Speaker Filters, Blockers

[Lil Mul]

Yes an 8" sub will fit in factory box.
Yes you will need to do some trimming with a dremel to make it work. Its not hard.

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[ILoveToDrive]

Multiple questions…

Can someone tell me if the rear pod wiring non-b&o 7 speaker sub-delete has bass blockers installed from the factory? I’ve got 6 1/2 Polk audios in the pods with polyfill. They sound ok but still a bit muffled. I re-ran the kicker 200.4 tuning at 25 volume, and did the gain adjustment using kicker’s 1000 HZ 0 db wav file in a usb stick. i had to back the gains off a bit to prevent the limiter lights from coming on.
i did all this because i updated the kick panels to Focal ACX165’s. HUGE improvement to the overall sound stage. I held off because the consensus was the stock was good enough. I disagree. The improvement is significant.

Why did Ford wire the fronts in parallel.?I didn’t want to immediately go to @RagnarKon ’s solution of changing to series wiring until I tried it in parallel first. I’m reluctant to chase that change since those kick panel speakers were an unbelievable pain in the ass to get screwed back in. The back screw of the 3 was impossible to deal with. Since I backed off the gains, do I need to be concerned about the lower impedance because of the parallel wiring frying the Kicker amp? I don’t usually go above 20 volume.

FYI…important!… the mounting screws to attach the speaker to the mounting bracket were too long! They blocked being able to install the new speakers back into the hole. I went with 1” #6 screws and that did the trick. This was the Focals, but I seem to remember @RagnarKon mentioning this in one of his videos as well.

The good news is, thanks to @1Five1 Garage and @RagnarKon videos on the panel removals, I managed to do it all without breaking a single clip! You guys rock!

 

[ILoveToDrive]

Yes an 8" sub will fit in factory box.
Yes you will need to do some trimming with a dremel to make it work. Its not hard.

I’m running the 4ohm 6 3/4 Kicker sub with the Fusion amp. Will bumping up to the 8” using the fusion amp be a significant, or just marginal improvement? Also, we you able to do the trimming without removing the enclosure. And, what dremel attachment(s) did you use. I’m a dremel neophyte.

 

[Brian_B]

Multiple questions…

Can someone tell me if the rear pod wiring non-b&o 7 speaker sub-delete has bass blockers installed from the factory? I’ve got 6 1/2 Polk audios in the pods with polyfill. They sound ok but still a bit muffled. I re-ran the kicker 200.4 tuning at 25 volume, and did the gain adjustment using kicker’s 1000 HZ 0 db wav file in a usb stick. i had to back the gains off a bit to prevent the limiter lights from coming on.
i did all this because i updated the kick panels to Focal ACX165’s. HUGE improvement to the overall sound stage. I held off because the consensus was the stock was good enough. I disagree. The improvement is significant.

Why did Ford wire the fronts in parallel.?I didn’t want to immediately go to @RagnarKon ’s solution of changing to series wiring until I tried it in parallel first. I’m reluctant to chase that change since those kick panel speakers were an unbelievable pain in the ass to get screwed back in. The back screw of the 3 was impossible to deal with. Since I backed off the gains, do I need to be concerned about the lower impedance because of the parallel wiring frying the Kicker amp? I don’t usually go above 20 volume.

The B&O system uses the DSP to apply equalizer settings. It does not have physical bandpass filters or blockers installed. I don't know if anyone's cracked Forscan on adjusting the B&O system, but that's how you do it on the Standard system. This is why many people recommend using the LC2i interface on B&O - it gets the digital sound signal before it's been processed that way.

The Kicker amp will be fine with speakers in parallel, it's rated down to 2 ohms input impedance and your Focals are 4 ohm speakers - so 2 ohms total load wired in parallel. You did exactly what you are supposed to do - adjust the gains until the channels sound balanced where you primarily will be sitting.

Factory likely did this as if one speaker goes out, you won't lose the entire side. Whereas if wired in series, if you lose one speaker you lose the entire channel. Also, most automotive amplifers are tuned to 2-4 ohms, wiring common speakers in series would be 8 ohms, which would work but be quieter and harder to balance the rear channel with.

 

[ILoveToDrive]

The B&O system uses the DSP to apply equalizer settings. It does not have physical bandpass filters or blockers installed. I don't know if anyone's cracked Forscan on adjusting the B&O system, but that's how you do it on the Standard system. This is why many people recommend using the LC2i interface on B&O - it gets the digital sound signal before it's been processed that way.

The Kicker amp will be fine with speakers in parallel, it's rated down to 2 ohms input impedance and your Focals are 4 ohm speakers - so 2 ohms total load wired in parallel. You did exactly what you are supposed to do - adjust the gains until the channels sound balanced where you primarily will be sitting.

Factory likely did this as if one speaker goes out, you won't lose the entire side. Whereas if wired in series, if you lose one speaker you lose the entire channel. Also, most automotive amplifers are tuned to 2-4 ohms, wiring common speakers in series would be 8 ohms, which would work but be quieter and harder to balance the rear channel with.

Thanks for the info. I was asking about the NON-B&O 7 speaker sub-delete setup, but I believe there is no bass blocker on the pods. Since I'm running the Forscan 00 setting on the EQ, that should be bypassing the ACM equalization settings, applying only the Kicker dsp settings to the front and rear speakers. However, am I correct that the 00 setting only applies to the speakers and not the sub, since the sub is running off the factory wiring going into the Fusion amp?

The system now sounds about as good as I can get it. The only other thing would be going to an 8" sub. I don't think I have the energy or inclination to get into a Kicker 500.1 for the sub, unless that will take it to another level in terms of the listening experience. I'm not a "boom box" kind guy. I just like "feeling" the music and getting as much range as possible out of the system.

Opinions, experiences, etc. all welcome.

 

[Brian_B]

Thanks for the info. I was asking about the NON-B&O 7 speaker sub-delete setup, but I believe there is no bass blocker on the pods. Since I'm running the Forscan 00 setting on the EQ, that should be bypassing the ACM equalization settings, applying only the Kicker dsp settings to the front and rear speakers. However, am I correct that the 00 setting only applies to the speakers and not the sub, since the sub is running off the factory wiring going into the Fusion amp?

The system now sounds about as good as I can get it. The only other thing would be going to an 8" sub. I don't think I have the energy or inclination to get into a Kicker 500.1 for the sub, unless that will take it to another level in terms of the listening experience. I'm not a "boom box" kind guy. I just like "feeling" the music and getting as much range as possible out of the system.

Opinions, experiences, etc. all welcome.

Ah your right, my mistake, I misread it.

The Standard system has a digital bandpass filter - the settings are in Forscan, but it acts similarly to a plugged in physical filter. Yes, since you've already adjusted Forscan - then you have already turned that off and went full range on the speaker outputs.

I think you are correct, the sound settings only applies to the speakers, since that setting is per channel. The sub is baked in if you use the sub line out, either it's on (and I presume as a low pass filter), or it's off and there's no sound at all going back there.

 

[ILoveToDrive]

Yes an 8" sub will fit in factory box.
Yes you will need to do some trimming with a dremel to make it work. Its not hard.

Were you able to do it without removing the enclosure? Do you know if anyone is running the 8” 4ohm kicker sub with the fusion amp?

 

[BroncoByte]

Thank you! Great explanation. The Kicker 200.4 speaker connection is a harness connection for the front and back. How do I know where to put the probes? Can I test at the wire disconnected from the speaker?

Sorry for the slow response, @ILoveToDrive! To answer your questions; Yes - that would be a great spot to test. Just be very careful that you don't accidentally create a short when doing your test!

I don't have the Kicker Key 200.4, so I'm not sure if there's access to exposed conductor at the amp outputs. I installed the JL Audio RD900/5 amp in my system. I tested mine at the amp outputs first, and then again at speaker connection point (both ends of the same wire.) By doing so I could test not only the amp output, but also the wiring itself. This is a "voltage-drop" test and will tell you whether the wire is good for your application. I know you're using the factory wiring, so this test might not be of interest to you. I ran new wires to all of the speakers in my install, so I conducted this test to make sure I did it right. Car Audio Fabrication has a good video about voltage-drop testing. He's specifically talking about testing the ground connection for the amp, but the same principal applies to speaker wire. If the voltage measurements are off by more than roughly 0.5 Vrms between the two ends of the wire then that could be an indication that the speaker wire might, e.g., be too thin.

I hope this is helpful!

Please feel free to call me out if you think I've made a mistake!

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