Speaker Upgrade Advice Needed!

[BriGuyRN]

2023 Wildtrack here, non B&O speakers.
I am a complete novice when it comes to upgrading/replacing speakers, and I am by no means an audiophile, but I know the stock speakers sound like crap!
After reading a ton of threads and watching a lot of YouTube, here are the pieces that I have ordered and my plan:

-Upgrading the rear 4" speakers to 6". I have orderd the Mabett Rear Speaker pods.
-Kicker KSC6704 6 3/4". I ordered two sets of these, one set for the rear speaker upgrade and one set for the kick panels.
-Kicker 47KSC404 4" to replace the two speakers in the dash.
-All appropriate wiring for plug and play

Will just replacing my speakers with the above mentioned products give me a better sound? I would like to keep this upgrade as simple as possible. I would like to avoid a new amp, and I would rather not go into Forscan and start reprograming everything. However, being a novice, I wanted to seek out the advice of more experienced people.

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[WheresMyBronco]

I'm probably not the best/most experienced person to answer this, but I don't think the items you picked would be best for a stock system without an amp.

You probably want to pick speakers with a higher sensitivity rating (like Hertz DCX 100.3) if you're not adding an amp.

You also won't get the full potential from the 6" rear speakers without an amp/Forscan adjustments from what I've seen.

Also, some people have swapped out the kick panels speakers and found that it's not worth it/the OEM ones are better.

If I were you, I'd order a pair of 4" Hertz DCX 100.3 speakers (or something else of your choice) and put them both on one side of your car. Then, play some music and swap the fade from front left, front right, rear left, rear right, etc to see if you like it better. If you do, order another pair and install them.

 

[FreddieLee]

Installing a coaxial speaker into the kick panels is pointless. I'm almost certain that the signal going to that location is specific to a woofer. Even under amplification, coaxial speakers are inaudible.

That said, without an amplifier, you'd be amazed with what a tweeter / woofer component set can do for the front sound stage.

If you insist on a coaxial in the dash, the CS series would have been a better choice because they were designed to play much louder with less power. Without an amplifier, the factory system does not produce enough power to drive a 4" KS series speaker effectively enough to accurately reproduce what you're listening to. In short, you will be underwhelmed.

Forscan: the EQ needs to be disabled.

Balance: the front stage needs to wired in series.

 

[DJ1]

Get an amp. Even something as cheap as the Kicker Key will do wonders. You can get a little better with better speakers. You can get multiple times better with an amp and sub.

 

[TacosTuesday]

i did a very similar build, the stock speakers and sound are absolute trash. the biggest improvements were by far the larger rear pods & the sub. Here's what i did.

• Focal acx100's for the 4" in the dash
• Focal acx165's 6.5" x2 for the kick panels and rear pods
• SSV works 6" rear pods
• Kicker 48CWRT674 165mm/6.75" 4ohm sub, fits right into the stock enclosure
• Ford fusion amp for the sub
• kicker key 200.4 amp
• plug n play harness for the kicker amp

relatively budget build all things considered and i'm SUPER happy with it. don't be afraid of ForScan, enabling the sub is super easy, can even do it for ya if you want to drive an hour south

 

[Brian_B]

So, sound is very subjective and you get a lot of opinions on it.

Will it sound better with just the Kicker speakers and rear pods? Yeah it probably will. It probably won’t blow your socks off better but it can hardly sound worse, right?

If that’s enough - that’s the question. It’s a great place to start though, and I don’t think you will regret the Kickers. Yeah, there are better speakers out there but you can chase that “better” with a ton of money — the Kickers are still miles better than OEM and set you up well for an amp upgrade if you decide to keep improving later on.

You likely will want to get into Forscan at a minimum. The speakers will work without it, but especially the rear pods won’t do much for you without at least poking your head into Forscan and opening up the rear channel. Again - another thing you can do after the speakers.

The speakers aren’t bad to drop in - an afternoon and you will have them all in and see how it sounds. After you get that done, the next two places to look if you want to keep going will be the four channel amp for the speakers you just installed, and the subwoofer/amp for the bass. Both are very significant upgrades from what you are about to hear, but it depends on your opinion if they are worth the cost / effort. Best of luck!

 

[BriGuyRN]

i did a very similar build, the stock speakers and sound are absolute trash. the biggest improvements were by far the larger rear pods & the sub. Here's what i did.

• Focal acx100's for the 4" in the dash
• Focal acx165's 6.5" x2 for the kick panels and rear pods
• SSV works 6" rear pods
• Kicker 48CWRT674 165mm/6.75" 4ohm sub, fits right into the stock enclosure
• Ford fusion amp for the sub
• kicker key 200.4 amp
• plug n play harness for the kicker amp

relatively budget build all things considered and i'm SUPER happy with it. don't be afraid of ForScan, enabling the sub is super easy, can even do it for ya if you want to drive an hour south

Don’t tempt me, I might!
Do you have a link for the fusion amp for the sub?

 

[BriGuyRN]

So, sound is very subjective and you get a lot of opinions on it.

Will it sound better with just the Kicker speakers and rear pods? Yeah it probably will. It probably won’t blow your socks off better but it can hardly sound worse, right?

If that’s enough - that’s the question. It’s a great place to start though, and I don’t think you will regret the Kickers. Yeah, there are better speakers out there but you can chase that “better” with a ton of money — the Kickers are still miles better than OEM and set you up well for an amp upgrade if you decide to keep improving later on.

You likely will want to get into Forscan at a minimum. The speakers will work without it, but especially the rear pods won’t do much for you without at least poking your head into Forscan and opening up the rear channel. Again - another thing you can do after the speakers.

The speakers aren’t bad to drop in - an afternoon and you will have them all in and see how it sounds. After you get that done, the next two places to look if you want to keep going will be the four channel amp for the speakers you just installed, and the subwoofer/amp for the bass. Both are very significant upgrades from what you are about to hear, but it depends on your opinion if they are worth the cost / effort. Best of luck!

Thank you for your suggestions. What speakers would you recommend if I decided to “upgrade” from the Kickers? I’m flying blind mostly.

 

[TacosTuesday]

got mine here:
https://teamequip.com/fomoco-fp5t-1...ystem-amplifier-for-ford-fusion-fp5t18c808ab/

also, side note, if you order speakers from crutchfield, they include the harness adapters for free for the speakers

Don’t tempt me, I might!
Do you have a link for the fusion amp for the sub?

 

[Brian_B]

I have a OEM amp, and OEM sub, and a 6.5” Kicker sub sitting in a closet if you get to feeling froggy

 

[Brian_B]

Thank you for your suggestions. What speakers would you recommend if I decided to “upgrade” from the Kickers? I’m flying blind mostly.

Kickers are a great starting point. To go from there - I would find a car audio shop and listen. It really depends on your ear. I was always a fan of Infinity (although they are hardly high end) and Boston. There is no universal answer - just need to go listen.

 

[Wannabe Techie]

Kicker Key Amp is your friend. Power in head unit is not strong especially if you think about going topless in warm months. Really worth the upgrade. You will notice a tremendous difference.

 

[Black_Stallion13]

I put the same speakers in - made very small improvement. I then added a small under-seat Pioneer sub. It’s low powered (meant for hybrids) so does not need an amp and wires to fuse box right under steering wheel. Massive improvement with that simple, cheap addition. Not gonna rattle you, but fills out the bass the way it should be in a very complimentary way to the speaker upgrade.

 

[Brian514]

Ok. I am big into sound and this was the very first thing I did on my Bronco.
Here are a few tips/suggestions.

I ordered the 6inch speaker with Kickers from SSV. The speaker is already installed on the pod and you just need to remove the old pods and install this. This was SUPER easy and would suggest this route.
Here is the link to the ones I bought. https://ssvworks.com/products/2021-2023-ford-bronco-rear-speaker-pod-add-ons?variant=42022280855736

When replacing the dash speakers get your self a plastic pry tool and be super super careful when removing the covers. The clips on the cover are very delicate and I have heard stories from others about it breaking off easily.

I decided not to change the kick panel speakers because I didn’t think it was worth the hassle. I’ve seen videos of the replacing of them and it looks like a lot of work for very minimal sound upgrade. One video says that you really don’t notice the difference since your ears are not near your legs. But if you think it’s worth doing then go for it.

I also did do the Forscan updated sound.
Forscan is pretty easy to use and there are tutorials on how to make the sound changes. However, I honestly couldn’t tell the difference when making the changes. I guess with the 6in rear speakers it’s suppose to allow more sound.

Hope the info helps. Good luck!

 

[BriGuyRN]

got mine here:
https://teamequip.com/fomoco-fp5t-1...ystem-amplifier-for-ford-fusion-fp5t18c808ab/

also, side note, if you order speakers from crutchfield, they include the harness adapters for free for the speakers

The fusion amp is strictly for the sub, correct? Is all of the wiring and power already there in the dummy set up? Just plug and play?

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