23 Raptor Speaker Upgrade Question

[jatt143]

Hi All,

I have 23 Braptor, High package ( no lux ). The speakers are horrible and I wanted to upgrade them. The question I have is or confused about is how many speakers are in there. and what are their size?

Crutchfield doesn't have Raptor in their drop-down menu but for normal non-B&O audio it says 4" in the dash and rear roll pods and 6.5 in kick panels

Sonicelectronix does have a raptor in the drop-down menu but it shows different sizes like 3.5 for dash and rear roll bar pods

If someone can please confirm which size for the dash and rear pods? also, I believe there are only 6 speakers in non B&O system.


Thank you!

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[RagnarKon]

The High package audio system in Bronco Raptor is identical to the High package audio system in the "normal" Bronco. There are seven:

- (2) 4" dash speakers
- (2) 6.75" kick panels speakers
- (2) 4" pod speakers
- (1) 6.75" subwoofer

The subwoofer may or may not exist... there was a shortage of subwoofers throughout the 2023 model year, so many Broncos only got 6-speaker and were given a credit. You'd have to check you window sticker to see if you have credit or not.

I have a full set of videos/posts on how to replace the speakers. First one starts here.

 

[jatt143]

The High package audio system in Bronco Raptor is identical to the High package audio system in the "normal" Bronco. There are seven:

- (2) 4" dash speakers
- (2) 6.75" kick panels speakers
- (2) 4" pod speakers
- (1) 6.75" subwoofer

The subwoofer may or may not exist... there was a shortage of subwoofers throughout the 2023 model year, so many Broncos only got 6-speaker and were given a credit. You'd have to check you window sticker to see if you have credit or not.

I have a full set of videos/posts on how to replace the speakers. First one starts here.

Thank you! I watched your videos last night . Great video on Tailgator table, got mine installed in Jiffy

 

[Wirenut20]

Hi All,

I have 23 Braptor, High package ( no lux ). The speakers are horrible and I wanted to upgrade them. The question I have is or confused about is how many speakers are in there. and what are their size?

Crutchfield doesn't have Raptor in their drop-down menu but for normal non-B&O audio it says 4" in the dash and rear roll pods and 6.5 in kick panels

Sonicelectronix does have a raptor in the drop-down menu but it shows different sizes like 3.5 for dash and rear roll bar pods

If someone can please confirm which size for the dash and rear pods? also, I believe there are only 6 speakers in non B&O system.


Thank you!

https://www.mtiacoustics.net/ford.h...r-Speaker-Pods/p/441935695/category=127527300

 

[swamp2]

Isn't the general consensus (maybe @RagnarKon or others..) that the first/easiest best bang for the buck mod for this base system is the amp not speakers?

 

[RagnarKon]

Isn't the general consensus (maybe @RagnarKon or others..) that the first/easiest best bang for the buck mod for this base system is the amp not speakers?

It ultimately depends how much money you want to spend… and obviously someone who has a Bronco Raptor may have more disposable income to invest in their sound system than other folks.

But yes, in most cases you'll want an amplifier. You can upgrade the 4" speakers and get better results. But most people won't be happy until they get an amplifier.

 

[swamp2]

It ultimately depends how much money you want to spend… and obviously someone who has a Bronco Raptor may have more disposable income to invest in their sound system than other folks.

But yes, in most cases you'll want an amplifier. You can upgrade the 4" speakers and get better results. But most people won't be happy until they get an amplifier.

Thanks. I get that one can spend anything they want (car stereo or vehicle itself...). I was trying to get at the heart of the stock non BO stereo and upgrading it. It's my understanding that the best combination of plug-n-play install, good performance bump and low price is an amp replacement. I've seen a lot of specific praise/recommendations for the Kicker 200(x?), probably from you too. Correct? Cheers.

 

[vrtical]

Isn't the general consensus (maybe @RagnarKon or others..) that the first/easiest best bang for the buck mod for this base system is the amp not speakers?

yes kicker keyway and if your missing the sub then that is needed for sure but you can buy I forget the other OEM amp sub direct plug in then get a Kicker sub.

 

[RagnarKon]

Thanks. I get that one can spend anything they want (car stereo or vehicle itself...). I was trying to get at the heart of the stock non BO stereo and upgrading it. It's my understanding that the best combination of plug-n-play install, good performance bump and low price is an amp replacement.

Yeah I personally think the amplifier is the foundation of everything, and that's where I would start. A lot of people don't like starting there because it requires you to dig farther into the vehicle's trim pieces than many people are comfortable doing. But that's where I would start.

I've seen a lot of specific praise/recommendations for the Kicker 200(x?), probably from you too. Correct? Cheers.

To be honest, I used the Kicker Key 200.4 because Kicker had a crazy sale last year for Black Friday when I was buying everything for my Bronco. (I was able to buy the Key 200.4 for under $200).

There is nothing really particularly special about that amp, and you could argue that it is slightly under-powered for the application. It almost feels like myself and few other people made forum posts with the Key 200.4 and that caused it to suddenly become the de facto standard amp for the Bronco. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent amp, but the reality of the situation is there are several amplifiers that would work, and had that sale not happened I may not have gone with the Kicker Key.

 

[Brian_B]

I used a Kenwood X802-5, more or less like the Kicker 200, little bit different form factor and has an integrated 500W channel for sub if you wanted to use it. It fit perfectly in the glove box.

I upgraded mine kind of piecemeal as parts came in - can confirm, the Amp made (along with Forscan'ing the EQ) made the biggest difference by far.

I installed the Amp first, that was a huge difference. When I upgraded the speakers from stock after that - it was ... not nearly as impressive as the jump to just adding in the amp. Still better imaging and more full sound, but not knock-your-socks-off better from the factory speakers.

 

[swamp2]

@Brian_B why mount an amp in your glovebox? Would it have fit where the factory one is? Fully plug-n-play?

 

[Brian_B]

@Brian_B why mount an amp in your glovebox? Would it have fit where the factory one is? Fully plug-n-play?

That's a good question. I'll start off admitting that I didn't try to mount it where the small sub amp was back by the sub. I'm not sure it would fit there - the sub amp in the rear section is small and narrow like the Kicker looks to be. It might fit, but I don't know. It didn't look like it at first glance though, and I didn't want to run the wiring for the other four channels all the way back.

If there's another amp for the system, I have no idea where it is to replace and just didn't see it / think of it. Maybe I missed out on a good opportunity? The B&O amp looks like it may already have that wiring, my base external amp (non-B&O, but lucky enough to have the OEM subwoofer) was just subwoofer and didn't go out to the other 6 speakers.

I ran the X802-5 as a line-level amp, and had the Crutchfield wiring harness that plugs into the head unit wiring harness (it's behind the HVAC controls) and allows you to interrupt the factory wiring to the 4 channels. You run the head unit output to the amp input, and then re-route the amp output out to the speakers. Amp automatically turns on when it detects line level power. Adjust the gain on the amp so the factory volume works like you want it to. The Crutchfield harness was nice because I didn't have to cut or splice any factory harnesses, and being in the glove box, the wiring run was like... 12 inches.

I did have to run a line for the subwoofer back - I didn't even try to use factory wiring for that, and with a 500W channel on the amp I wouldn't really want to. Ran that under the carpet until I got back to the OEM sub enclosure.

That said, when I had everything apart putting in the harness for the speaker wire pickup and just kind of looking around where to put the thing - the glove box was right there, it was near the harness, I didn't have to run a ton of wire, and I didn't have to pull out any more internal trim pieces. The wires come up and out the backside and I just tied everything up nice and neat so the passengers won't kick 'em with their feet.

The Kenwood sits in the glove box perfectly, I don't miss the space (there's still room for stuff in there, it doesn't take the entire glove box up), you can still open the glovebox up normally, the amp doesn't overheat there, and isn't hard to get to if I want to make any changes to the gains / settings. Bonus, the red power LED on the amp looks like a glovebox light, and you wouldn't even know the amp is in there unless you open the glove box all the way and drop it down.

There may be a better spot if the factory amp is somewhere and I just missed it, but I don't feel like I totally screwed up my rig either.

I did add a couple of pieces of re-enforcement to the back side of the glove box to sturdy it up a bit - a couple of strips of metal that the amp can screw into through the back of the glovebox. That firmed everything up and kept the amp tucked up on the top/rear of the glovebox. When you open the glovebox up you don't even see the amp unless you look for it - which was what I was looking for.

I did debate pulling the center console apart, I had heard there was some open space in there. But I got lazy and didn't pull it.

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