Accuracy and Focus of Sound State in Stereo").

Tuning the system to sound good for all passengers is more difficult and really where I've spent most of my time. The best sound I found set the center focus point as the third point of an equilateral triangle, using the distance between the left dash and right dash speakers. Then measure to that point for the kicks, rear, and subwoofer. The adjustable tweeters of the CX100 are pointed at the dome light above the rear seat.

The kickpanel speakers really don't play powerfully below 100 Hz and have a summed acoustical and electrical crossover of 100 Hz @ 48dB. Because of that, the subwoofer is also crossed at 100 Hz @ 48 dB slope.

The dash speakers are crossed at 300 Hz with the kicks using a 24 dB Linkwitz-Riley filter. For my ears, lower than 300 Hz at the dash results in a sound I just don't prefer. Crossing at 400 Hz creates a better "wall" of sound up front but has some nasty resonance at certain frequencies and is blocked/absorbed by passenger legs.

 

[mpeugeot]

The moBridge amp has enough power to completely destroy the 4" factory speakers and the sub. I think the kickpanel speakers are pretty decent for their location and you may find leaving them in place the best option. You'd just want to knock down the power by 10 dB to begin with to understand when the speaker begins to distort.

I went the mObridge route and am very pleased with the option. At times I have issues with my firmware but they do tend to get fixed over time. For example, when I flash the current available firmware, the amplifier crashes and reboots when all speakers are on. It's an easy solve, however, as I just revert to the previous firmware and rock on.

The only two features that are lost are:

• Selecting from the head unit stereo or surround. This is controlled directly from the mObridge interface and generally will not be adjusted post tuning.
• Setting the head unit to adjust volume for speed down the highway.

I've probably spent 1000 hours playing with the tuning using REW and a umik-1 microphone and have finally settled on a nice sounding system for my needs.

• Fronts: Hertz CX100
• Kicks: Hertz 165L
• Rear: Audison AP4
• Subwoofer: Alpine R2 W8D4

I've also tried Audison APX4 for the fronts and Memphis Audio Mojo MPJ6 for the kicks. The APX4's are too bright to tune off the dash of the vehicle but do sound very crisp and blend well. The MPJ6's are too sensitive but sound great. I typically reduced those by 10 dB for it to sound balanced.

Tuning the system for the vehicle driver is very straight forward. Measure the distance to the driver, measure the system drivers, balance the driver SPL using audio tracks (specifically Sheffield Lab "Music for Evaluating Accuracy and Focus of Sound State in Stereo").

Tuning the system to sound good for all passengers is more difficult and really where I've spent most of my time. The best sound I found set the center focus point as the third point of an equilateral triangle, using the distance between the left dash and right dash speakers. Then measure to that point for the kicks, rear, and subwoofer. The adjustable tweeters of the CX100 are pointed at the dome light above the rear seat.

The kickpanel speakers really don't play powerfully below 100 Hz and have a summed acoustical and electrical crossover of 100 Hz @ 48dB. Because of that, the subwoofer is also crossed at 100 Hz @ 48 dB slope.

The dash speakers are crossed at 300 Hz with the kicks using a 24 dB Linkwitz-Riley filter. For my ears, lower than 300 Hz at the dash results in a sound I just don't prefer. Crossing at 400 Hz creates a better "wall" of sound up front but has some nasty resonance at certain frequencies and is blocked/absorbed by passenger legs.

You can spend a lot of time tuning the system, but most people can get an acceptable tune in about an hour or two. I was fortunate to have Frazier teach me how to tune it (and he also remoted in to show me how to tune it).

REW and a umik-1 are must haves unless you are using someone else's tune (which can get you really close and save hours in the tuning process).

I am no audiophile, but I was able to quickly get a decent enough tune that people comment on how good the system sounds (except my girlfriend - she wants to always increase the base to ridiculous levels). To me the sound reproduction is remarkably accurate.

Sponsored