[How-To] FORScan Audio/Speaker Mods

[emilysona]

14F1 needs to be either 2AF1 (Sp, TW, Sub) or 02F1 (Sp/Sub). I'm assuming your sub is pulling its signal from the ACM, so you need to use Forscan to activate it.

You also want 727-01-02 to be "00"...turns off the high pass filter in the pods. Ford's EQ setting sucks.

EQ Settings - ACM 727-01-02

• xxYY-xxxx-xxxx
  • 00 = EQ Off
  • 01 = EQ On (High-pass filter on the rear pods)

My sub is a powered JBL BassPro NANO , ans is pulling its signal from the kick panel speakers.

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[emilysona]

You need to disable the EQ as well.

Just to recap: I will change both of my rear pod speakers to "Speaker & Tweeter" and disable the factory EQ, correct?

NOTE: Just in case it's important, I want to mention that I added a powered JBL BassPro NANO, and it is receiving its signal from both kick panel 6" speakers. I suppose this doesn't affect the results I am seeking of changing the rear pods and turning off the EQ for better sound, does it?

 

[EXO Bronco]

Yes! Assuming you have the base audio system (the 6 or 7-speaker).

If you have the B&O audio system that was included in the Lux package it's a very different. I'm working with @eduard4us on figuring out the B&O values now, but unfortunately it seems like Ford left very little flexibility for us to play with on the B&O system.

Have you made progress on B&O settings, so we can unlock the full range of the rear speakers? Do ANY of your codes listed work on B&O or is everything entirely different?

 

[RagnarKon]

Have you made progress on B&O settings, so we can unlock the full range of the rear speakers? Do ANY of your codes listed work on B&O or is everything entirely different?

Yup I figured it out with the help of some other forum users—but the results are not good. The B&O system has a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) that controls most of the sound system. The base audio system doesn't even have a DSP—so the setup is completely different.

On the base audio system, the EQ settings primarily impact the rear pod speakers. So by disabling the EQ, the rear pods see a gigantic improvement, while the front speakers aren't really impacted.

With the B&O system the DSP EQ processing impacts ALL of the speaker in the vehicle, so if you disable the EQ processing in the DSP—which is possible—it impacts every speaker in the Bronco, not just the rear pods. And the results sound like total garbage.

Really the only the only way to fix it is by disabling the DSP processing entirely, taking all of the speakers outputs from the factory DSP and sending it to the aftermarket DSP like the AudioControl DM-810. And then re-amplifying all of those signals with an aftermarket amplifier (or two). We're talking like $1200 - $1800 worth of gear alone, and that doesn't even account for all of the custom wiring you'll have to do.

So... at the end of the day... it is both easier and cheaper to upgrade the base audio than it is to upgrade the B&O system.

 

[BlarneyStoned]

Well there's also the mObridge 8.1.1 amplifier option, it's a A2B bus DSP & Amp combo, but you're still looking at $1600-2000 but it's a single box.

 

[RagnarKon]

Well there's also the mObridge 8.1.1 amplifier option, it's a A2B bus DSP & Amp combo, but you're still looking at $1600-2000 but it's a single box.

Yeah I was looking at that the other day. Interesting product, but… as you said… pricey.

Those that are looking at this thread likely already have their Bronco, so it’s probably too late for all of us. But it really emphasizes in my mind just how poorly valued the Lux package is. Granted I know Ford isn’t trying to make the Lux package a value-oriented option. But at twice the cost of the High package you would expect to get some good stuff.

Instead you get…

• A “premium” sound system that many people still feel like they need to upgrade.
• A heated steering wheel that a lot of people feel doesn’t do much heating
• An wireless phone charger that does a great job at heating and a bad job at charging
• Adaptive Cruise Control with a sensor that makes it very difficult to install common off-road accessories such as a winch
• A bunch of other minor stuff that you likely wouldn’t spend more than $200 for if it was a standalone package.

———

Anyway, derailing my own thread here. Just blows me away that the High package is such an awesome value and the Lux package is the polar opposite.

I do plan on making a Forscan video for the Lux package to list out the settings you can change. Just finishing up my own upgrade first. I’ve already put most of the info in the stickied Forscan spreadsheet thread for those who need the info sooner rather than later.

 

[da_jokker]

Just to recap: I will change both of my rear pod speakers to "Speaker & Tweeter" and disable the factory EQ, correct?

NOTE: Just in case it's important, I want to mention that I added a powered JBL BassPro NANO, and it is receiving its signal from both kick panel 6" speakers. I suppose this doesn't affect the results I am seeking of changing the rear pods and turning off the EQ for better sound, does it?

You shouldn't change your rears to speaker + tweet because that tells the ACM to expect lower Ohms because there are 2 speakers per channel now. You could try changing it to just speaker if you just want to play with sound.

I turned off my EQ simple because I wanted no filtering done on the output signal. Not really sure if that makes much of a difference with the stock speakers because they have built-in bass blockers, but I wanted to make sure my nano got as much signal as possible.

 

[BlarneyStoned]

So has anybody with one of those fancy DSP amps actually grabbed the input before/after RTA graphs on making the Forscan tweaks?

I know in one set of screen shots I saw, there was a high end roll-off around 16k and I'm curious if that goes away with EQ turned off.

 

[RagnarKon]

So has anybody with one of those fancy DSP amps actually grabbed the input before/after RTA graphs on making the Forscan tweaks?

I know in one set of screen shots I saw, there was a high end roll-off around 16k and I'm curious if that goes away with EQ turned off.

I measured it with an bench oscilloscope I borrowed from work.

The high-end roll-off still occurs at roughly 17,000 Hz even with the EQ disabled. Most people can only clearly hear up to around 17,000 Hz so shouldn't be an issue at all for the vast majority of folks. But if you want to go up to 20,000 Hz+ ... not going to happen with the factory head unit it seems.

The low-end also starts rolling off pretty dramatically below ~22 - 23 Hz.

There was no way to log the output from that oscilloscope, but I do recall seeing a forum post awhile go of someone who measured it. Of course I can't find that post now because the search function sucks... but their results more or less matched mine.

 

[flip]

Yup I figured it out with the help of some other forum users—but the results are not good. The B&O system has a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) that controls most of the sound system. The base audio system doesn't even have a DSP—so the setup is completely different.

On the base audio system, the EQ settings primarily impact the rear pod speakers. So by disabling the EQ, the rear pods see a gigantic improvement, while the front speakers aren't really impacted.

With the B&O system the DSP EQ processing impacts ALL of the speaker in the vehicle, so if you disable the EQ processing in the DSP—which is possible—it impacts every speaker in the Bronco, not just the rear pods. And the results sound like total garbage.

Really the only the only way to fix it is by disabling the DSP processing entirely, taking all of the speakers outputs from the factory DSP and sending it to the aftermarket DSP like the AudioControl DM-810. And then re-amplifying all of those signals with an aftermarket amplifier (or two). We're talking like $1200 - $1800 worth of gear alone, and that doesn't even account for all of the custom wiring you'll have to do.

So... at the end of the day... it is both easier and cheaper to upgrade the base audio than it is to upgrade the B&O system.

Does the EQ disable in Forscan do the same thing FDRS does when telling it has a sound bar? Something changes but I don't know exactly what. It's not available for my '23 yet so kinda on the fence of messing with trying to add the stock sub and amp or not. I programmed one for a member last week who is also working on his. Need to go back in and look but there was an option in FDRS to modify specific speakers. Didn't play with that function since I hadn't seen it before and didn't want to mess his stuff up.

 

[RagnarKon]

Does the EQ disable in Forscan do the same thing FDRS does when telling it has a sound bar? Something changes but I don't know exactly what. It's not available for my '23 yet so kinda on the fence of messing with trying to add the stock sub and amp or not. I programmed one for a member last week who is also working on his. Need to go back in and look but there was an option in FDRS to modify specific speakers. Didn't play with that function since I hadn't seen it before and didn't want to mess his stuff up.

I don't know.

I am assuming that FDRS is actually programming a custom EQ curve built for the soundbar, but I don't know for sure. We'd have to look at the ACM module configuration of someone who has had their soundbar programming done and see if an EQ is programmed or not.

Either way, if you are installing a soundbar in a Bronco, disabling the EQ via Forscan is definitely a good band-aid step to get the soundbar sounding a LOT better until Ford adds the programming for 2023MY Broncos.

 

[BlarneyStoned]

The high-end roll-off still occurs at roughly 17,000 Hz even with the EQ disabled. Most people can only clearly hear up to around 17,000 Hz so shouldn't be an issue at all for the vast majority of folks. But if you want to go up to 20,000 Hz+ ... not going to happen with the factory head unit it seems.

Yeah, I have some high end hearing loss at 46 but I can still hear things up to around 18.5k pretty well and over that when it's loud enough. Probably why tweeters that I would have hated in my youth sound better now, lol.

Allegedly, if you have A2B you can get a flat 20-20k signal with EQ turned off but that's a steep price to pay for a slightly fuller signal, especially after the fact because you need to do the ACM swap + wiring for A2B + all the A2B gear (or mObridge).

Originally I was mad about having to give up Lux for High, but now I'm not feeling so bad about it. Knowing there's the top end roll-off no matter what you do in Forscan also helps inform whether it makes any kind of sense to get those higher end speakers.

 

[flip]

I don't know.

I am assuming that FDRS is actually programming a custom EQ curve built for the soundbar, but I don't know for sure. We'd have to look at the ACM module configuration of someone who has had their soundbar programming done and see if an EQ is programmed or not.

Either way, if you are installing a soundbar in a Bronco, disabling the EQ via Forscan is definitely a good band-aid step to get the soundbar sounding a LOT better until Ford adds the programming for 2023MY Broncos.

I need to see what the speaker 1,2,3,4 thing is about. It seems like that may be a route of doing a tweak to specific speakers on the factory end. Not sure why they'd put that in there when there're so many other things we should be able to modify that are just a benign.

 

[RagnarKon]

I need to see what the speaker 1,2,3,4 thing is about. It seems like that may be a route of doing a tweak to specific speakers on the factory end. Not sure why they'd put that in there when there're so many other things we should be able to modify that are just a benign.

Definitely report back. I plan on booting up FDRS at some point, but collecting a bunch of parts so I can do it all at once and squeeze it into the 2-day license window. (Father is now retired so I can no longer borrow his FDRS license that he had back when was an engineer at Ford.)

In the past that speaker 1/2/3/4 setting corresponded to the Speaker, Tweeter, and Speaker/Tweeter settings that I mentioned on the first page. I'd be curious if that changed.

• Speaker 1 - Driver front dash/kick panel
• Speaker 2 - Passenger front dash/kick panel
• Speaker 3 - Passenger rear pod
• Speaker 4 - Driver rear pod

Most of the Forscan settings we've been messing with can also be changed in FDRS—although Ford does block/hide the settings they don't want you to change.

(And just because I know someone else will ask the question... you cannot customize the EQ curves in FDRS. Generally speaking you can only program stuff Ford gives you.)

 

[ToddGreen]

Definitely report back. I plan on booting up FDRS at some point, but collecting a bunch of parts so I can do it all at once and squeeze it into the 2-day license window. (Father is now retired so I can no longer borrow his FDRS license that he had back when was an engineer at Ford.)

In the past that speaker 1/2/3/4 setting corresponded to the Speaker, Tweeter, and Speaker/Tweeter settings that I mentioned on the first page. I'd be curious if that changed.

• Speaker 1 - Driver front dash/kick panel
• Speaker 2 - Passenger front dash/kick panel
• Speaker 3 - Passenger rear pod
• Speaker 4 - Driver rear pod

Most of the Forscan settings we've been messing with can also be changed in FDRS—although Ford does block/hide the settings they don't want you to change.

(And just because I know someone else will ask the question... you cannot customize the EQ curves in FDRS. Generally speaking you can only program stuff Ford gives you.)

Do the base system, factory kick panel speakers have built-in capacitors of any sort like the dash speakers do? I don't think so, but want to confirm.

I replaced the dash speakers and used 600 Hz bass blockers to replace the capacitors built into the 4" factory speakers.

If I replace the factory kick panel speakers, is there anything similar I would need to do for the after-market speakers in a similar fashion?

Thanks.

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