Would you trust my audio guy's advice?

[TXscooterguy]

I have a '22 Black Diamond Edition 4 door with the Sasquatch package and base stereo. I decided to upgrade the audio system in bite-sized chunks. Today I had a Kicker Key 200.4 amp installed. The speakers are still stock. I asked the guy what he thought of changing out the roll bar pods to allow for 6 inch speakers. He said he would stay with the stock configuration. He recommended that I put in four 4 inch Alpine speakers and not replace the stock kick panel speakers. Is this "sound" advice?

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[HighVelocity]

No.

 

[MileHighCitizen]

It's pretty plug and play, you can do it yourself. You can get it all from Crutchfield for cheap, and the adaptor comes free. Watch a YT video and you see its not hard at all.

 

[Brian_B]

Really depends on what you want to spend and how it sounds to you

All other things the same - a 6.5” will tend to sound “better” than a 4” speaker. That isn’t to say you can’t find excellent 4” that sound better than a random 6.5”

You do not need to upgrade the pods to get better sound. But doing so gives you a lot more options, and most will be at lower price points for roughly equivalent sound quality. And the pods aren’t too expensive or hard to install - kind of a “why wouldn’t you” situation.

I did find the kick panel to be the least impactful spot - that isn’t to say there is no value in upgrading those speakers. But for my ear, they don’t do a lot of heavy lifting and really just kind of fill in the sound stage a bit.

What I would recommend depends greatly on your budget - but a good upgrade here doesn’t need to break the bank - decent speakers start at about $80/pair and they work their way all the way up to “HOLY Sh!tba11s that’s just 1 speaker!?”

That said - congrats on the amp - you got the hard part out of the way. A few new speakers and it will be awesome!

 

[Brian_B]

It's pretty plug and play, you can do it yourself. You can get it all from Crutchfield for cheap, and the adaptor comes free. Watch a YT video and you see its not hard at all.

I’d agree with this - the main 6 speakers aren’t bad at all and @RagnarKon has some excellent how tos and posts about the entire thing

The subwoofer gets a bit more involved - but the main 6 speakers are fairly easy with a trim tool and a little patience - even the kick panels

 

[1st 75th ranger]

I have a '22 Black Diamond Edition 4 door with the Sasquatch package and base stereo. I decided to upgrade the audio system in bite-sized chunks. Today I had a Kicker Key 200.4 amp installed. The speakers are still stock. I asked the guy what he thought of changing out the roll bar pods to allow for 6 inch speakers. He said he would stay with the stock configuration. He recommended that I put in four 4 inch Alpine speakers and not replace the stock kick panel speakers. Is this "sound" advice?

yes thats what i did and its clear as can be top on or off
i went alpines deck pods and kicker panel's
pro kicker in mit tailgate sum with fosgate amp and processors

 

[TXscooterguy]

I’d agree with this - the main 6 speakers aren’t bad at all and @RagnarKon has some excellent how tos and posts about the entire thing

The subwoofer gets a bit more involved - but the main 6 speakers are fairly easy with a trim tool and a little patience - even the kick panels

It's pretty plug and play, you can do it yourself. You can get it all from Crutchfield for cheap, and the adaptor comes free. Watch a YT video and you see its not hard at all.

Well I decided to go the "Crutchfield route" and try to do the speaker install myself. I bought two pair of Kicker KSC40 and a pair of Kicker 46CSC674. At this point I'll have just over $800 in the upgrade. But I'm not going to attempt the install until the Texas temperatures drop down into the two digit range again. I'll think about doing a subwoofer next year.

 

[Brian_B]

Get a cheap trim tool if you don't already have one.

You probably won't need all these, but $5 for the kit... I mostly just use the straight one, but if you do attempt the sub the others come in handy as well.

There are tons of options, here's just one example
https://www.amazon.com/LivTee-Removal-Interior-Vehicle-Installer/dp/B07ZFJJZLF

 

[MileHighCitizen]

Well I decided to go the "Crutchfield route" and try to do the speaker install myself. I bought two pair of Kicker KSC40 and a pair of Kicker 46CSC674. At this point I'll have just over $800 in the upgrade. But I'm not going to attempt the install until the Texas temperatures drop down into the two digit range again. I'll think about doing a subwoofer next year.

The trickiest part was pulling the cover from the dash speakers. Watch a video and use a trim tool as recommended.

 

[TacosTuesday]

i have a kicker 200.4 too and i started with just upgrading the 4" in the rear before upgrading to 6.5" pods & speakers and 100% go 6.5". and the stock speakers suck something awful, i question the hearing of anyone who says they're alright!

 

[Brian_B]

The trickiest part was pulling the cover from the dash speakers. Watch a video and use a trim tool as recommended.

Leaving the subwoofer aside, which is a topic in and of itself -- I thought the driver's side kick panel was the worst part, dealing with the dead pedal. The first time I took that out it worried me trying to contort it out from under the dash. After I did it once though, it wasn't too bad after that.

I do agree, the dash covers are also a bit worrisome the first time if you aren't used to those clips, but once you know where the clips are it isn't bad at all with a trim tool. Same goes for the rear pods. Just some clips - a little patience with the trim tool and it's not bad at all. No screws or interference with either of those locations, so pretty easy all told.

 

[voxel]

i have a kicker 200.4 too and i started with just upgrading the 4" in the rear before upgrading to 6.5" pods & speakers and 100% go 6.5". and the stock speakers suck something awful, i question the hearing of anyone who says they're alright!

The 7 speaker system from late 2023 was tolerable compared to the 6 speaker system from late 2022. I don't know what it is but with the stock 7 speaker system I could feel bass at my feet and on the dashboard. The 6 speaker system was a like an AM radio mounted in the center.

Regardless, most aftermarket speakers are clearer than the stock ones. As for FORSCAN changes? I'm still tuning the new system I installed. EQ OFF and rear to Speaker/Tweeter/Sub changes didn't wow my ears.

The trickiest part was pulling the cover from the dash speakers. Watch a video and use a trim tool as recommended.

Lifting them from the back (window side) seems to prevent clip breakage.

 

[Brian_B]

The 7 speaker system from late 2023 was tolerable compared to the 6 speaker system from late 2022. I don't know what it is but with the stock 7 speaker system I could feel bass at my feet and on the dashboard. The 6 speaker system was a like an AM radio mounted in the center.

Regardless, most aftermarket speakers are clearer than the stock ones. As for FORSCAN changes? I'm still tuning the new system I installed. EQ OFF and rear to Speaker/Tweeter/Sub changes didn't wow my ears.

The only difference that I know of is that 7th speaker - the stock subwoofer. While it's located in the cargo area, just due to the nature of low frequency sound, it isn't terribly directional and you'll hear/feel it fairly evenly throughout (and outside) the Bronco

As far as Forscan changes - the rear pods are really the only thing that get adjusted. They default to "Tweeter" (or Tweeter/Sub) if I recall, and won't get full audio sent to them if you don't change them to either "Speaker" or "Speaker/Tweeter" or "Speaker/Tweeter/Sub"

On the Factory 6, the subwoofer out line is disabled - you can enable it by changing the rear channels to "Speaker/Tweeter/Sub"

I couldn't notice any difference between "Speaker" and "Speaker/Tweeter" when I was playing with Forscan - but YMMV. But definitely noticed a difference between "Tweeter" and "Speaker"

Here's a very good guide to Forscan audio stuff:
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/how-to-forscan-audio-speaker-mods.71145/

 

[doublebullout]

I have a '22 Black Diamond Edition 4 door with the Sasquatch package and base stereo. I decided to upgrade the audio system in bite-sized chunks. Today I had a Kicker Key 200.4 amp installed. The speakers are still stock. I asked the guy what he thought of changing out the roll bar pods to allow for 6 inch speakers. He said he would stay with the stock configuration. He recommended that I put in four 4 inch Alpine speakers and not replace the stock kick panel speakers. Is this "sound" advice?

Yes. That's what I'm planning to start off with. Replacing just the 4" speakers with something that will improve the top end clarity and range is very sound advice. The kick panel speakers don't need to be full range, and given their placement and direction, they're just providing low and mid range support anyway. I'll reserve judgment on those until after doing the 4s. "Bite-sized chunks" is definitely a reasonable plan.

 

[HPNQ420]

I have a '22 Black Diamond Edition 4 door with the Sasquatch package and base stereo. I decided to upgrade the audio system in bite-sized chunks. Today I had a Kicker Key 200.4 amp installed. The speakers are still stock. I asked the guy what he thought of changing out the roll bar pods to allow for 6 inch speakers. He said he would stay with the stock configuration. He recommended that I put in four 4 inch Alpine speakers and not replace the stock kick panel speakers. Is this "sound" advice?

Do you take your top off? Then I would recommend waterproof/resistant speakers. If you take your top off you will get stuck in the rain. It happened to me a week ago, and I was glad all of my electronics (speakers, GMRS radio, amateur dual band handheld) weren't at risk.

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