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I know this subject has been hounded nearly to death. But I'm posting my experience and questions anyway. Might help someone else. I do not work for Kicker nor Inifinity nor Crutchfield and I receive no form of compensation from anyone for this post.
I do not think of myself as an audiophile. I just wanted some bass and better guitar notes. This truck is my daily driver and constant companion. I began this process in stages, hoping to not over-spend. This sort of worked out.
First step was bass. My Big Bend 2-door came with the sub-woofer delete. So I ordered a Kicker 8" 48CWRT84, Kicker Key 500 amp, and Kicker 46CXARCT bass knob. I wound up buying all at Crutchfield. The salesman there was excellent -- he spent 45 minutes on the phone with me, making sure I was on the right track.
The installer -- awesome guy, great job -- had to cut a hole in the factory sub-woofer box, but both components fit. Final result is decent -- at least I have bass. Itās not āmidrangeā bass where you can hear the bass guitar clearly. Itās an ambient fill sound. There is a āboomy, echo-eyā quality to it with some music at higher settings. That aspect is not great. In the end, I would probably have been better off with a smaller sub-woofer. I think there is a 6.75ā model that would have slotted into the factory location without cutting.
The bass knob is essential to the success of this setup. Rock ānā roll, jazz, classical are all fine under most dial locations. But some music I listen to (trap, drums and bass) has crazy low frequencies that cause the woofer to buzz. This is partly because the woofer is wedged into that relatively small compartment. Without the bass knob, I likely would not be able to listen to certain types of music at all.
At this point I was $950 in for the sub, amp, knob, and installation. I was hoping the setup would be good enough with the factory speakers. The Crutchfield tech told me that the Kicker Key Amp brings two features that may justify its price:
1) At install, the amp apparently runs a ātone testā that equalizes the audio across the factory speakers.
2) The expert told me that factory speakers have bass frequencies removed from them, and the Kicker Key restores some of these frequencies.
I canāt say whether the two features are operative, nor whether the factory speaker sound improved. I did hear that the result, although much better than before with āthump and thudā and very well managed with the knob, was still disappointing.
So a month later I went back to Crutchfield, armed with this link:
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/thre...ctful-speaker-upgrade-plus-forscan-mod.37186/
I bought four Infinity Reference speakers model 4032CFX. Research ā and the Crutchfield expert, another 45-minute call -- showed that itās best to put bass blockers on all. I bought the tools to self-install because it looks pretty easy.
I asked my installer how much he would charge: $165.00. Since I was taking the truck over there anyway to have him evaluate the Kicker buzz at heavy frequencies, I figured I would let him do this install as well.
He told me the bass blockers were ruining the sound of the Infinitys, so after testing, he removed them. He assured me that I could not blow these speakers with this setup. Iām still on the factory amplifier. Bass blocker verdict: Waste of time.
Result: WAAAYYYY better sound. On top of the thump, I now have ācrunch,ā great treble, and the bass guitar is more audible. My typical max volume is level 16 on the dial, which is LOUD, so thereās another 40% of the dial available if I ever want to try it.
I have not done any Forscan mods. I donāt have a Windows laptop, so this would be a real investment. Even a used laptop with the cable would be minimum $400.00.
The āboomyā quality is still audible. This can be reduced with the bass knob, but that also reduces the good thunder. Iām not sure to what degree the Kicker, factory amp, the cramped space for the sub-woofer, and the vehicle itself are all involved in this not-great hollow echo. Not all music has this aspect, but I wish I knew of a fix.
A friend told me that at this point, I should have the Ford dealer plug in Forscan to try to equalize the sound. Well, I donāt have the confidence that Ford dealers really know how to do this. Do they?
Iām now thinking I will look into new ākick panelā speakers, as these could fill in low-end and mids better than the current setup. But as my current investment stands at $1500.00, this is for next year. The $1500 has gotten me pretty far, with a setup that sounds really good overall. I may just stop here and live with it.
But I do feel that the sound can still improve. Iām just not sure what to do next. Also Iām not sure whether Iāve done the right thing to-date. Yeah, itās a lot better, but Iām mixing and matching in what may be an amateur manner, and Iām not sure the Kicker Key was worth it at $275, when a basic $75.00 amplifier can drive that Kicker Sub. Does the Key really provide equalization across all the other speakers? Also, I suspect that a smaller 6.75ā sub would have been the right choice, and saved a few bucks.
All comments welcome.
I do not think of myself as an audiophile. I just wanted some bass and better guitar notes. This truck is my daily driver and constant companion. I began this process in stages, hoping to not over-spend. This sort of worked out.
First step was bass. My Big Bend 2-door came with the sub-woofer delete. So I ordered a Kicker 8" 48CWRT84, Kicker Key 500 amp, and Kicker 46CXARCT bass knob. I wound up buying all at Crutchfield. The salesman there was excellent -- he spent 45 minutes on the phone with me, making sure I was on the right track.
The installer -- awesome guy, great job -- had to cut a hole in the factory sub-woofer box, but both components fit. Final result is decent -- at least I have bass. Itās not āmidrangeā bass where you can hear the bass guitar clearly. Itās an ambient fill sound. There is a āboomy, echo-eyā quality to it with some music at higher settings. That aspect is not great. In the end, I would probably have been better off with a smaller sub-woofer. I think there is a 6.75ā model that would have slotted into the factory location without cutting.
The bass knob is essential to the success of this setup. Rock ānā roll, jazz, classical are all fine under most dial locations. But some music I listen to (trap, drums and bass) has crazy low frequencies that cause the woofer to buzz. This is partly because the woofer is wedged into that relatively small compartment. Without the bass knob, I likely would not be able to listen to certain types of music at all.
At this point I was $950 in for the sub, amp, knob, and installation. I was hoping the setup would be good enough with the factory speakers. The Crutchfield tech told me that the Kicker Key Amp brings two features that may justify its price:
1) At install, the amp apparently runs a ātone testā that equalizes the audio across the factory speakers.
2) The expert told me that factory speakers have bass frequencies removed from them, and the Kicker Key restores some of these frequencies.
I canāt say whether the two features are operative, nor whether the factory speaker sound improved. I did hear that the result, although much better than before with āthump and thudā and very well managed with the knob, was still disappointing.
So a month later I went back to Crutchfield, armed with this link:
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/thre...ctful-speaker-upgrade-plus-forscan-mod.37186/
I bought four Infinity Reference speakers model 4032CFX. Research ā and the Crutchfield expert, another 45-minute call -- showed that itās best to put bass blockers on all. I bought the tools to self-install because it looks pretty easy.
I asked my installer how much he would charge: $165.00. Since I was taking the truck over there anyway to have him evaluate the Kicker buzz at heavy frequencies, I figured I would let him do this install as well.
He told me the bass blockers were ruining the sound of the Infinitys, so after testing, he removed them. He assured me that I could not blow these speakers with this setup. Iām still on the factory amplifier. Bass blocker verdict: Waste of time.
Result: WAAAYYYY better sound. On top of the thump, I now have ācrunch,ā great treble, and the bass guitar is more audible. My typical max volume is level 16 on the dial, which is LOUD, so thereās another 40% of the dial available if I ever want to try it.
I have not done any Forscan mods. I donāt have a Windows laptop, so this would be a real investment. Even a used laptop with the cable would be minimum $400.00.
The āboomyā quality is still audible. This can be reduced with the bass knob, but that also reduces the good thunder. Iām not sure to what degree the Kicker, factory amp, the cramped space for the sub-woofer, and the vehicle itself are all involved in this not-great hollow echo. Not all music has this aspect, but I wish I knew of a fix.
A friend told me that at this point, I should have the Ford dealer plug in Forscan to try to equalize the sound. Well, I donāt have the confidence that Ford dealers really know how to do this. Do they?
Iām now thinking I will look into new ākick panelā speakers, as these could fill in low-end and mids better than the current setup. But as my current investment stands at $1500.00, this is for next year. The $1500 has gotten me pretty far, with a setup that sounds really good overall. I may just stop here and live with it.
But I do feel that the sound can still improve. Iām just not sure what to do next. Also Iām not sure whether Iāve done the right thing to-date. Yeah, itās a lot better, but Iām mixing and matching in what may be an amateur manner, and Iām not sure the Kicker Key was worth it at $275, when a basic $75.00 amplifier can drive that Kicker Sub. Does the Key really provide equalization across all the other speakers? Also, I suspect that a smaller 6.75ā sub would have been the right choice, and saved a few bucks.
All comments welcome.
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