B&O System - Looking to Upgrade

[JBMas]

In the last week of research trying to have some education to make better decsions, it sounds like the way many do it, they just start replacing the speakers only but its going to be a modest upgrade in sound and the real sound separation will occur by getting all the speakers running through a quality amp. A new amp must be able to talk to the head unit using a language called A2B. That requires a "pre amp" A2B processor to translate into any new amp that can actually be tuned. As someone posted above, the 5star guy in Clearwater seems like a guru and he has an install on a F150 but used two amps. I may have found a local installer with experience to help navigate this area but just wanted some knowledge to be prudent.

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[Geo]

In the last week of research trying to have some education to make better decsions, it sounds like the way many do it, they just start replacing the speakers only but its going to be a modest upgrade in sound and the real sound separation will occur by getting all the speakers running through a quality amp. A new amp must be able to talk to the head unit using a language called A2B. That requires a "pre amp" A2B processor to translate into any new amp that can actually be tuned. As someone posted above, the 5star guy in Clearwater seems like a guru and he has an install on a F150 but used two amps. I may have found a local installer with experience to help navigate this area but just wanted some knowledge to be prudent.

Get a New Amp, a DSP, and New Speakers. This will be an improvement. Next level improvement is a new subwoofer. HUGE improvement will be new pods in rear with quality speakers. I have different "tuned settings" based on 1. Roof off, 2. Roof on, 3. Roof off with pods rear facing. Have fun!

 

[JBMas]

Get a New Amp, a DSP, and New Speakers. This will be an improvement. Next level improvement is a new subwoofer. HUGE improvement will be new pods in rear with quality speakers. I have different "tuned settings" based on 1. Roof off, 2. Roof on, 3. Roof off with pods rear facing. Have fun!

Thank you, which amp did you use and speakers

 

[Geo]

JL marine pods, rockford Fosgate amp, stinger sub on rear door.

 

[2fast4u]

Thinking about speaker upgrade or going full new amps/dsp and speakers. I went a bit over board on my last audio build in my GT500. I don't think I need that much in the Bronco just Clean with good loud sound.

 

[JBMas]

Upgraded amp, which means dsp, is the key, quality sub and speakers. Speakers alone will help some but OEM amp is very week and no control, or bass.

 

[2fast4u]

Upgraded amp, which means dsp, is the key, quality sub and speakers. Speakers alone will help some but OEM amp is very week and no control, or bass.

yea may do a full build I have a extra JL vxi 1000/1 amp here at home I can use. Just have to stop myself from going down the Rabbit hole like I did on my GT500

 

[Boosted2.3L]

I can 100% confirm that simply replacing the B&O speakers with aftermarket ones makes a huge improvement. The key is to choose a speaker with the highest sensitivity rating possible. This is because the factory amp only puts out so many watts and a speaker with a higher sensitivity rating will make more efficient use of the limited power and therefore play louder and have less distortion.

Crutchfield lists speakers that are compatible with the Bronco and you can sort by sensitivity. I went with the Hertz DCX 100.3 for the front corners, center, and rears. Upgrading the kick panel speakers next. I also Dynamated the rear cargo area, subwoofer enclosure, and inside of the plastic panel covering the sub. It helped with the rattles and the bass seems punchier now.

I know a lot of haters on here mock any attempt to record the before and after sound improvement but you can definitely hear the difference in this video. Right side is stock B&O and left side is the upgraded Hertz speaker.

UPDATE: I just upgraded the kick panels to Hertz DSK 170.3 6.75” woofers. Definite improvement in mid bass and low end response. I’m upgrading the sub and adding a Kicker Key 500.1 to round things out

I don't care what people say, you can totally hear the clarity with the new speakers even with the compression! What type of music do you listen to and at what volume? I'm debating to go with those Hertz or get the Kicker KS series, but leaving stock amp/DSP means I might want to do you like, buy highest sensitivity speakers. When will you notice improvement for higher sensitivity speakers? For my use case, I play bass heavy music and listen to at least 20 on the volume dial, even higher when I take the top/doors off if that helps.

 

[Gotchaa]

What kind of Dynamat is that?

I can 100% confirm that simply replacing the B&O speakers with aftermarket ones makes a huge improvement. The key is to choose a speaker with the highest sensitivity rating possible. This is because the factory amp only puts out so many watts and a speaker with a higher sensitivity rating will make more efficient use of the limited power and therefore play louder and have less distortion.

Crutchfield lists speakers that are compatible with the Bronco and you can sort by sensitivity. I went with the Hertz DCX 100.3 for the front corners, center, and rears. Upgrading the kick panel speakers next. I also Dynamated the rear cargo area, subwoofer enclosure, and inside of the plastic panel covering the sub. It helped with the rattles and the bass seems punchier now.

I know a lot of haters on here mock any attempt to record the before and after sound improvement but you can definitely hear the difference in this video. Right side is stock B&O and left side is the upgraded Hertz speaker.

UPDATE: I just upgraded the kick panels to Hertz DSK 170.3 6.75” woofers. Definite improvement in mid bass and low end response. I’m upgrading the sub and adding a Kicker Key 500.1 to round things out

 

[BRBlue]

Noico. Bought it on Amazon. Same stuff as the more expensive brands. Works great.

Noico 80 mil 18 sqft car Sound... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012B5EMGO?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[Draughon]

Here's my situation:

2023 2D Bronco Badlands / LUX + SAS (with the B&O)

• Have replaced all 4'' speakers with JL Audio/Focal and have replaced the 6.5'' kick speakers with JL Audio as well.
• Overall the sound is a bit "thumpier" - and I'd say it's probably a 35% improvement, but I really wish the system had a better EQ rather than treble/mid/bass - because I'm constantly having to tweak for every song.
• I have to push the balance almost all the way to the front otherwise most of the sound seems to be coming from the rear pods / sub. and the sound profile / soundstage is a bit meh to be honest.
• Currently running this in Surround rather than Stereo mode
• I think with the higher quality component speakers, I need to up the volume knob (up to 22-24) to get the same level out output - I believe I read that's due to the factory speakers being more efficient at lower wattages? I could be wrong.
• Haven't touched the sub yet or opened up that panel yet.

Ideally, I want to keep the sub in the factory location since storage is limited in a 2D and a tailgate woofer would take up a lot of much needed space.

I'm so confused on what to do next - what do I need to get for:

Option A:

• Install Kicker Key (?) amp (200 or 500?) and new kicker subwoofer (kicker comp r8?) for increased bass
• I realize this does nothing for better signal quality / enhanced range for the other speakers
• I like the plugnplaykits options - but the shopping cart on www site is so damn confusing I have no idea what I need - which one to choose?
• Probably the cheapest upgrade path?

Option B:

• Install kicker key (?) amp (Audiocontrol amp?) and kicker subwoofer for increased bass
• Install L2C1 Pro (?) + kicker key amp + sub for increased bass + increased signal quality to upgraded speakers?
• My understanding is that this approach DOESN'T need bass filters as that's a lower speaker trim model (base) issue? Or do I have that wrong?
• Pricier path as I would need a pre-amp + amp + harness + ??? - and this would involve having to run wires to all the other speakers, correct?
• What components would I need to pull this off?

My understanding is that there are NO forscan tweaks for the B&O that has any effect on the sound due to the involvement of the DSP, correct?

 

[Ninjak]

@Draughon : My understanding is that the forescan tweaks do not work with the B&O system. I am in the same position as I have the LUX package in my Badlands. The audio was going to be one of my last upgrades, and I have now reached that point.

Reading through this, I think I will start replacing the speakers as it seems to be the easiest thing to do, I am not trying to win audio competitions, just want some better clarity. The kicker key seems cool, but those seem to be for people who has the base system.

 

[Draughon]

@Draughon : My understanding is that the forescan tweaks do not work with the B&O system. I am in the same position as I have the LUX package in my Badlands. The audio was going to be one of my last upgrades, and I have now reached that point.

Reading through this, I think I will start replacing the speakers as it seems to be the easiest thing to do, I am not trying to win audio competitions, just want some better clarity. The kicker key seems cool, but those seem to be for people who has the base system.

I can walk you through what I got - the JL C1 4'', the JL C100 6.5'' kickers and the Focal ACX100 (pods) ran about $500 all said and done... you can pop out the panels and plug em in pretty easy. I added killmat / polyfill where I could to help sound quality.

 

[Bellime]

So before I potentially spend some money on a new sound system, I wanted some guidance on this. I know there's other posts on this, and I've read through a bunch of them which were very helpful.

I reached out to a local car audio place near me, who provided a detailed explanation of things and why simply replacing the stock speakers with something else, won't give a huge improvement. I reached out to a few places who also mentioned this, but they didn't go into the same detail. However, this stuff is above my head.

Curious if the below email response from them makes sense, if something seems like they're trying to upsell me something I don't need, or if something is missing.

Thanks!


Having worked on some of the new fords (not the Bronco yet) we are all too aware of the shortcomings of the factory B&O system including lack of headroom or output. Being totally honest, Changing just the speakers would actually make very little difference as we would still be working with the OEM amplifier and OEM power levels. As we get into newer and newer vehicles we are finding that even the average consumer is no longer happy with the audio output of the “premium” audio solutions. Now this is me purely speculating but. if the B&O system is anything like the solution in the newer trucks, this is a data based audio system and requires some pretty specific parts to start changing out the factory amplifier and to re-power the factory speakers.

Looking online at the Base B&O system this is what i’ve found. In your SUV there is at least a 7 speaker Plus subwoofer solution with the subwoofer appearing to be a dual voice coil sub or for simplicity sakes a 9 channel audio system. The way the system works is as follows: From the headunit there is no longer analog audio sent into the factory amplifier, everything is now in the digital realm and as such it’s not as easy as just removing the factory amplifier and installing a new one. There is now a digital decoding solutions for a lot of the newer vehicles that convert from this databus solution to either conventional RCA or to fibre. From there it would then be inputted into a Digital DSP amplifier (or a standalone DSP with external amplifiers).

Putting together a solution like this will be your absolute biggest improvement and would greatly improve the audio output and would even allow us with the addition of a controller to have a separate “tune” or calibration for top on/off.

Any feedback would be appreciated. As mentioned, this sort of audio stuff is above my head. I want a good setup, but I'm not trying to win a car audio sound competition either.

Thanks folks!

First thing I would do is install sound deadening stuff behind the speakers, even in the pods. The play and listen. Basically baseline your current setup. I was amazed just what that improvement does. Then do the kick panels, the cavity will easily up to 6 3/4.

Btw, get a good set of tools for popping the panels. Don’t use screwdrivers and mark up the plastic.

 

[Ninjak]

I can walk you through what I got - the JL C1 4'', the JL C100 6.5'' kickers and the Focal ACX100 (pods) ran about $500 all said and done... you can pop out the panels and plug em in pretty easy. I added killmat / polyfill where I could to help sound quality.

Ok. Thos improved the sound. Ok. What about the pods. I see many buying the pods to hold a 6.5 speaker, does upgrading the 4's in the original pods help? I know the sub supplies bass and the kicks, so is it worth going to 6.5 for the Bar Pods or just do a 4' upgrade?

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