Bronco audio upgrade build: Hertz woofers, Audison tweeters, Rainbow midrange, AudioControl amp, JL

[Broncodave]

Sorry to be asking abut the tent instead of the stereo, but which model RoofNest is that one? And did you need to do anything with the Bronco rails?

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[Les Korcala]

Sorry to be asking abut the tent instead of the stereo, but which model RoofNest is that one? And did you need to do anything with the Bronco rails?

Absolutely no worries
!
Its Roofnest Falcon XL it has Queen size mattress
If i did it again I would go with just standard falcon roof foot print is bit narrower so blends in with roof line better. Falcon is slightly smaller
Ad far as roof i did not trust factory rack and went with proven brand Prinsu
Its pricy at 1300$ but perfect low profile fit with many cross bars and additional attachment ready.
Assembly of the rack was about 3-4 hrs
I have winch in the garage bay and can lift if and store up high in winter months
I did post long post on assembly of it.
so far we love it!

 

[Broncodave]

Cool! Thanks for the info!

 

[SROC3]

After only 250 miles this Bronco needs audio upgrade
this is going to be my only second upgrade after I did few years back in my Xterra
Components used for this project :

front stage 3way

Hertz Mille Legend MLK 1650 6.5 woofers
Rainbow Germanium Gl M3 midrange
Audison Voce AV 1.1 Tweeters

3 Way powered by AudioControl LC-6.1200 6 Ch amp
Subwoofer
JL Audio single 10” W3v3-4
powered by JL JX 500/1D mono amp

for now I like to create front stage only with delete rear speaker.
I noticed after removing cargo area panels , sides, floor and more there are lots of flimsy rattling plastics as well as the Ford use of new hybrid thin steel in floor section of the Bronco makes for passible vibration and noise transfer from under muffler area.
first what I did is checked Db noise levels with my iPhone app.
did this before I start sound proofing cargo / doors area

I did two tests :
car running and parked with all electronics off , audio, heater etc.. 46 dB for an average 3 minutes interval
2nd one was driving on the highway at 65 m/hr in 5 minutes it scored 48 dB I was suspecting it will be way higher with highway noise ! Anyway, I will compare these numbers later with full sound proofing.
I do not believe roof section of the Bronco ( inside ) can not be improve in any way ! When you run you hands along the thin carpet section you can heard different rubbing and shifting sounds , when I drive off road I can hear these exact noises coming from inside the roof cabin area
Pone person put 300$ in to applying sound proofing stuff after striping of the thin black carpet and reinstalling later only to find out it improved about 5% overall noise from the inside roof walls , waisted projects on his part but he wanted to proof it.
few photos from first steps of sound proofing inside Bronco
I will try post each steps towards audio installation.

WOW. Fantastic man!

 

[BroncoOB]

What product are you using for deadening? Do you think there’s room for amps on the driver’s side rear, behind the panel?

That is a lot of respectable work to deaden the sound, not sure I would be up to it.

I think most of us getting most of the noise from rear and side windows. Any ideas how to deaden those? I am looking at clear vinyl to add thickness.

Dirtydog has a headliner which claims to reduce noise but pricy.

 

[Les Korcala]

You are spot on ! I did side panels becouse was super fast ! Say 15 minutes for each side , and i did exactly same in my Xterra and could tell difference there are so much flimsy soft plastic there ate vibrations coming from wheel wells and more.
doors are little more time consuming but again I tested on my Nissan and loved results with 5000$ audio build and that is only front stage 3 way set up any small detail i can get i be happy
Bronco roof is big sound problem i think with modular multi panel roof you get tons of noise leaking in and also some rubbing noises hard to detect where exactly but again its removable roof and not permanent build cabin so noises will be present
One guy on Y tube did spend 300$ on deadening project of the roof under the carpet only to claim 5-10% improvement via noise level check
Wasted money in my opinion
I have bigger problem since i have roof top ten and that is huge noise drag while at high speed
But i think off-roading will be fun have great system to listen too
SUVs are hard cars to get some good acoustic they like square bricks haha

 

[Les Korcala]

Yes .... exactly

I installed a 4 channel amp for the front stage and wired each channel to a speaker, eliminating the need for bass blockers .... my front stage is phenomenal.

Why not use 2 way Hertz tweeters if you're going with Hertz 6.5's? it will be an easy drop in.

Also, Mabett came out with new pods for the back that can house 6.5's instead of factory pods that just fit 4's.

The reason is that I have crossovers fur 2 way and missing Hertz
basically I cherry picked best components
this 3 way front stage will be Tri Amped meaning my AudioControl 6 Ch amp will power 3 ways
Hertz 6,5” and Voce tweeters wired to crossovers and midrange rainbow directly to the amp.
I am also running mono block 500 w pushing 10” Jl Audio transition line subwoofer. Total available watts from 2 amps will be 1700 w to 7 speakers
pits going to be amazing sound when is done.
the subwoofer with ti line will be 48” long and 7-8” tall mounted behind front seats. I declared rear seats

 

[Les Korcala]

How much weight did all of that add?

This reduction I believe the the lighter than any other stuff you can buy , very lightweight

 

[John P.]

Do the 6.5” Legends fit in the kickpanels and clear the factory grill? Crutchfield says no, but hopefully your experience says otherwise.

 

[Les Korcala]

Do the 6.5” Legends fit in the kickpanels and clear the factory grill? Crutchfield says no, but hopefully your experience says otherwise.

Well, on the speaker mounts ( bronco ) there are sticking out tabs with holes for the bolts and I did not want to modify and mess with holes so what I did was I used original mounting rings the factory drivers came with
I just used sharp blade , cut around the woofer and used pliers to cut back of the plastic driver and left with perfectly fitted rings.
on the kick panel covers ( inside ) there is very sharp ring and I just cut it off and flush with the blade ! Easy
This way there is plant room fir the woofer to move freely or getting cut existentially by this panel
Because i used original rings the legends are set back similar to original speakers i noticed still had room to treated bak of the magnet with foam
Below are few images
I wish i could just removed rings from speakers w/o cutting them out but they has permanent factory build , bit strange ! Forgot to mention that legend’a aluminum black grill braces wont fit there , i just mounted them naked since kick panels will cover the woofers

 

[Les Korcala]

How much weight did all of that add?

i would say 3-4 rolls of the stuff perhaps 10 lbs way less than pro grade stuff , for me I don’t care I do camp and load my car 10 -20 lbs extra is nothing !

 

[Les Korcala]

Sound deadening looks like roof/window flashing. It’s the cheapest trick in the book and does the same thing as all the others. Only downfall is depending on the kind you the inside of your vehicle might smell like asphalt for a while, but eventually goes away

you spot on ! It’s why I used this odorless stuff in past and now in second car by the need of the day I get wind noise from Roff top ten anyway , but getting few Db down in slow speeds during overlanding on off roads will be nice welcome plus listing tunes
i Did this on my xterra and noticed big difference it’s way I did not hesitate to do it in Bronco

 

[Les Korcala]

What product are you using for deadening? Do you think there’s room for amps on the driver’s side rear, behind the panel?

I used odorless cheap stuff used in Heater , cooler industry called Frost King it was around 80-100$ fir doing entire car accept the under front seat I did not do.
I want different rout and mounted all the amps in place deleted rear seats since we will use it for camping and will have storage build in rear cabin.
you could easy build medium to small sized amp or even 2 in the rear panel ( passenger side ) many have done it or if is mall amp or two small ones you could mount it in the cargo floor storage
I saw 2 pro installers using it and turned out beautiful I was going this route but my larger sized amp plus mono block and 2 crossovers would not fit there. It would been perfect spot totally out of the way , easy to run wires and you could ad 2 small fens fir air flow

 

[Les Korcala]

Yes .... exactly

I installed a 4 channel amp for the front stage and wired each channel to a speaker, eliminating the need for bass blockers .... my front stage is phenomenal.

Why not use 2 way Hertz tweeters if you're going with Hertz 6.5's? it will be an easy drop in.

Also, Mabett came out with new pods for the back that can house 6.5's instead of factory pods that just fit 4's.

I went 3 Way rout because it’s what I had in my Xterra and basically all was removed and moved to Bronco it will be TriAmped meaning each of the 6 Ch dedicated to one pair of 3 speakers , no rear sound fir me , just nice clear front stage with total of 1200 watts to the front and 500 w mono block and single 10” Jl woofer I will be building T Line style soobwoofer to take floor footprint behind the deleted seats
seats were declared and plenty space for amp rack and sub enclosure , car will be used mainly for overlanding camping

 

[John P.]

Awesome—thanks for the details about getting those Legends in there. A fitting end to the stock 6.5”s.

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