Plug and play speaker upgrade?

[BroncoAZ]

I installed the Kicker Key 200.4 amp using the plugnplaykits.com harness on Sunday night, no other audio mods. The harness I bought has outputs for adding another amp later. All in about $475 for amp and harness. I ran the DSP setup and the sound is certainly better than stock with a few observations. The front stage is very forward and centered, a good thing, the vocals are much tighter than they were. The rear speakers, even with the amp and DSP, sound like a 1980’s set of Walkman speakers. Leave the gains set at zero or it’s ungodly loud and could blow a speaker. Overall it’s much better, but still like comparing a kick in the knee to a kick in the balls. I did bump the bass and treble adjustments back up on the head unit while testing which helped, I had zeroed them out before running the DSP.

The plans forward are as follows:
Remove rear speaker pods entirely. They add nothing to the sound and are in the way when loading cargo or accessing my ARB fridge. I ran no rear speakers on my last two audio builds.
Replace the front kick panel speakers and dash speakers with a decent quality component set, maybe JL Audio C2-650 ($329) or AudioFrog GS separates ($550)
Rewire the harness to biamp the front components with active crossovers in the Kicker 200.4 amp. No point in wasting the power on missing rear speakers.
Add the Kicker 500.1 amp ($269)
Add some version of subwoofer box in the stock B&O location

Option B would be the same as above except switch to a 5 channel Audiocontrol amp kit 50 from plugandplaykits ($970).

That is as far as I’m willing to go from here. If I wait for JL Audio to make a stealthbox it will probably be $1000. I could try to find a stock B&O enclosure and upgrade the sub, probably $300-350. SRQ makes a good looking hidden sub for $625. The SRQ is probably a good compromise since it’s better than the B&O plastic enclosure and has a better woofer.

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[Cl1ckst3r]

Thank you for actually giving me a real answer. Everything I’ve been reading, there are no speakers that actually directly plug-in. You’d have to get an aftermarket fitting, true?

They will fit in the speaker locations just fine from a depth and width standpoint but they need to be wired in. So Yes, you'd need an aftermarket adapter.

 

[Cl1ckst3r]

I have PB speakers in my F150 and love them. Glad I saw this post as I was getting ready to call PB to see what speakers they'd recommend for my Base build.

I also noticed that the PowerBass 2XL speakers are 3 ohm which means that if the Ford Stereo Unit is sending 20watts RMS at 4 Ohms then maybe these speakers are getting 30 watts RMS at 3 Ohms??? ....and maybe this is why they sound so much louder.

 

[taperunner]

I did what many folks here did. I replaced the 4in and 6.5s with kickers. I didn’t have my kicker amp yet and while better it was still really underwhelming. You absolutely need to add an amp to get a noticeable difference.

 

[Blackcat]

I did what many folks here did. I replaced the 4in and 6.5s with kickers. I didn’t have my kicker amp yet and while better it was still really underwhelming. You absolutely need to add an amp to get a noticeable difference.

Have you tried the Forscan code change yet? That apparently makes a difference. I'm going to do it this weekend.

 

[Hossfire]

I installed the Kicker Key 200.4 amp using the plugnplaykits.com harness on Sunday night, no other audio mods. The harness I bought has outputs for adding another amp later. All in about $475 for amp and harness. I ran the DSP setup and the sound is certainly better than stock with a few observations. The front stage is very forward and centered, a good thing, the vocals are much tighter than they were. The rear speakers, even with the amp and DSP, sound like a 1980’s set of Walkman speakers. Leave the gains set at zero or it’s ungodly loud and could blow a speaker. Overall it’s much better, but still like comparing a kick in the knee to a kick in the balls. I did bump the bass and treble adjustments back up on the head unit while testing which helped, I had zeroed them out before running the DSP.

The plans forward are as follows:
Remove rear speaker pods entirely. They add nothing to the sound and are in the way when loading cargo or accessing my ARB fridge. I ran no rear speakers on my last two audio builds.
Replace the front kick panel speakers and dash speakers with a decent quality component set, maybe JL Audio C2-650 ($329) or AudioFrog GS separates ($550)
Rewire the harness to biamp the front components with active crossovers in the Kicker 200.4 amp. No point in wasting the power on missing rear speakers.
Add the Kicker 500.1 amp ($269)
Add some version of subwoofer box in the stock B&O location

Option B would be the same as above except switch to a 5 channel Audiocontrol amp kit 50 from plugandplaykits ($970).

That is as far as I’m willing to go from here. If I wait for JL Audio to make a stealthbox it will probably be $1000. I could try to find a stock B&O enclosure and upgrade the sub, probably $300-350. SRQ makes a good looking hidden sub for $625. The SRQ is probably a good compromise since it’s better than the B&O plastic enclosure and has a better woofer.

All good options. I am thinking about the Audiofrog GS42s for the dash when my WT gets built. I am going Lux, so hopefully these plus some sound deadening around the B&O sub compartment will keep me satisfied for a bit. Eventually, I will probably go the NAV-TV route, DSP and higher end amped components. I enjoy working on my car audio, but it's a time sink. I like the SQR sub package. It's more money, but way more value than the B&O, which I think is around $250 unless you buy it off someone who has pulled it out. Also, Kicker down firing subs are a pretty good option (but with the fridge may not be for you.)

 

[Squatchn']

Thank you for actually giving me a real answer. Everything I’ve been reading, there are no speakers that actually directly plug-in. You’d have to get an aftermarket fitting, true?

Check out the thread I just posted for my build. Other than the sub upgrade it was just plug and play. The kick panel speakers require the metra harness and mounting bracket, but it is a simple install. The toughest part (for me) was taking off the plastic panels to get to those speakers.

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/sound-system-upgrade-complete-breakdown-of-my-build.57560/

 

[taperunner]

Have you tried the Forscan code change yet? That apparently makes a difference. I'm going to do it this weekend.

I haven't. I did use Forscan to unlock sport mode and disable the double honk. There was a lot of conflicting info on if you needed to change the one line, the other line or both lines in a 22. Maybe I'll mess with it but honestly my kids are in back so it might be better as is. Do you have a 22? Did you make the changes and what did you think?

 

[Blackcat]

I have a 22, but havent'

I haven't. I did use Forscan to unlock sport mode and disable the double honk. There was a lot of conflicting info on if you needed to change the one line, the other line or both lines in a 22. Maybe I'll mess with it but honestly my kids are in back so it might be better as is. Do you have a 22? Did you make the changes and what did you think?

I have a 22 but haven't done the changes yet. Will report back this weekend.

 

[MrGreen55]

I have a 2 door badlands with the basic speakers. Is there a simple plug and play speaker system for better sound?

yes but you have to wait. Oem audio+ making one but kind of delayed it they thought there was no instant in bronco just yet they said sign up for email would help push this product forward.
https://oemaudioplus.com/ford/ford-bronco/

More info about that about that systems in here
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/oem-audio-plus-stereo-upgrade.47617/

 

[CentralFLBronco]

I first started with replacing the dash speakers with 4" Kicker 47KSC404 w/ 300 hz bass blockers

Then I changed out the kick panel speakers to 6.75" Kicker 47KSC6704's

Next step was adding a Kicker Key 200.4 amplifier with a Plug n Play harness plus the Kicker tuning process

Last night I (almost) finished installing a Kicker 11HS8 hideaway in the factory sub location, also with a Plug n Play wiring harness - had a bit more trouble with this install than I did when I installed another 11HS8 in my '97 Tracker, but I think I've gotten it figured out now

My next step is probably going to be waiting for Mabett to release his rear speaker pod replacements so that I can put 6.5" speakers back there

Beyond this, I'll likely look into some of the ForScan changes to further improve the sound system, but that's not too high on my list at the moment

Does @Mabett have a timeline for the rear speaker pod replacements? I feel like there's so much you can do back there. DV8 has the speaker bar on their site and it's pretty cool. You can mount lights back there too. I'm waiting a little bit before I decide what I wanna do with the speakers and possibly an amp. I do miss my sub and amp from my last car.

 

[RC Bronco]

Does @Mabett have a timeline for the rear speaker pod replacements? I feel like there's so much you can do back there. DV8 has the speaker bar on their site and it's pretty cool. You can mount lights back there too. I'm waiting a little bit before I decide what I wanna do with the speakers and possibly an amp. I do miss my sub and amp from my last car.

According to the FB group, it should be about to enter production (any day now) and then available for purchase within a month.

Sounding like the initial color of it will be something close to the factory pod color

 

[Blackcat]

Just ordered some 4" and 6.5" Powerbass speakers for my 2 DR Base. Also, as noted earlier in this thread, speaker adapters from FastDaddy on Ebay are on the way as well and he ships the same day you order. Will let you all know how it goes. I have PB speakers in my F150 and love them.

 

[RaceRedOBX]

I just installed some Focal replacement speakers from crutchfield and even without adding an amp it is noticeably better. The tones are clear and crisp. My 8 year old even noticed the sound difference when riding in it for the first time since I changed them out. I got my adapters/splices/etc... from crutchfield as well.

 

[Broncobreath]

I just installed some Focal replacement speakers from crutchfield and even without adding an amp it is noticeably better. The tones are clear and crisp. My 8 year old even noticed the sound difference when riding in it for the first time since I changed them out. I got my adapters/splices/etc... from crutchfield as well.

Can you tell me which speakers you replaced, any links to what you ordered, and was it basically plug and play with all this?

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