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Audio Upgrade - Observations/Questions

JGee

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Riddle me this...As a former Audio engineer manager, doesn't Ford have a crossover with the dash panel speakers and kick panel speakers eliminating the need for bass blockers?
The 4" Ford speaker has bass blocker cap integrated into the speaker assembly. Same story with the rear 4" Ford speakers. If you upgrade the Ford dash speakers, you will need to buy separate bass blockers for them since aftermarket speakers do not include them. The 6 1/2 inch kickpanel Ford speakers do not need bass blockers installed, and Ford of course did not provide them. Does this help?
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JGee

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So thanks to those on this forum I think I fixed my problem. Went back to the drawing board and decided to put the stock 6.5s back in, and throw two bass blockers on the dash 4s (still Infinity Reference speakers). In combination with the swap back to stock on 6.5s it sounds substantially better and I'm very pleased.

For whatever reason the 6.5 Infinity Reference in the kick panel (in my installation, at least) just sounded too flat and for my style of music it just felt like a major disappointment. The 4s are wonderful and even better with the bass blockers up front (none on rear pods), so if you are looking to make an improvement it genuinely sounds fantastic. You have to realize it wont sound like a true premium system but for a convertible truck that can be hosed down inside it sounds pretty crisp and loud enough for my tastes.
Thanks I was there too. The kickpanel speakers are ok in my humble opinion. There is no need for them to put out high end sound due to their location, and you can get better imaging by just having the highs coming from the dash.
 

EquusBronsis

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The 4" Ford speaker has bass blocker cap integrated into the speaker assembly. Same story with the rear 4" Ford speakers. If you upgrade the Ford dash speakers, you will need to buy separate bass blockers for them since aftermarket speakers do not include them. The 6 1/2 inch kickpanel Ford speakers do not need bass blockers installed, and Ford of course did not provide them. Does this help?
Makes perfect sense. Thanks
 
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palley6

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For visual reference someone posted this in another thread to give you an idea

Ford Bronco Audio Upgrade - Observations/Questions 1633448429415
 

annieVonBebop

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What kinda tunes are you running through this? Interested because low end is crazy important for what I enjoy and knowing which tweaks to make w/o an Amp and sub as a temp band aid solution is super important for me 🙂
 

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palley6

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What kinda tunes are you running through this? Interested because low end is crazy important for what I enjoy and knowing which tweaks to make w/o an Amp and sub as a temp band aid solution is super important for me 🙂
Metal mainly, quite a bit of everything else additionally. Without doing anything else to the 6.5s it definitely wont blow your socks off but with the setup from factory these changes make a huge difference overall. I'm thinking about popping the panels off again and putting dynamat all around the speaker hole and cavity, someone mentioned it dramatically improved the bass response all on its own.
 

Funkdoobiest

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For visual reference someone posted this in another thread to give you an idea

Ford Bronco Audio Upgrade - Observations/Questions 1633448429415
I'm curious what frequency the factory filter is. If anyone can check I think a quick and easy way would be to use a frequency sound generator app on a phone and play it through the stereo. Hopefully one of the 4" speakers can be isolated from the kick panel through the eq.
 
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palley6

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I'm curious what frequency the factory filter is. If anyone can check I think a quick and easy way would be to use a frequency sound generator app on a phone and play it through the stereo. Hopefully one of the 4" speakers can be isolated from the kick panel through the eq.
Ford Bronco Audio Upgrade - Observations/Questions 1633450104394
 

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For the audiophiles out there what would you suggest I do? is it best to replace the 6.5s with something more capable, add an amplifier, add filter(s), install a separate subwoofer? Appreciate the help from the community, thanks all.
If you got the Reference 6530cx, they will only go down to 53Hz, you're missing a ton of low end. Aftermarket 6.5" speakers generally aren't expected or designed to fill in the low end, it's usually expected to provide the high end while a subwoofer fills out the lows.

Ford may have spec'd the stock speakers to fill in that low end. I've also seen where the stock headunit is underpowered for the aftermarket speakers, where adding an amplifier really brings them to life.
 

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EquusBronsis

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First order high pass filter...if you can do the math; you can improve SQ with higher grade capacitors.
 

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Brother is getting some quotes on having a BL upgraded by the same folks that did his Shelby. Will be interesting to see what $$ range they come back with.
 

da_jokker

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The 4" Ford speaker has bass blocker cap integrated into the speaker assembly. Same story with the rear 4" Ford speakers. If you upgrade the Ford dash speakers, you will need to buy separate bass blockers for them since aftermarket speakers do not include them. The 6 1/2 inch kickpanel Ford speakers do not need bass blockers installed, and Ford of course did not provide them. Does this help?
Ok wait... I'll admit I haven't been able to totally follow (and understand) all the technical threads about the stereo.

However, I know a few of them have said that you can't tap into the rear speaker wires because there's no base being sent to them. So people are recommending you tap off the kick panel speakers. In addition, the JBL soundbar thread sounds like the head unit has to be reprogrammed to send the full frequencies to the bar.

My point being, if the base blockers are in the speakers, and you replace the speakers then shouldn't the base come back? (Talking about replacing the rear speakers with a better quality one like people have been doing with the dash)
 

JGee

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Ok wait... I'll admit I haven't been able to totally follow (and understand) all the technical threads about the stereo.

However, I know a few of them have said that you can't tap into the rear speaker wires because there's no base being sent to them. So people are recommending you tap off the kick panel speakers. In addition, the JBL soundbar thread sounds like the head unit has to be reprogrammed to send the full frequencies to the bar.

My point being, if the base blockers are in the speakers, and you replace the speakers then shouldn't the base come back? (Talking about replacing the rear speakers with a better quality one like people have been doing with the dash)
Great question! Unfortunately due to how the packaging of the rear speakers have been done on the Bronco, there is not enough volume in the speaker enclosures to enable any speaker to deliver much bass at all. The rear speaker boxes are so small that significant low bass simply cannot be delivered. And if you deliver the full frequency range to any speaker in such a small enclosure, it will simply distort at even modest volume. That's why Ford programmed the Sync 4 head unit to cut off low frequencies to the rear speakers. And I found this out the hard way when I replaced the front 4 inch speakers without bass blockers. The speakers are also in a very small enclosure and the baffling will not allow much bass to be generated. Once I fixed this program with bass blockers the system sounded much more balanced and less distorted. I hope this helps.
 

SpursFan

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Great question! Unfortunately due to how the packaging of the rear speakers have been done on the Bronco, there is not enough volume in the speaker enclosures to enable any speaker to deliver much bass at all. The rear speaker boxes are so small that significant low bass simply cannot be delivered. And if you deliver the full frequency range to any speaker in such a small enclosure, it will simply distort at even modest volume. That's why Ford programmed the Sync 4 head unit to cut off low frequencies to the rear speakers. And I found this out the hard way when I replaced the front 4 inch speakers without bass blockers. The speakers are also in a very small enclosure and the baffling will not allow much bass to be generated. Once I fixed this program with bass blockers the system sounded much more balanced and less distorted. I hope this helps.
for those adding a sub wouldn't it be better turning off the low pass filter in sync (forscan) adding new rear pod speakers with their own bass blockers then tapping into those for high lvl inputs for sub?

I see everyone talking about using only the kick panel speakers for HL inputs, seems this would be easier and yeild better results. Couple weeks away from my B&O and a big audiophile so kicking tires on ideas.
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