Base Sound System Upgrade/Build

[Pressurized]

Consensus of the people that have done it is that absolutely, new speakers will be a very noticeable improvement. For $80/pair upgrading the 4" front dash seems like a no brainer. Common mid level choices are Kicker CS, JBL Club, Polk DB, JL C-1 and Infinity REF series. I bought some Polk's simply because they are marine rated and get good reviews.

I might be answering a question with a question but some more experienced people can verify. With only the stock head unit, I read that you should expect more volume and bass from lower impedance speakers like 2.5ohm Infinity Kappas or 3ohm JBL Club. There is a chance of "clipping" at high volume but unverified if it happens on the Bronco.

Most amps can easily handle the impedance drop from 4 to 3 ohms. Even 2 ohms is usually doable... When choosing the 4", the tone is important, but so is the efficiency and impedance. A good balance of those 3 will likely give the best result. I wouldn't put anything below 92db on my list of options and would put 3 ohm or less as a requirement. Then pick the tone I liked best from those options.

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[Colorado buff]

Jeez .... at 19 my dad gave me his Manual BMW 2002TI and out of the 4 gear transmission the 3rd gear never worked

Never mind have you seen how much bmw 2002 are going. For.

 

[buzpro]

Never mind have you seen how much bmw 2002 are going. For.

O M G !! ..... can't believe it

https://classics.autotrader.com/classic-cars-for-sale/bmw-2002-for-sale

my next car was my mom's Alpha Spider that was flawless in looks but always in the shop .... i wish I had kept that one too

https://www.cars.com/shopping/alfa_...0zd_WqeueSxaUA-9PoShMmn35zz5m7ohoCzjUQAvD_BwE

 

[Changman927]

FINALLY, someone talking about this!! I have upgraded my previous two vehicles audio systems & plan to do the same with my BaseBase Bronco.

I plan on doing all Rockford fosgates or maybe B2 audio (probably) & like the OP I will need to measure to make sure what will fit. Hopefully since I have a later order (Aug 1st) others will have figured this out & posted on it.

I have thought about kick panels as well, but mine is a 2 door so I may be able to just upgrade the rear pods & be good with it.

No sub for this vehicle as I want to utilize storage space better, unlike my current fusion that has a 15" sub filling the entire trunk space.

Would you be willing to post pics and info when you do it? I don’t know much about audio, and would love to have decent sound coming out of my bronco

 

[Southside_Ray]

Would you be willing to post pics and info when you do it? I don’t know much about audio, and would love to have decent sound coming out of my bronco

I would love to do that. It may be awhile though... Gotta get my Bronco first lol

 

[Colorado buff]

O M G !! ..... can't believe it

https://classics.autotrader.com/classic-cars-for-sale/bmw-2002-for-sale

my next car was my mom's Alpha Spider that was flawless in looks but always in the shop .... i wish I had kept that one too

https://www.cars.com/shopping/alfa_...0zd_WqeueSxaUA-9PoShMmn35zz5m7ohoCzjUQAvD_BwE

Those are actually reasonable prices for bmw 2002. Some have gone for a lot more. The spider reminds me of a precursor to the miata.

 

[jay102269]

So after many countless hours I was able to complete the install on my son's Big Bend. I'm using a 5 channel Soundstream amp that fits perfectly under the driver's seat. It's still loose since we are fine tuning some of the gains and x-over freqs. I'm blocking the under seat vents and will mount it directly behind the vent. I replaced the fronts with Polks and am using JBL Soundbar for the rears. The 10" Bazooka is a carry over until the aftermarket comes up with a built in enclosure. It was tough trying to splice in all the wires under the ACM. There isn't much room and only a few inches of wire to work with. Gotta have some patience with that part of the install. Thanks to all the good people who have posted on this thread and made everything easier.

 

[FATHORSE]

So after many countless hours I was able to complete the install on my son's Big Bend. I'm using a 5 channel Soundstream amp that fits perfectly under the driver's seat. It's still loose since we are fine tuning some of the gains and x-over freqs. I'm blocking the under seat vents and will mount it directly behind the vent. I replaced the fronts with Polks and am using JBL Soundbar for the rears. The 10" Bazooka is a carry over until the aftermarket comes up with a built in enclosure. It was tough trying to splice in all the wires under the ACM. There isn't much room and only a few inches of wire to work with. Gotta have some patience with that part of the install. Thanks to all the good people who have posted on this thread and made everything easier.

That looks like fun.

 

[BadBroncoJ]

Can anybody speak to the amount of bass roll off with the standard system? My F-150 was pretty terrible. So bad that I really regretted using the line output converter to get signal to my sub amp. The sub sounded amazing at low volume (Soundstream Reference amp and JL sub) but as soon as you turned it up the low end just faded away.. Gone are the days of swapping out head units and the factory doesn't give us RCA outputs, so I don't really know how to avoid this unless it can be reprogrammed. Or what I'm really hoping is that they just gave us full sound to work with.

 

[evilletruck]

So after many countless hours I was able to complete the install on my son's Big Bend. I'm using a 5 channel Soundstream amp that fits perfectly under the driver's seat. It's still loose since we are fine tuning some of the gains and x-over freqs. I'm blocking the under seat vents and will mount it directly behind the vent. I replaced the fronts with Polks and am using JBL Soundbar for the rears. The 10" Bazooka is a carry over until the aftermarket comes up with a built in enclosure. It was tough trying to splice in all the wires under the ACM. There isn't much room and only a few inches of wire to work with. Gotta have some patience with that part of the install. Thanks to all the good people who have posted on this thread and made everything easier.

Looks like the remote in wire is not connected does the amp have power on with low level line input,? Trying to find a good 12v power on ignition to tap into but have not come across one yet.

 

[jay102269]

Looks like the remote in wire is not connected does the amp have power on with low level line input,? Trying to find a good 12v power on ignition to tap into but have not come across one yet.

I'm using the high level outputs from the ACM. The amp detects the high level signal and turns on.
I was prepared to tap into the fuse panel but fortunate that I was able to avoid that.

 

[b1lf]

Sub'd.

 

[buzpro]

All the stock wires are 18 Ga. ..... did you change the Ga. on any wires? what did you use for power and ground wires to the Amp?

 

[jay102269]

All the stock wires are 18 Ga. ..... did you change the Ga. on any wires? what did you use for power and ground wires to the Amp?

I used this from Crutchfield: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_007CSW9W20/Crutchfield-CSW9W-20.html
It was a lifesaver. I cut the 20' cable in half. Was able to run a single flexible cable from the ACM to the amp under the seat for the high level inputs. Then I used the other 10' to run from the amp's speaker terminals back to the same spot under the ACM and spliced back into the OEM speaker wires. Just becareful and take your time. Not much room and very little of the OEM wire to work with.

I used some exisitng 8 ga. wire that I had to run from the battery thru the firewall. The ground was easy. Since the amp was under the seat I used the seat mounting bolt for the ground. It needed less that a foot of cable and the bolt went all the way to through the body of the vehicle.

 

[zombie]

Well I can't report on quality or results yet (since I *just* ordered it), but I went the "low budget" route using Crutchfield's house brand "sound ordnance" for my 4 door Badlands:

Sound Ordnance B-8PTD

Sound Ordnance™ P-65B

Sound Ordnance™ P-40B

Threw in a 10 ga wiring kit and some metra harnesses as per this post and it was all less than $500 CAD w/ tax

Will report back once I get it installed.

*edit* Shipped today, so hopefully the wait won't be that long... the stock speakers on my BL "base" really do stink!

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