Upgrade Speakers Only, Any Improvement?

[RocketGhost]

I have the regular B&O system. A lot of people have upgraded the stock speakers and added an amp and sub. But has anyone just upgraded the factory speakers, which ones did you choose, and was there a noticeable improvement to make it worth it? I'd like to do an easy upgrade if it makes much of a difference.

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[rugedraw]

You'll get mixed reviews here. I replaced my front door and a-pillar tweeters and my rear door speakers with components powered by the factory set-up. I know it sounds better and I can hear the rear door speakers now. The approach I took is invasive and not plug and play. You can just swap out the front door 6x9's and the rear door 6.5" two-ways with some aftermarket ones and be done with it with no modification. I would recommend low wattage rated speakers since the factory ACM/DSP does not put out a lot of power

 

[MTBAZ]

it's worth it. I had a blown 6.5" rear speaker and upgrade all door speaker to Alpine R-S series and disconnected the center channel. Sound is cleaner and there is more base in the system. (I did not touch the factory sub). I did add some sound deadening around the speakers I'm sure that helped as well.

Install was easy, followed the steps from a few different videos on line. One specific to a 22 F150 install and another on optimizing speaker installs and little things that make a difference.

I found I like working on new cars better than 20 year old cars where all the clips break.

 

[RocketGhost]

it's worth it. I had a blown 6.5" rear speaker and upgrade all door speaker to Alpine R-S series and disconnected the center channel.

Are the speakers you used 2-way? Do you know which models you used?

 

[MTBAZ]

Are the speakers you used 2-way? Do you know which models you used?

Yes 2 way. Front has a crossover and tweeter I needed to install in the A pillar.

R-S6S.2 for rear
R-S69S.2 for Front.

There are way better speakers our there but these were cheep and without adding extra power didn't see a need for better. (auto aficionado's go easy on me for saying that)

 

[Basis0439]

Ford audio engineers - did you hear that?

Removing a primary speaker from a configuration makes the audio sound better is basically the worse critique you can give. Lol

 

[rugedraw]

Ford audio engineers - did you hear that?

Removing a primary speaker from a configuration makes the audio sound better is basically the worse critique you can give. Lol

You may want to blame the B&O engineers. They're the ones that tuned the system.

 

[Wjburgin]

I, too, have struggled with understanding why the vaunted B&O Sound System was an improvement. We have an 2008 Escape with better factory sound... But, I'd like to know: What is the difference between unplugging the center speaker and simply turning it 'off'?

 

[eman5oh]

I replaced the front and rear door speakers with these https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20646CC674/Kicker-46CSC674.html?omnews=8635307. They did improve the sound but it was not night and day. The biggest difference was in the highs, much clearer. My truck is a XLT without the B&O for what it is worth. I just recently added a 12" Kicker Sub and a Kicker 500.1 Key amp, this has made a world of difference and was worth the effort and cost. The sub rounded the system out and I am now happy and it sounds way better than any factory system.

 

[Basis0439]

I replaced the front and rear door speakers with these https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20646CC674/Kicker-46CSC674.html?omnews=8635307. They did improve the sound but it was not night and day. The biggest difference was in the highs, much clearer. My truck is a XLT without the B&O for what it is worth. I just recently added a 12" Kicker Sub and a Kicker 500.1 Key amp, this has made a world of difference and was worth the effort and cost. The sub rounded the system out and I am now happy and it sounds way better than any factory system.

How did you do the replacements/additions? Did you follow any specific guides or document what you did? If so, can you provide them? I'm very interested in improving my B&O system's audio.

 

[eman5oh]

For the door speakers I got them for Crutchfield along with mounting rings and adaptor plugs so they were fairly plug and play. The adaptor rings needed a hole drilled in them to pass the wires though and an bit of trimming to fit properly. I did this back in 22 and I think the adaptor rings were for the previous gen truck at the time. You can probably find ones now that will just fit without any mods. For the amp and sub I tapped the front left and right tweeters in the pillars as they were easy to access at the time and I did not have a T harness on hand. I would use this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C4VBMPTK/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=AO3YTZ6BCMVCB&psc=1 if I had it to do over to wire the amp in. You will want to use an amp or LOC (line output converter) with a DSP in your truck because the factory systems roll off the bass as you increase the volume. The DSP makes a huge difference. Kicker has the Key amps that have this bilt in along with there KeyLoc as well. Audio Controls Lc2i is also a another well regarded option as well. https://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audio/factory-system-upgrade/lc2i/. As far as I can tell there is no way to disable the bass roll off in the Lightning via Forscan, so a DSP is the way if you want to add a sub + amp that will sound good. The downside to the DSP is it is tuned at a certain volume level and when lower it to where the bass is not rolled off it can get a bit too much so a bass knob is also necessary if you really want to have a good sounding system in my option. If someone knows how to get rid of the bass roll off and cut on our trucks please do share, as that would be the best way.

 

[rugedraw]

For the door speakers I got them for Crutchfield along with mounting rings and adaptor plugs so they were fairly plug and play. The adaptor rings needed a hole drilled in them to pass the wires though and an bit of trimming to fit properly. I did this back in 22 and I think the adaptor rings were for the previous gen truck at the time. You can probably find ones now that will just fit without any mods. For the amp and sub I tapped the front left and right tweeters in the pillars as they were easy to access at the time and I did not have a T harness on hand. I would use this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C4VBMPTK/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=AO3YTZ6BCMVCB&psc=1 if I had it to do over to wire the amp in. You will want to use an amp or LOC (line output converter) with a DSP in your truck because the factory systems roll off the bass as you increase the volume. The DSP makes a huge difference. Kicker has the Key amps that have this bilt in along with there KeyLoc as well. Audio Controls Lc2i is also a another well regarded option as well. https://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audio/factory-system-upgrade/lc2i/. As far as I can tell there is no way to disable the bass roll off in the Lightning via Forscan, so a DSP is the way if you want to add a sub + amp that will sound good. The downside to the DSP is it is tuned at a certain volume level and when lower it to where the bass is not rolled off it can get a bit too much so a bass knob is also necessary if you really want to have a good sounding system in my option. If someone knows how to get rid of the bass roll off and cut on our trucks please do share, as that would be the best way.

I went with an LC2i and a bass knob, too.

 

[Wjburgin]

Well, I thought when you switched the output from "surround" to "stereo" it was, in effect, turning the speaker "off".

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