JL Audio Fix 86 - Base audio measured - Flat front/rear FORSCAN settings

[da_jokker]

So the factory base system has an EQ on the front and rear channels, along with an aggressive crossover on the rear channels. Currently if someone wants to add a sub, they have to get signal from the front speakers. This Forscan change would allow you to get that from the rear speaker wires.

Also, this allows you to get full range (bass) to the rear speaker pods, this will not help the OEM speakers much as they also have a built in high pass filter. However an aftermarket speaker may not, and with this you should get fuller sound even with the factory speakers. With that said, a good system does need some DSP work to deal with the oddities of the automotive listening environment.

You had me at "allows you to get full range from the rear speakers"....will make wiring up my aftermarket amp so much easier!

One more question... You know, for my 10 year old ..... Doing this change to flatten the signal, does it still allow me standard Bass/Treble and Fade controlls?

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[Dads_bronze_bronco]

Bought one to do a little analysis on why the base system sounds so awful, and beyond the speakers, there are some issues with the DSP module curve Ford has chosen for the Bronco. I don't have access to a Lux install with B&O to compare and contrast, and I am working on getting Forscan up and going for more measurements after tweaking the audio settings, but thought I'd start here.

Keep in mind this is the measurement of the Head Unit itself, having nothing to do with the speakers.

The top is the front channels, the bottom are the rears. We know Ford nerfed the rear channels, but some things of note, not only is the bass rolled off incredibly aggressively, the output is lower as well. Now, to be fair, if you are going for a proper soundstage the output from the rears should be lower. Both the front and rear also are missing significant high frequency information rolling off strongly above 16K Hz, the Ford speakers couldn't play up here anyway, but it makes getting great sound out of aftermarket systems a bit more challenging to get a feeling of openness or airy-ness that a high quality tweeter can apply.

Next up i'll be getting Forscan and checking settings and impact, maybe one night this week.

Fronts only zoomed

Rear zoomed

As a follow on, you should take readings at the split out for the front dash speakers with the kick panels speakers in operation. Would like to know if there are filters built into the 6”.

 

[MOBRONCO]

You had me at "allows you to get full range from the rear speakers"....will make wiring up my aftermarket amp so much easier!

One more question... You know, for my 10 year old ..... Doing this change to flatten the signal, does it still allow me standard Bass/Treble and Fade controlls?

Yep, those and Speed Compensated Volume are all still there.

 

[‘21OBX]

Any feed back from the guys that tried this? No crazy loud chimes or any odd side effects that some people had with the other changes? I’ll have to try this and re run my kicker dsp setup. Thanks in advance for doing the hard part lol.

 

[MOBRONCO]

Any feed back from the guys that tried this? No crazy loud chimes or any odd side effects that some people had with the other changes? I’ll have to try this and re run my kicker dsp setup. Thanks in advance for doing the hard part lol.

My chimes do seem a bit louder, but not that big of deal.

 

[Jpursuit]

My chimes do seem a bit louder, but not that big of deal.

Okay, so here is what I was looking for.

First, the TLDR. It is possible to get almost completely flat audio signal from the 2022 base factory unit with ONLY using Forscan. This is great news, you won't hear a ton of difference in factory speakers, but this is the way to get flat audio to feed an amp or system of your choice.

My Forscan changes, 727-01-01 to 3800 and 727-01-02 to 0900

First, all 4 channels showing flat (or as close as you'll get) out of the system with only a FORSCAN change

Front channel showing essentially flat output, minus an odd peak then dip above 16K

And what everyone is searching for (maybe can help the B&O guys too, but no promises) unmolested rear channel output

So happy to see this post. After doing this I will have the option of adding a powered sub using the rear speaker wires which will be mush easier and cleaner than running wires from teh kick panels.

 

[Tombky]

This was my original setting.... when I changed the first and third variable of line it did add sound to the rear channels.

I have Kicker speakers installed and noticeably louder. Unfortunately with the flat settings I lost a ton of bass and sound from the my front components and sub (running off speaker level fronts).
Running Focal Comps up front, JL 4 channel amp and Mono Apline amp to sub.

Any thoughts?

 

[RedHotFuzz]

I wish there was a Mac version of forsccan

I'd rather have an iOS version.

 

[MOBRONCO]

This was my original setting.... when I changed the first and third variable of line it did add sound to the rear channels.

I have Kicker speakers installed and noticeably louder. Unfortunately with the flat settings I lost a ton of bass and sound from the my front components and sub (running off speaker level fronts).
Running Focal Comps up front, JL 4 channel amp and Mono Apline amp to sub.

Any thoughts?

So the factory EQ has a massive bump (6-9 DB) centered around 70 Hz which is the upper limits of the sub bass region and there are also smaller bumps around 400 Hz and 4K. Basically a 6-9 DB bump is the equivalent of going from a 100 watt amp to a 400 (6 dB) to 800 watt amp (9 dB).

Looking through your thread your Alpine sub amp also has a bass knob that has up to a 12 dB boost at 50 Hz, so you may have been boosting the crap out of your sub and getting a very peaky bass signal

You likely need an DSP/EQ of some sort, but you may be able to get away with bumping up the bass in the Sync deck to get a similar sound. I would also look at re-adjusting your gains. How did you wire the Focals? Both off the front channels of the JL and then rear pods off the rear channels?

 

[Tombky]

2 Channels to front Comp (speaker level) and 2 Channels to the rear pods from JL. The front focal have a decent amount of bass which seems to be less with the changes. How do you "bump up the bass in Sync Deck?" Simply turn up bass in tone settings? Did that with little change.

Probably going to add a DSP at some point...

 

[kevin.gt]

Big thanks to @MOBRONCO for figuring this out and posting the before/after charts. The forscan changes are a nice improvement to me. I feel like they remove the overly boomy/muddy sound that made everything sound like an analog FM station.

I posted a couple sample recordings with before/after in case it helps anyone. Please excuse the poor iphone recording. I don't think it's doing the sound justice, but it does highlight the differences in the low/mid range. I think this is what @Tombky is also experiencing, but honestly I like it this way. It sounds much clearer with more separation. I do feel like I need to add a subwoofer, but that was the plan all along. At this point, I may skip the kicker key.

note: I have 4" Kicker KS and the fronts have 300hz blockers

O.A.R. sample
Eminem sample

 

[4dtrkman]

Ok newb question for those who seem to know. Will a dsp eliminate the need for forscan adjustment? Can most shops do forscan adjustments to eliminate needing dsp I’ve done my own install on my F150s but seems ford really made the Bronco head unit a nightmare for us.

 

[Jpez1127]

I went the Kicker 200.4 and speaker replacement route. Would this help with getting a better EQ? If I understand correctly it should right?

 

[RedHotFuzz]

Ok newb question for those who seem to know. Will a dsp eliminate the need for forscan adjustment? Can most shops do forscan adjustments to eliminate needing dsp I’ve done my own install on my F150s but seems ford really made the Bronco head unit a nightmare for us.

DSP can't help if the head unit isn't sending full-range audio to the rear speakers. This is what the Forscan adjustment allows. Open up full-range to the rear using Forscan, then do the DSP.

 

[RedHotFuzz]

I went the Kicker 200.4 and speaker replacement route. Would this help with getting a better EQ? If I understand correctly it should right?

Absolutely.

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