if you install a dsp amp do you still have to run forscan to change audio? to new speakers added?

Now that's an interesting idea. I suspect that'll just leave the rear pods super underpowered, but maybe not?? Maybe I'll try it.

@@RagnarKon You don't need a lot from the rears for a good sound, as it's been said a hundred times before you don't stand with your back to the band at a concert.

I did briefly try putting the factory 6.5" speakers back in and honestly I didn't notice any meaningful difference. (That experiment didn't make the final video though since it was already 45 minutes long.) I don't know what the frequency response of the factory speakers are, but the 6.75" Kickers go down to 40 Hz which is definitely in the mid-bass range, so that may be why I didn't notice a difference. I'm reasonably confident that I _should_ have bought a component speaker setup with a mid-range in the kick panel, an actual tweeter in the dash, and a crossover between the two. Instead I effectively tried to force those 4" speakers to be tweeters even though they're really not tweeters. But the money was already spent on the speakers I had, so I wanted to figure out how to make the best of what I ended up with before spending even more money. --- And you are 100% correct in regards to power. Power is a function of voltage and current (P = V * I). By increasing the impedance, I am decreasing the current, which in-turn decreases the power delivery to the speakers. That is also why speakers get quieter when they are wired in series. Leaving the rear pod speakers on the factory amp in favor of putting the front speakers on individual channels is an interesting idea I didn't think of to be honest. I think you'd definitely be sacrificing the rear pod speakers and they would truly be utterly worthless in that sort of setup. But the front speakers are definitely the most impactful to the overall audio experience, so maybe that would work.

How do you wire it up like this? I'm very interested in this set up. Do you just leave the 4" speaker wires unplugged? A write up would be great

@@ccclaw13 The 4" speaker wires are left unplugged, but the kick panel speakers were wired to the factory kick panel harness using an adapter. What i ended up doing was bypassing the factory 4" wiring and wired the tweeters directly to the kick panel speakers. I just feed the wires down behind the dash and into the kick panel, from what i remember it was pretty simple to get the tweeter wires routed. I cant stress this enough though, for an easy, headache free install, get 6.5"s and not 6.75's. Good Luck!

The Kicker Key does have some DSP functions, but you can't customize it. It sets itself up automatically, and all you can do is turn that on or off.

@@RagnarKon Ya, I know that you get what you get once it autotunes... but Kicker probably did a better job than I can do, especially considering my tinnitus. I am getting ready to install the Key 200.4 and a Kicker 46HS10 sub-woofer. Hopefully it will sound decent, I have not decided on speakers yet. Any suggestions? I am using Morel Maximo Ultra Coax on my 2021 Bronco with the Lux package, but this system is for the 2023 with the sub-woofer delete. The girlfriend is less than impressed with the stock system with sub-woofer delete.

​@@mpeugeot Truthfully I am happy with my Kicker KS coaxial series speakers (part numbers in the description). BUT, a big reason why I am happy with them is because I got them for a really good price during the holiday season this past year. I got the 4" speakers for $55/pair and the 6.75" speakers at $75/pair. If I paid full retail price ($100/pair and $130/pair respectively), not sure if I would have been as happy. It's pretty clear that coaxials are the best option for the rear pod speakers. My favorite 4" coaxials to-date are the Infinity Reference REF-4032cfx, although you could argue they are slightly overpriced if you buy them at their full $110 retail price. For the front speakers... if I were to do it over again, I would seriously consider using component speakers in the front rather than coaxials like I have. Something like the Infinity REF-6530cx, Polk DB-6502, or maybe the JL Audio C1-650 if I wanted something more budget-friendly. It's hard to give recommendations since I don't have an unlimited budget to try all of the speakers out. But yeah... if you ignore the holiday pricing I got on the gear, I probably would have gone with a slightly different setup.

@@RagnarKon Thanks, I was looking at the Infinity reference speakers pretty seriously last time, but got the Morel Maximo on sale instead... Maybe put the Morel Maximo in the GF's Bronco and then the Infinity Reference speakers in my Bronco. 😂 She won't know the difference.

@@RagnarKon I ended up ordering two Infinity Reference 6532ex and four 4032cfx. If I wire them in series, I will have 6 ohms in the front and 3 ohms in the rear. Should make for a decent sound stage in the front with a little rear bias. Using the Key 200.4 and the 46HS10 sub should give me just slightly better than stock sound. ;)

Which components did you use?? That was another idea I came up with as I was editing this video, but trying my best not to throw more money at this sound system. One of those things where you can just keep going and continually upgrade gear, and before you know it you've spent $2,000+ on it.

Nah, you don't really need one. One part is the time delay/alignment settings, as you mentioned. The other other is EQ correction for the amp/speakers. Just because there is a (mostly) flat signal going into the amplifier doesn't necessarily mean there is a perfectly flat audio coming out of the amp/speakers. The Kicker KS speakers, for example, are biased a little bit towards the high-end frequencies. It's ultimately up to you if you feel that's important or not. If you are playing music primary from the radio, the EQ settings are fairly important in my opinion. If you play it from primarily your phone... doesn't matter to much. Most phones have a pretty in-depth EQ already, so you can easily make up for the lack of an EQ on the amplifier by using the adjustments on your phone.

@@RagnarKon I mostly play pandora and tidal stream from my phone through apple car play, your explanation was perfect. I think I am just going to go with a 5 channel amp and keep it simple. So I just have to decide on doing components or coaxials up front. I am going with JL Audio C2’s and a stealth box in the back.

Forscan is not required, but it definitely helps for the rear pods.

Part of me wishes I would have gone with a component setup for the front speakers rather than a 6.5" & 4" setup. Honestly I don't know if that would have been any better, but it is something I wish I had at least tried. (And if I was willing to spend more money on it, I would have.) And of course there are a lot of minor things here and there I wish I had done differently. Running the power cable for the subwoofer is a good example. Spent hours trying to get that done, but now that I've done it once I could probably do it again in a MUCH shorter amount of time.

@@RagnarKon so I’m guessing you would have still picked the kicker amps and speakers?

​@@keithscratch At the price I bought everything at, yes, 100% worth it. Kicker had a really good holiday/Black Friday sale last year and I took full advantage of it. (Was actually my first time buying Kicker products.) If I had to pay full MSRP based on today's prices, I definitely would have bought different 4" speakers for the dash. The Kicker Key 200.4 is also _slightly_ underpowered at only 200 watts. It's fine 98% of the time, but once you take off the top and start blasting music it has a hard time keeping up. So I would like to say that I would get a more powerful amplifier. But, even today there isn't a whole lot of options available that has the same feature set in the same form factor that could be installed in a similar location. AudioControl 4.300 is probably the closest option, but it has no EQ or time delay capabilities. Everything else, Key 500.1, subwoofer, 6.5" speakers, 4" speakers for the rear pods, etc. were great.

@@RagnarKon this makes me if I’m looking at this approach all wrong, maybe I should be looking at more replacing all the Speakers and Amplifiers that are more aimed at SPL and clarity…

@@keithscratch It depends ultimately on what you are going for. For me I had three requirements: - $1000 budget. There are many other non-audio things I want to buy for my Bronco. - I had to retain full capability of the wash-out floor. This meant I could _NOT_ install amplifiers on the floor under the seats. - It had to sound just as good or better than the B&O package. I ended up slightly over budget (just shy of $1200), but otherwise I achieved all of those items. Depending on your requirements you may end up with different gear. A lot of people, for example, like having really controlled/tight bass response in their car audio. It wasn't a priority for me, but if it was I would have added a lot of sound deadening. Blasting music with my Bronco's top off is another good example. Not a priority for me at all, but I would have selected different gear if it was.

I haven't tried it without an amplifier, so I can't say for certain. No personal experience with it. But, if you feel like your dash speakers are annoyingly loud, it's probably worth a try.

Nope, it does not.

That's the amplifier powering off. You need to connect the Remote turn-on line from the factory. Turns on the amplifier when a signal is received, and turns it off when the signal goes away. Without it the amplifier will default to DC offset, which causes the popping noise when the amplifier eventually kicks off. Ford's remote turn-on lines are a 6 volt signal, and most aftermarket amplifiers require 12 volts. So you will need to pass it through something like a PAC Audio TR-4 to boost the signal up to 12 volts. Also make sure your input level is set to Low ("Lo") rather than High ("Hi"). And if it is set to High, make sure you turn the gain all the way down before change it to low.

Hey Buddy! So I went ahead and installed the PAC4, still having that pop sound! Did some further investigation, finding that the Cxa 800.1 doesn’t have the option of selecting audio signal turn on or +12v turn on. The factory sub audio signal that I clipped off the fake amp powers off about 3 min after you close the door. There’s gotta. Br a way to eliminate, any thoughts?

@@williamskidgell8163 CX800.1 right? Not super familiar with that amp admittedly, but from reading the user manual it implied it would automatically detect and use the remote line. If you have a multimeter, I would poke around and make sure you are getting a 12 volt signal out of the PAC TR-4... and then when the vehicle turns off make sure it drops back down to 0 volts.

I'm still going back and forth. I think sealing it up is objectively the right answer, but then the volume of the sub drops considerably below ~32 Hz since the resonant frequencies in the enclosure aren't there to help out. You have to push a lot more power through the amp make up what you lose. Leaving it up open works fine on the vast majority of songs, but if you get to a song that is really bass heavy it tends to turn into a sloppy mess. It doesn't sound horrible, just... doesn't sound great either. BUT, I'm probably being overly picky if I'm being honest. Regardless of which way I go, both options are still a dramatic improvement over stock.

It's made by a company called TrailRax: www.trailrax.com Not sure if you have a Bronco Nation membership or not, but if you do you can get 10% off: gear.thebronconation.com/collections/trailrax

I do, but it's private (personal family things). Now that you mention it I should probably make one for Bronco-related stuff. Mmmm... I'll have to do that.