Subwoofer & Amp Install in B&O System (OuterBanks/LUX/Sasq/B&O/4dr) - Writeup DIY

[2022 base]

Dunno, don't have it yet, just reading others say even the b&o is lacking. Drove a Lincoln aviator with the revel once, that sounded amazing

I have not heard the B&O yet so I can't say what it needs. It has 10 speakers is all I know. not sure how much power the amp has but bet it needs more power and new speakers all around to improve it.

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[Hossfire]

I have not heard the B&O yet so I can't say what it needs. It has 10 speakers is all I know. not sure how much power the amp has but bet it needs more power and new speakers all around to improve it.

It would be great to see a teardown of the B&O. If I could get the Lux package without the B&O (and a few hundred dollars cheaper) I would prefer that option.

The trouble with the B&O with every Ford product, is that 1) they don't put in great components 2) they add digital system processing that is very tuned to the components installed and 3) defeating the factory DSP (through Forscan) often interferes with navigation and audible warnings.

Can you upgrade the speakers? Yes, but the sound quality will still be limited by mediocre amplification. The four 4" speakers are driven by the head unit, not the B&O amp. The 6.5 kick panels and the sub are driven by the amp in the back. Typically, the amped speakers have a fairly heavy bass rolloff to protect the speakers from damage. Something that they wouldn't need to do if they used better quality components.

I'm far from a stereo snob. I have done my own upgrades for many years. Lower level aftermarket upgrades are much better than what Ford has been putting into these B&O systems. Given that the Lux package on a Wildtrak or Badlands puts you in the $60K range, an extra $250 on the premium stereo would be not only a much better sounding system, but would be more durable and easier to upgrade.

The way that pro aftermarket installers get around these issues is with https://navtv.com/products/NTV-KIT873/zen-a2b.html

You lose the B&O amp by installing this, but you get a clean levelized signal that you can use to feed external amps and you don't lose the navigation and audible warnings.

 

[2022 base]

It would be great to see a teardown of the B&O. If I could get the Lux package without the B&O (and a few hundred dollars cheaper) I would prefer that option.

The trouble with the B&O with every Ford product, is that 1) they don't put in great components 2) they add digital system processing that is very tuned to the components installed and 3) defeating the factory DSP (through Forscan) often interferes with navigation and audible warnings.

Can you upgrade the speakers? Yes, but the sound quality will still be limited by mediocre amplification. The four 4" speakers are driven by the head unit, not the B&O amp. The 6.5 kick panels and the sub are driven by the amp in the back. Typically, the amped speakers have a fairly heavy bass rolloff to protect the speakers from damage. Something that they wouldn't need to do if they used better quality components.

I'm far from a stereo snob. I have done my own upgrades for many years. Lower level aftermarket upgrades are much better than what Ford has been putting into these B&O systems. Given that the Lux package on a Wildtrak or Badlands puts you in the $60K range, an extra $250 on the premium stereo would be not only a much better sounding system, but would be more durable and easier to upgrade.

The way that pro aftermarket installers get around these issues is with https://navtv.com/products/NTV-KIT873/zen-a2b.html

You lose the B&O amp by installing this, but you get a clean levelized signal that you can use to feed external amps and you don't lose the navigation and audible warnings.

Good information....thanks.

 

[Hossfire]

Good information....thanks.

You're welcome! Sorry for ranting a bit. I do think that strategically upgrading some of the B&O speakers is worthwhile. I have a general idea of what I want to do, which would focus on the kick panels and dash speakers. The rear pods are so far away from the front (and are 4" speakers powered by the head unit) I doubt a simple speaker upgrade would change the sound quality much. An efficient shallow-mount sub would probably help as well. From the diagrams that I have seen, the sub and amp are mounted to a formed plastic piece, which also creates a form of enclosure for the sub. I would need to see some better pictures of the this plastic piece to figure out what it does acoustically. Some people have reported that the bass sounds 'boomy'. Boomy bass often happens with ported enclosures---you get more bass volume at the expense of fidelity. The presence of a port isn't apparent from the pictures, but one could be there.

 

[2022 base]

You're welcome! Sorry for ranting a bit. I do think that strategically upgrading some of the B&O speakers is worthwhile. I have a general idea of what I want to do, which would focus on the kick panels and dash speakers. The rear pods are so far away from the front (and are 4" speakers powered by the head unit) I doubt a simple speaker upgrade would change the sound quality much. An efficient shallow-mount sub would probably help as well. From the diagrams that I have seen, the sub and amp are mounted to a formed plastic piece, which also creates a form of enclosure for the sub. I would need to see some better pictures of the this plastic piece to figure out what it does acoustically. Some people have reported that the bass sounds 'boomy'. Boomy bass often happens with ported enclosures---you get more bass volume at the expense of fidelity. The presence of a port isn't apparent from the pictures, but one could be there.

You are correct and I agree about speaker replacement only I would add an amp for all of the speakers. Here is a pi of the enclosure : Ford Bronco Speaker assembly. Woofer. Speakers, 10 speaker audio - M2DZ18808H | Lakeland Ford Online Parts, Lakeland FL

For speakers I chose MB Quart Ps1-316 3-way component set. I feel all will fit front of bronco just fine.
amps are another story......
I am not sure for me but for you this looks nice for all the high end!
JBL DSP4086 8-Channel Class D Amplifier Design with Digital Signal Processing

 

[Hossfire]

This F150 site has some interesting details. I think this is the same sub as in the Bronco B&O. https://www.f150forum.com/f30/swap-out-8-sub-driver-2019-b-o-system-447569/

 

[2022 base]

This F150 site has some interesting details. I think this is the same sub as in the Bronco B&O. https://www.f150forum.com/f30/swap-out-8-sub-driver-2019-b-o-system-447569/

I found a nice woofer on amazon:
MB Quart DS1-204 Discus Shallow Mount Subwoofer (Black) – 8 Inch Subwoofer, 400 Watt, Car Audio, 2 Inch Voice Coils, UV Rubber Surround, Best in Sealed Enclosures

 

[Hossfire]

Some of the comments in the forum above that are likely true based on the Bronco sub:

1) the factory sub is shallow mount (so, not sure even with a spacer how much > 3" top mount depth you can go.)
2) 4 ohm DVC driver
3) enclosure sealing is virtuallynon-existent. Try to seal up the area better with sound deadening stuff.
4) look for a higher SPL driver to make the most out of the factory amp. I think this is really important if you use the factory amp. Often times we crank up our tunes because we want to hear the bass. Any "bass-rolloff" DSP will interfere with that. Every 3 dB SPL is double the volume, so the difference between an 82 dB vs. and an 88 dB is 4X sound output. Finding that high efficiency driver in an 8" shallow mount is the trick... I need to do more research...

 

[Hossfire]

I found a nice woofer on amazon:
MB Quart DS1-204 Discus Shallow Mount Subwoofer (Black) – 8 Inch Subwoofer, 400 Watt, Car Audio, 2 Inch Voice Coils, UV Rubber Surround, Best in Sealed Enclosures

I'll check that out. Thanks!

 

[EKOBX]

I have my Badlands with just the mid package… no bump at all…open to suggestions.. need a sub and amp… anything else?

I just finished and upgrade that sounds great and wasn’t too expensive- about to $800. I bought and replaced the two dash and rear pod speakers with 4” Kicker KS coaxial speakers. They were $100/pair at a local shop. I then bought a kicker 8” hideaway amp/subwoofer with some credit I had at a chain store for $250, and some 6.5” kicker coaxial speakers with silk tweeters ($116 for the park) for the front kick panels. I paid a shop $250 for the install of the sub/amp and the kick panel speakers because I had broken a clip trying to remove the kick panel. The sub is back in the storage area and attached to the driver side interiors so it doesn’t take much space. It sounds great, especially considering it cost around $800 total, with half of that being in store credit

 

[Hossfire]

I just finished and upgrade that sounds great and wasn’t too expensive- about to $800. I bought and replaced the two dash and rear pod speakers with 4” Kicker KS coaxial speakers. They were $100/pair at a local shop. I then bought a kicker 8” hideaway amp/subwoofer with some credit I had at a chain store for $250, and some 6.5” kicker coaxial speakers with silk tweeters ($116 for the park) for the front kick panels. I paid a shop $250 for the install of the sub/amp and the kick panel speakers because I had broken a clip trying to remove the kick panel. The sub is back in the storage area and attached to the driver side interiors so it doesn’t take much space. It sounds great, especially considering it cost around $800 total, with half of that being in store credit

Great! I would love to see some pictures.

 

[EKOBX]

Great! I would love to see some pictures.

Great! I would love to see some pictures.

These are the speakers I purchased, the connectors (Amazon) for the 4” as well. The comparison shows the original (paper) speaker and the new one that I used for all the 4” spots - two in the dash and two in the back pods. The Best Buy page shows the 6.5” pair that I purchased and had installed in the kick panels. The originals were also paper. The last photo is the Kicker 8” sub/amp I bought and had installed in back.

 

[Dallasbronco]

That looks like one hell of a boxed Cap on the bottom to me!

It's actually a 6000 watt lithium 100 ah battery.

 

[Ksjrb03]

It would be great to see a teardown of the B&O. If I could get the Lux package without the B&O (and a few hundred dollars cheaper) I would prefer that option.

The trouble with the B&O with every Ford product, is that 1) they don't put in great components 2) they add digital system processing that is very tuned to the components installed and 3) defeating the factory DSP (through Forscan) often interferes with navigation and audible warnings.

Can you upgrade the speakers? Yes, but the sound quality will still be limited by mediocre amplification. The four 4" speakers are driven by the head unit, not the B&O amp. The 6.5 kick panels and the sub are driven by the amp in the back. Typically, the amped speakers have a fairly heavy bass rolloff to protect the speakers from damage. Something that they wouldn't need to do if they used better quality components.

I'm far from a stereo snob. I have done my own upgrades for many years. Lower level aftermarket upgrades are much better than what Ford has been putting into these B&O systems. Given that the Lux package on a Wildtrak or Badlands puts you in the $60K range, an extra $250 on the premium stereo would be not only a much better sounding system, but would be more durable and easier to upgrade.

The way that pro aftermarket installers get around these issues is with https://navtv.com/products/NTV-KIT873/zen-a2b.html

You lose the B&O amp by installing this, but you get a clean levelized signal that you can use to feed external amps and you don't lose the navigation and audible warnings.

The 4” speakers in the dash are amplified. The ones that aren’t are the dash center speaker and the rear pods, which are total crap.

 

[Vtfakie]

Comparison between B&O kick panel vs Focal PC165.
Note the dash speakers were both upgraded to Focal PC100.
Passenger side has Focal 6.5 installed, driver side is factory B&O.
Factory Amp

Comparison between B&O and Focal kick panel speakers

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