Planning my Audio Upgrade, does it make sense?

[MuthaBucker]

Yes, those are the Infinity's.

These are the Focal's:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091RCX100/Focal-RCX-100.html
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091RCX165/Focal-RCX-165.html?tp=78072

So they are a little more than the Infinity's, but not way up there like the Audiofrog's....

Ok that makes more sense, I was definitely looking at the wrong focals before.

Those focals sound great based on the comparison tool on Crutchfield, however accurate that is lol, and are pretty similar in price. I listen to a wide range of music (rock, rap, blues, country, etc) and the focals seem like they can handle a wide range of music well. I’m thinking focal might be my new play.

Sponsored

 

[Pressurized]

Ok that makes more sense, I was definitely looking at the wrong focals before.

Those focals sound great based on the comparison tool on Crutchfield, however accurate that is lol, and are pretty similar in price. I listen to a wide range of music (rock, rap, blues, country, etc) and the focals seem like they can handle a wide range of music well. I’m thinking focal might be my new play.

Excellent speakers...

I'm still leaning Infinity, have the 600hz blockers already and the Fusion amp. Still deciding which rear pods, Mabett, SSV or IAG. And lastly still not sure which sub, the Kicker is popular, but the Tang Band specs better for the factory ported enclosure.

Obviously I'm doing the simple stock "upgrade". For the 6 speaker with sub delete.

 

[MuthaBucker]

So after researching the speakers you all suggested, I was leaning towards the focal speakers, but I’m starting to realize I might need to mix and match.

After doing more research, I found that the focals I’m looking at would fit in the dash 4” location and the front 6.5” kick panel location, but won’t fit in the SSV pods (cutout diameters do not match up, confirmed with rep at Crutchfield).

The infinity speakers I’m looking at will fit in the dash location and the pods, but not in the kick panel.

I don’t know if I’m just OCD, but I was always thinking I would just get one type of speaker in the various sizes I need.

So my new questions are these:

Will there be any kind of negative effect on my sound if I mix and match these speakers?

Could that actually even be better since it will have more variety in which frequencies are hit?

Tagging @RagnarKon and @Pressurized since you’ve both been so helpful

 

[MuthaBucker]

To clarify my last post, what I’m thinking now is this:

4” dash speaker:https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091ACX100/Focal-ACX-100.html

6.5” kick panel speaker: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091ACX165/Focal-ACX-165.html

6.5” SSV pod speaker:https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R6532EM/Infinity-Reference-REF-6532ex.html

 

[RagnarKon]

So after researching the speakers you all suggested, I was leaning towards the focal speakers, but I’m starting to realize I might need to mix and match.

After doing more research, I found that the focals I’m looking at would fit in the dash 4” location and the front 6.5” kick panel location, but won’t fit in the SSV pods (cutout diameters do not match up, confirmed with rep at Crutchfield).

The infinity speakers I’m looking at will fit in the dash location and the pods, but not in the kick panel.

I don’t know if I’m just OCD, but I was always thinking I would just get one type of speaker in the various sizes I need.

So my new questions are these:

Will there be any kind of negative effect on my sound if I mix and match these speakers?

Could that actually even be better since it will have more variety in which frequencies are hit?

Tagging @RagnarKon and @Pressurized since you’ve both been so helpful

There is no problem with mixing and matching manufacturers. The only time I wouldn't do that is if you are buying component speakers. You want all of the speakers in a component system to match up. But you are looking at coaxials, not components, so you can mix and match to your heart's content.

I bought 100% Kicker gear for my Bronco, but I will say this is the first time I have upgraded my audio system where all of the gear was from the same manufacturer. Typically I'm mixing and matching depending on prices, what I'm looking to do, etc. etc. It just so happened Kicker had an amazing sale during the holiday season this past year, and I was shopping when that sale hit.

 

[DJ1]

There is no problem with mixing and matching manufacturers. The only time I wouldn't do that is if you are buying component speakers. You want all of the speakers in a component system to match up. But you are looking at coaxials, not components, so you can mix and match to your heart's content.

I bought 100% Kicker gear for my Bronco, but I will say this is the first time I have upgraded my audio system where all of the gear was from the same manufacturer. Typically I'm mixing and matching depending on prices, what I'm looking to do, etc. etc. It just so happened Kicker had an amazing sale during the holiday season this past year, and I was shopping when that sale hit.

Nothing wrong with using different brands in the same system, as @RagnarKon said. Most important is you get the components that will deliver what you want. I am mixing Morels in the front with Kicker in the back. Morels for their sound quality and Kickers for their power handling. My only comment to your proposed speakers is that doubling up on co-axial speakers might have some weird effect given that the dash and kick panel will both be trying to produce the same sound frequencies. Unless you are going to use a DSP to time align them. Or use a DSP or crossover to limit the frequencies going to each speaker. Probably not an issue in a car as loud as the Bronco, but you could use just a mid-range/mid bass driver in the kick panel and have your dash speakers take care of the highs.

 

[MuthaBucker]

Nothing wrong with using different brands in the same system, as @RagnarKon said. Most important is you get the components that will deliver what you want. I am mixing Morels in the front with Kicker in the back. Morels for their sound quality and Kickers for their power handling. My only comment to your proposed speakers is that doubling up on co-axial speakers might have some weird effect given that the dash and kick panel will both be trying to produce the same sound frequencies. Unless you are going to use a DSP to time align them. Or use a DSP or crossover to limit the frequencies going to each speaker. Probably not an issue in a car as loud as the Bronco, but you could use just a mid-range/mid bass driver in the kick panel and have your dash speakers take care of the highs.

Ya that’s an interesting point, after earlier recommendations, I’m thinking instead of the two amp setup of going with the Audiocontrol 5.1300 DSP amp, which as you mentioned would help with the tuning I think.

As you mention the mid vs high speakers, I also remembered @RagnarKon saying an earlier response to check out the Kicker 47KSC404 for the dash speakers to better handle highs, maybe that’s a better option than the focal 4” speakers.

 

[RagnarKon]

Ya that’s an interesting point, after earlier recommendations, I’m thinking instead of the two amp setup of going with the Audiocontrol 5.1300 DSP amp, which as you mentioned would help with the tuning I think.

As you mention the mid vs high speakers, I also remembered @RagnarKon saying an earlier response to check out the Kicker 47KSC404 for the dash speakers to better handle highs, maybe that’s a better option than the focal 4” speakers.

Those will definitely handle highs, but from personal experience I can tell you that you'll be sacrificing some of the mid-range. So make sure you make that up elsewhere (either in the kick panels or somewhere else).

 

[Pressurized]

So after researching the speakers you all suggested, I was leaning towards the focal speakers, but I’m starting to realize I might need to mix and match.

After doing more research, I found that the focals I’m looking at would fit in the dash 4” location and the front 6.5” kick panel location, but won’t fit in the SSV pods (cutout diameters do not match up, confirmed with rep at Crutchfield).

The infinity speakers I’m looking at will fit in the dash location and the pods, but not in the kick panel.

I don’t know if I’m just OCD, but I was always thinking I would just get one type of speaker in the various sizes I need.

So my new questions are these:

Will there be any kind of negative effect on my sound if I mix and match these speakers?

Could that actually even be better since it will have more variety in which frequencies are hit?

Tagging @RagnarKon and @Pressurized since you’ve both been so helpful

I would definitely want to match timbre (same brand/tweeter) between the dash and the rear pods…. I would also consider a component woofer in the kick panel over a coax. A little like making your own custom 3 way speaker up front.
Maybe the Hertz C165F??

 

[MuthaBucker]

Those will definitely handle highs, but from personal experience I can tell you that you'll be sacrificing some of the mid-range. So make sure you make that up elsewhere (either in the kick panels or somewhere else).

So, in your opinion, would this setup cover all the bases (mids, lows, highs, bass, etc.)?

4” dash: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20647KSC40/Kicker-47KSC404.html

6.5” kicker panel: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091ACX165/Focal-ACX-165.html

6.5” SSV Pods: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R6532EM/Infinity-Reference-REF-6532ex.html

stinger sub

audiocontrol 1300.5 DSP amp

 

[MuthaBucker]

I would definitely want to match timbre (same brand/tweeter) between the dash and the rear pods…. I would also consider a component woofer in the kick panel over a coax. A little like making your own custom 3 way speaker up front.
Maybe the Hertz C165F??

So help me understand the difference here. The coax are kind of like two speakers in one right? Catching high and mid range sound (I think lol). So is the component only focused on one range?

Sorry, I’m definitely a rookie in the audio game

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

So help me understand the difference here. The coax are kind of like two speakers in one right? Catching high and mid range sound (I think lol). So is the component only focused on one range?

Sorry, I’m definitely a rookie in the audio game

Yes, that's the very definition of what a coaxial speaker is - two different speakers (almost invariably with different ranges) coming from and projected along the same path (axis).

Component speakers are ones that are specialized/targeted for specific frequency ranges (bass/mid/tweet) and one typically tries to arrange them to fill out the desired complete frequency range. So you will see references to 2-way or 3-way component systems.

 

[Pressurized]

So help me understand the difference here. The coax are kind of like two speakers in one right? Catching high and mid range sound (I think lol). So is the component only focused on one range?

Sorry, I’m definitely a rookie in the audio game

Right... As above, the component is just 1 speaker targeting a specific range. Then in this application, we have the 4" coax up front where we should be adding a 600hz bass blocker that basically turns the 4" driver in to a mid-range and then the 4" coax has it's own bass blocker (guessing about 5000hz) for the tweeter.

A coax in general, depending on size, is intended to be a full range system. The rear 6.5's for example, in the bigger pods and after adjusting them from tweeter to speaker with Forscan will play all freq from bass to midrange to treble. Only the tweeter on the coax will come with a high pass (bass blocker) filter on it.

 

[RagnarKon]

So help me understand the difference here. The coax are kind of like two speakers in one right? Catching high and mid range sound (I think lol). So is the component only focused on one range?

Sorry, I’m definitely a rookie in the audio game

@Karl_in_Chicago and @Pressurized already answered the question... but just to add on a bit.

In an ideal world you would have 3-way components in an audio system:

• (1) Mid-bass to Lower-mid-range speaker (commonly called a "woofer")
  • 40 Hz to ~500 Hz
• (1) Mid-range
  • ~500 Hz to ~3000 Hz
• (1) Tweeter
  • ~3000 Hz and up

If you look at tower speakers in home audio, that's how many tower speakers are setup. It isn't just one speaker... it is a collection of three (or more) speakers that make up a single tower.

In car audio the limiting factor is almost always the lack of physical space to install speakers. This is especially true in the Bronco, because the roof and doors are removable... which is also a big reason why the factory audio system on the Bronco is so bad. They took away the best locations for speakers, but didn't increase the quality of the components they used to make up for it.

---

Then the obvious question is "what do we do about it".

For the rear pod speakers, the obvious answer is coaxials—really no other choice in my opinion.

For the front, you could do 2-way components. But the mid-range speakers will be hidden down in the kick panel and instead of playing audio into the cabin they play it right into your feet. Meanwhile the tweeters are sitting right in the dash and everything they play is bouncing right off the glass and into your face. So you have to somehow lower the volume of the speakers on the dash while supporting the volume of the kick panels. Can be done, just adds to the difficulty.

The other option is just to put coaxials all-around. That is also less than ideal because all of your speakers are playing all the sounds with mediocrity rather than having specialized speakers that are really good at reproducing specific frequency ranges. But it is still an option (and the one I went with).

And then you have to add in cost, difficulty of installation, availability of components, personal desires, etc. etc. For me personally, ensuring I retain the wash-out flooring and all of the cargo capacity of interior was extremely important. And that alone dramatically limited what type of equipment I could install.

So... it's a bit of a mess? It's an uphill battle with the Bronco because of the way it is designed. And there is no right answer—just have to play around with it. Unfortunately "playing around" usually means "spending money", and if you are anything like me you can continually throw money at it unless you put yourself on a budget. There is a point where I had to force myself to say "good enough" and move on to the next project.

 

[MuthaBucker]

@Karl_in_Chicago and @Pressurized already answered the question... but just to add on a bit.

In an ideal world you would have 3-way components in an audio system:

• (1) Mid-bass to Lower-mid-range speaker (commonly called a "woofer")
  • 40 Hz to ~500 Hz
• (1) Mid-range
  • ~500 Hz to ~3000 Hz
• (1) Tweeter
  • ~3000 Hz and up

If you look at tower speakers in home audio, that's how many tower speakers are setup. It isn't just one speaker... it is a collection of three (or more) speakers that make up a single tower.

In car audio the limiting factor is almost always the lack of physical space to install speakers. This is especially true in the Bronco, because the roof and doors are removable... which is also a big reason why the factory audio system on the Bronco is so bad. They took away the best locations for speakers, but didn't increase the quality of the components they used to make up for it.

---

Then the obvious question is "what do we do about it".

For the rear pod speakers, the obvious answer is coaxials—really no other choice in my opinion.

For the front, you could do 2-way components. But the mid-range speakers will be hidden down in the kick panel and instead of playing audio into the cabin they play it right into your feet. Meanwhile the tweeters are sitting right in the dash and everything they play is bouncing right off the glass and into your face. So you have to somehow lower the volume of the speakers on the dash while supporting the volume of the kick panels. Can be done, just adds to the difficulty.

The other option is just to put coaxials all-around. That is also less than ideal because all of your speakers are playing all the sounds with mediocrity rather than having specialized speakers that are really good at reproducing specific frequency ranges. But it is still an option (and the one I went with).

And then you have to add in cost, difficulty of installation, availability of components, personal desires, etc. etc. For me personally, ensuring I retain the wash-out flooring and all of the cargo capacity of interior was extremely important. And that alone dramatically limited what type of equipment I could install.

So... it's a bit of a mess? It's an uphill battle with the Bronco because of the way it is designed. And there is no right answer—just have to play around with it. Unfortunately "playing around" usually means "spending money", and if you are anything like me you can continually throw money at it unless you put yourself on a budget. There is a point where I had to force myself to say "good enough" and move on to the next project.

Ya that is exactly how I’m feeling lol, I can play around with this and spend all my money experimenting.

Which, funny enough, I just saw your other post @RagnarKon about being able to swap out the dummy sub and amp for real products with a simple switch, and now I’m thinking that might be my play

My previous audio upgraded vehicle was a Chevy Tahoe with a MTX Sledgehammer box and two MTX 10” subs with a 1000w MTX amp. It was crisp and clear, I loved it, but it also consistently set off car alarms, and I don’t want that life anymore lol.

Thats why I was originally thinking of the 12”, because I was worried about going too small. Reading more though, I like the idea of putting an 8” sub in the OEM location and adding an amp there. It would be a more simple swap and a cheaper option, and I think would still provide enough bass.

Sooooo, with that said, here is what I’m thinking for a potential remix of my original:

I have been planning this project with the budget idea of about $2,500. Having looked into this sub delete replacement option, that opened up a lot of my budget, so I wanted to put some of that back into the speakers, and now I think I have the recipe of a very crisp system.

Audio frog 4” dash speakers: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_898GS42/Audiofrog-GS42.html

Focal 6.5” kick panels: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091ACX165/Focal-ACX-165.html

Audio frog 6.5” SSV pods: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_898GS62/Audiofrog-GS62.html

Kicker 8” Sub in OEM location: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_206CWCS84/Kicker-44CWCS84.html

Or maybe even this Focal sub in OEM location:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091SUBP20S/Focal-P-20-FSE.html

Kenwood Amp in OEM location: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KACM3K1/Kenwood-KAC-M3001.html

Kicker Key 200.4 Amp for non-sub speakers

Do these all match up power values correctly/does this seem like a solid setup?

I hear what everybody is saying about the component speakers, but as you mentioned Ragnar, it seems like more work than I want to do and more than I need out of my system. So I think doing high quality coax speakers and a crisp sub setup would give me enough volume with the top off, but also keep things clean with the top on.

Sponsored