Stereo Overhaul - Mild Documentation

[brtd]

The plan has been in the works for a few months, mostly waiting on parts and compatible weather. The weather is here now, but still waiting on a few parts. I'm taking my time and hopefully being careful enough to be able to put it all back together. I'll share some pictures and thoughts throughout the project.

System Components:

• Amplifier/DSP: mObridge A2B 8.1.1
• Kick Panel Woofers: Stereo Integrity TM65 mkIV
• Tweeters (L/R dash): Stereo Integrity M25 mkII
• Midrange (L/R dash and center): Stereo Integrity M3 Carbon
• Subwoofer: TBD - waiting on the Stealthbox. We'll see.
• Sound Deadening - a mixture

There are all sorts of threads and videos out there showing how to remove the guts from the Bronco, so I won't be reinventing the wheel. I will say that anyone endeavoring to go to this length will be glad if they have a variety of panel and trim removal tools and some mega-beefy torx sockets. I have this set for the trim. And this set of torx sockets... a must have when it comes time to remove the seats (and a good length breaker bar). My Dewalt impact wanted nothing to do with the a couple of the bolts.

I'll be running the front L/R stage as active 3-way, with the two higher powered channels of the amp going to the kick panel woofers. Lower power channels to the mids and tweeter. That leaves two of the lower powered channels. One for the center channel... and I'm not sure yet about the rears. I will figure that out along the way. The amp included an additional harness that will leverage the three amp channels in the head unit itself. I will probably use them to power the rear speakers if I don't scrap them altogether.

The midrange for L/R are being cnc milled in order to fit closer with the tweeter and deal with the cramped stock location. That work is in progress this week, then they go to "The Mesh Man" to fabricate the mounting plates for me.

One additional element to this project is the addition of seven sound FX buttons I am adding just below the hero switches. I had seen this Mark Rober video years ago and always wanted to give it a try. I have a separate cheap amp for this, and I've already mounted the PA horn speaker just above the front skid plate.

Here's my status as of today:

I had installed the soundskinz kit along with some additional dynamat I had on the 4 doors a few weeks back. I have some blackhole for the rear and other spots. I have the soundskins kit for under the 4 seats as well. Still need to get the rubber floor liner out before I tack that part.

Here's a peek at the buttons. Not shown is the Adafruit SFX board attached to another ethernet keystone jack. Space was too tight to try to have the buttons and the board in close proximity. This will let me connect the two with a single cable so I can put the board somewhere accessible... for changing out the sounds.

And here's the speaker under the engine.

More to come...

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[Silence]

very cool. excited to see what your thoughts are after. You'll be definitely missing a sub I'm sure after adjusting the rest.

 

[RagnarKon]

Mild documentation perhaps... but definitely not a mild overhaul.

Looks great!

 

[brtd]

No doubt. I have no intention of running it without a sub. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do yet.

I'd rather not sacrifice the cargo space with a swing gate mounted enclosure. But it's unclear when JL will ever bring their stealthbox to market.

very cool. excited to see what your thoughts are after. You'll be definitely missing a sub I'm sure after adjusting the rest.

 

[Silence]

No doubt. I have no intention of running it without a sub. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do yet.

I'd rather not sacrifice the garbo space with a swing gate mounted enclosure. But it's unclear when JL will ever bring their stealthbox to market.

What about running a jl8w1 for now? Seems it fits in that space per multiple users.

 

[Silence]

or with the powerr you are pushing, maybe a Kicker 48CWRT84

 

[brtd]

Wash out floor removed. That was tricky. Going back in should be worse.

Last pic is the other side of the button project, which will connect with ethernet to the button array.

Time to sound deaden the floor. Then on to wiring.

 

[John P.]

And so it begins! Woah. Looking forward to your progress.

 

[gringoloco]

Yaaaaassss! All the way in.

I have the same SI components to install, and patiently awaiting the JL Stealthbox. I also explored the Mesh Man dash, but settled on the MTI version as they said they could do it without speaker surgery. My second set of M3s are slated for the rear, no center channel.

Breaking out the popcorn for this one

 

[LakeLife]

I consider myself a can do it all …. Most…,but this is a little out of my league. My hats off to you sir, looks to be quite an undertaking.
Following this thread.

 

[brtd]

Yaaaaassss! All the way in.

I have the same SI components to install, and patiently awaiting the JL Stealthbox. I also explored the Mesh Man dash, but settled on the MTI version as they said they could do it without speaker surgery. My second set of M3s are slated for the rear, no center channel.

Nice, another SI fan. To be honest, I've never even heard these components but I've known Nick for a long time and have had a range of his HT subwoofers for years. Currently a couple of his HS-24s in my living room.

I know I had come across MTI, but I must've been steered away by the limitations of sizing on their website. Good to know there's a backup option. I am curious to see how they worked it out. It is pretty tight quarters.

I consider myself a can do it all …. Most…,but this is a little out of my league. My hats off to you sir, looks to be quite an undertaking.
Following this thread.

I'm blessed to not be in a hurry. I'll probably be twiddling my thumbs waiting on the components in a few days. I have another vehicle I can use in the meantime. Without that, I would be rushing and breaking things no doubt.

This is beyond any level of vehicle interior surgery I've done before. I did have a moment thirty minutes ago before taking a lunch break... looking from the tailgate side and thinking "WTF have you gotten yourself into". Haha.

I've found it to be less complicated than I was anticipating. I'm labeling every bolt and screw hole cover and taking a ton of pictures because I know my memory won't be fresh when it comes time to stitch it all back together.

I'll share some more pictures later today. I have one more piece of floor deadener to install, then I'll go around and fill in the gaps with extra material. After having used a blank rectangle for the trunk area, I am very pleased with the precision cut pieces used elsewhere from Soundskinz. It would take exponentially more time to be cutting and test fitting everything from blanks.

 

[brtd]

Here's the floor coverage from the Soundskinz kit. FYI, they will sell the floor kit separately from the doors even though it isn't a SKU on their website. I had accidentally purchased the doors only kit.

It had appropriate cutouts for everything except these three rear seat bolt holes. These were overlooked (red circles in last pic).

 

[604Bronco]

The MAP assembly worker that just built your Bronco and seeing you take it apart like LEGO:

 

[ThisGuy611]

This is above and beyond, looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Also makes me wish Ford just sold an actual sound deadening option for $1,000 or whatever from factory. I'd love some peace and quiet in the bronco, but have no interest in removing the entire interior to do so.

 

[omg_bbq]

This is above and beyond, looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Also makes me wish Ford just sold an actual sound deadening option for $1,000 or whatever from factory. I'd love some peace and quiet in the bronco, but have no interest in removing the entire interior to do so.

Same bud

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