Audio upgrade insight needed....

[Badlands75]

Wanted to run a possible audio upgrade through the collective wisdom of this group. I know there are a lot of auto threads here and I’ve tried to read though most of them – thanks to everyone who has posted. This is all great information and much appreciated.

Have a 4-door 2023 Badlands, non-B&O with the factory subwoofer set up. Like most, my goal is to have clean, clear sound and not trying to wake the neighbors.

Proposed setup:

Dash - I have replaced the front dash speakers with Audiofrog GS42 and very happy with the sound. With an aftermarket amp, would I need bass blockers?

Kick panel – Open to suggestions here. Are most doing 2-way or midrange? I know many have said the factory speakers are OK so may not prioritize these until later.

Pods – Will likely replace with the same Audiofrog GS 42. I don’t know that upgrading to a larger speaker would make an appreciable difference?

Amp – Kicker Key 200.4. Seems to be the amp of choice for the Bronco, but curious if it will underpower the proposed speaker set up? Main question here is, is this amp a good match for the Audiofrog and kick s panel speakers? The Audiofrogs have a power range of 15-50 watts RMS which is the top end for the Kicker 200.4 – is this ok?

Subwoofer – Replaced factory sub with Kicker 48CWRT674 but feel it is still very underwhelming. Again, not looking to rattle the license plate just want to fill in the lows. Options would be to upgrade the sub to a larger kicker and/or replace the factory amp with the Kicker Key 500.1. Do you think the 6 ¾ sub is large enough if powered by an aftermarket sup to round out the sound?

Amp – Kicker Key 500.1. If decide to go with replacing the factory amp.

Thanks and appreciate any insight.

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[RagnarKon]

Dash - I have replaced the front dash speakers with Audiofrog GS42 and very happy with the sound. With an aftermarket amp, would I need bass blockers?

It's a person preference sorta thing. Small speakers can't really play frequencies below 80-100Hz, and below 50Hz or so it can get really bad. Very "tinny" sounding. The bass blockers is to filter out those lower frequencies so the speaker doesn't play them.

But if it doesn't bother you, then no need to add a bass blocker.

Kick panel – Open to suggestions here. Are most doing 2-way or midrange? I know many have said the factory speakers are OK so may not prioritize these until later.

2-way is what most people are going. If you do a midrange you'll probably want to do a component speaker setup with a crossover. The kick panels will play the lower frequencies with the dash playing the upper frequencies.

Keep in mind the kick panel speakers and the dash speakers share the same audio channel. So whatever signal gets sent to the kick panel, that same signal will also get sent to the dash.

Pods – Will likely replace with the same Audiofrog GS 42. I don’t know that upgrading to a larger speaker would make an appreciable difference?

I personally kept 4-inch pods in the rear because I wanted to retain the ability to store the Bronco's doors in the rear.

I do think upgrading to aftermarket 6.5-inch pods will definitely improve sound quality overall. The question is does it provide $300-$400+ of improvement. I'm skeptical personally, but a lot of people are very happy with their rear pod upgrades.

Amp – Kicker Key 200.4. Seems to be the amp of choice for the Bronco, but curious if it will underpower the proposed speaker set up? Main question here is, is this amp a good match for the Audiofrog and kick s panel speakers? The Audiofrogs have a power range of 15-50 watts RMS which is the top end for the Kicker 200.4 – is this ok?

The Kicker Key 200.4 is by all normal measures underpowered for the Bronco. Typically you'd want ~50 watts per speaker, the Bronco has six speakers, and so you really should be looking at a 300 watt amplifier for the Bronco.

That said, I have the Kicker Key 200.4 in my Bronco, and I'm happy with it. The primary reason why I bought it is because it was on-sale for $200... and for the feature set it provides, $200 is an amazing deal. It also was important to me to keep the amplifier up off the ground to retain the wash-out flooring, and I knew the Kicker Key was compact enough to be mounted under the dash.

Subwoofer – Replaced factory sub with Kicker 48CWRT674 but feel it is still very underwhelming. Again, not looking to rattle the license plate just want to fill in the lows. Options would be to upgrade the sub to a larger kicker and/or replace the factory amp with the Kicker Key 500.1. Do you think the 6 ¾ sub is large enough if powered by an aftermarket sup to round out the sound?

Amp – Kicker Key 500.1. If decide to go with replacing the factory amp.

You likely won't be happy until you upgrade to 8" - 10" subwoofer with an aftermarket amp.

 

[V1Rotate]

Replaced all my mid-package stuff with Hertz’s all around and amp’d them with a kicker Key 200.4. Added a Kicker Hideaway HS8 powered sub in the back (tapped the signal from the kick panel speakers) and I think it rounds it out perfectly.. you’re never going to turn this vehicle into a high end sound stage like some sort of super insulated BMW and honestly even an 8” sub just rattles all the cheap plastic interior until it drives you to drink. Once you stop drinking you’ll buy 3 packages of polyfill and spend an afternoon (and a few more beers) shoving it into every nook and cranny in the vehicle and then you’ll finally be happy once the rattles stop.
I’m definitely no audio expert but for not very much money (including self-installation which a fairly organized monkey could do) I’m extremely pleased.

 

[Brian_B]

My opinion:

the Audiofrogs have a built-in crossover - you could add a bass blocker if you want more control but they already have some built in

200.4 is 50W per channel (which matches the audiofrogs), but has nothing extra for the sub. That’s likely why your sub sounds underwhelming - the factory sub amp (that silver box back at the amp) is only 100W peak.

I’d add a sub amp (500.1 or something similar) - and then go from there.

I did upgrade my rears with 6.5” pods but didn’t notice a huge difference from the drivers seat - although folks in the back seats do say it sounds better.

 

[Badlands75]

Appreciate the feedback. I think this is the route I’ll go…..Kicker 200.4 for the front 4 channels with the Audiofrog speakers and the 500.1 for the sub. May eventually upgrade to an 8” sub. Again, thanks for the help!

 

[Oldhippie]

I did the kicker 200.4 for the 4” speakers and added a 200w (2x100) amp for the kick panels plus the kicker 500 and 8” sub in the stock enclosure…much better than stock but not a great sound stage…of course I am pretty deaf so the extra power is nice (if no one is riding with me)…

 

[frdfan]

I did the Kicker KS series 4" in the dash, 6.75" in the kick panels, got the Mabett 6.5" pods for the rear, along with 6.5 Kicker KS for those. Also added a Kicker 10" powered sub, velco'd to the floor of the cargo area. Added a Musway Four.100 amp and harness from Plug-N-Play.

Have the head unit soundstage set for driver and I'm very happy with the setup. Not overly loud when I crank it to distort or to much "thump" to wake the neighbors...I listen to alot of late 70's and early 80's rock...this amp and set up keeps up with it, even when streaming from online.

 

[Badlands75]

Thanks for the responses and additional insight everyone.

 

[Johnny Mo]

My plan is to upgrade all the 4" speakers - can't do much with the pods since I have the Raptor and not sure I am in the boat of the $250+ pods for a "possible" improvement. Also planning on Sub and sub-amp upgrade. Likely going with the Infinity reference series 4" for fronts, center and rear pods - not going to touch the 6.5 kick panels since the consensus there is wthout an amp upgrade it's not worth it. And then Kicker C8 Comp Sub with a kicker key 500.1 amp. I have the power supply already wired so it's an easy add on and I have an HDPE floor plate from my ARB install, so will likely mount my amp there as well - there's room under the slide out tailgate floor - so it should work. The audio frogs sounded great, but not sure I want to spend that much without going completely nuts and doing a full rip and replace of the B&O. Based on my past experience with Infinity and how they sounded compared to the Kickers, and some of the others I think I'll be reasonably happy - the efficiency gain alone should improve sound as well.

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