Ford Bronco Speaker Upgrade

Bronco Speaker Upgrade

This week in the shop we had the pleasure of working on this Ford Bronco Badlands edition that was in desperate need of a stereo upgrade. This Bronco came equipped with the base 6-speaker audio system featuring a set of 6.5″ kick panel speakers, dash tweeters and rear 4″ sound bar speakers.

The stock Bronco stereo system is very underwhelming due to a couple limiting factors:

  • Lack of power
  • Low quality original speakers – which are also simply too small in the rear sound bar
  • Lack of a subwoofer to reproduce any sort of bass

Your first thought might be to do a Bronco speaker upgrade, but without addressing the core issues above, you are spinning your wheels. You’ll never hear the full potential of higher quality aftermarket speakers unless you include a DSP amplifier to A) clean up the shoddy signal coming from the original radio B) add the power that is missing.

DSP Amplifier necessary for non amplified models

If you happen to have the premium 8 speaker B&O system, you don’t necessarily have to use a DSP amplifier. For OEM amplified models we prefer to use a digital pre-amp adapter such as the PAC Audio AP4-FD31. The pre-amp adapter allows us to get a flat, clean RCA pre-amp level or toslink digital out from the factory radio. From there you could go to a high quality aftermarket amp or one with a DSP included. To learn more about pre-amp adapters, you can check out this video below.

The pre-amp adapter isn’t currently an option for the basic 6 speaker model. That is why in this Bronco speaker upgrade we used the MATCH UP 6 DSP amplifier. Don’t let the size of this compact little amp fool you. It packs a tremendous amount of power and audio control tools making it an amazing value.

Bronco Speaker Upgrade - MATCH UP 6 DSP amplifier

The MATCH UP 6 DSP is one of our shops favorite DSP amps to use. It features 4 channels of power at 65 watts plus another 2 at 90 watts RMS @ 4 ohm. The higher powered channels are also 2 ohm stable and deliver 160 watts at that resistance. The MATCH UP 6 DSP is what allows us to analyze and correct the crummy signal coming from the original radio. It features a whopping 31 bands of equalization per channel.

But really – why do I need a DSP amp for my Bronco speaker upgrade?

Have you ever heard the analogy garbage in/garbage out? If you don’t use a DSP amp with your Bronco speaker upgrade, that is essentially what you’re dealing with. Your speakers performance will continue to be throttled unless you include a DSP amp to change that signal from garbage to clean and powerful. Only adding an amp without addressing the quality of signal simply makes that crummy signal louder. To learn more about our shops car audio tuning process, whether it be with a DSP amp or aftermarket head unit, check out the video below.

With a clean audio signal and plenty of power in place, we upgraded the Bronco speakers using the Sony Mobile ES XS-162ES 6.5″ component speakers in front and XS-160ES 6.5″ in the rear.

Using the right Bronco speaker mounting adapters

To upgrade to larger speakers in the rear, we used the Metra 6.5″ sound bar kit FD-BROPOD1. This kit is a must in order to create a nice full range response in the rear. The great part about this accessory is the factory fit and finish. You can barely see the Sony logo under the grille which is perfect. No one will know this Bronco has an upgraded stereo unless they hear it.

Ford Bronco Speaker Upgrade Sony Mobile ES

For the front 6.5″ kick panel speakers we used speaker mounting adapters and fast rings. A fast ring is a foam ring that goes around the outer edge of the speaker. This helps to create a seal against the panel directing more of the sound waves directly into the cabin, rather than getting lost in the kick panel itself. We also used mounting adapters for the dash tweeters enabling us to neatly mount the new Sony tweeters in the factory location under the original grilles.

Ford Bronco Speaker Upgrade featuring Sony Mobile ES component speakers

These Sony Mobile ES speakers deliver sound quality with high power handling capability. A combo that is hard to beat. To learn more about the Sony Mobile ES speakers, check out my video below.

This Bronco speaker upgrade would not be complete without a subwoofer. Did you know that we can hear down to 20 Hz? Yet your average 6.5″ car stereo speaker can only really effectively play down to about 60 – 80 Hz. Even then it’s typically not even at a high enough output level to overcome things like road noise and wind noise. That’s a pretty big gap in frequency range. This is why you need a subwoofer. To fill in that natural frequency range that is missing from your Bronco car stereo system.

Bronco subwoofer upgrade

The Bronco is tight. Most clients want to utilize the existing cargo space without any compromise. Thankfully Stinger makes a great little 400 watt 12″ subwoofer designed to mount right on the swing gate.

Bronco tail gate subwoofer

This low profile enclosure looks clean and sounds amazing. Powered by the MATCH UP 1FX shown below. Both amplifiers were mounted discretely under the driver and passenger seat using a vehicle specific amp mounting rack by Stinger Electronics.

MATCH UP 1 FX Bronco Stereo Upgrade

With each speaker on its own dedicated channel perfectly tuned and dialed in, we don’t want to change the signal going to them by adjusting the bass level on the original radio. Instead, we leave that at 0 and have the Conductor control knob acting as a dedicated sub level control knob.

Conductor as a sub level control knob

The Conductor is a programmable illuminated control knob specific to the Helix/MATCH family of DSP products. It can be programmed to activate different listening presets such as one for driver, another for driver + passenger or, top up, top down, etc. In this application we used it solely as a sub level control knob.

Our preferred mounting location in the Bronco would be on the center console, but it was too crowded with the aftermarket Best Top power top switch so we mounted it right behind the 4-wheel drive control knob.

A true Bronco stereo upgrade requires the total package

This might seem a bit like an all or nothing approach, but the reality is, if you want to upgrade the audio in your Bronco, you need to address each weakness in the factory system:

  • Lack of clean signal
  • Lack of power
  • Low quality original speakers
  • Tiny rear speakers
  • Lack of a subwoofer to reproduce any sort of bass

With this quality package of equipment expertly installed by our experienced technicians, this Bronco stereo is ready to be cranked and enjoyed. Doors off, top down, sun on your skin, warm air flowing though the cabin with excellent tunes fully enveloping you. That is my kind of summer. If you’re ready for a Bronco stereo upgrade, reach out to our shop Sounds Incredible Mobile. Call or text us today to learn more.

Porsche 993 Stereo, Speaker + Amp Upgrade

Porsche 993 Stereo Upgrade

In the shop, we recently had the pleasure of working on this super clean, 1995 Porsche 911. This is one of my favorite types of jobs to do. I love figuring out how to deliver an upgraded audio system while maintaining the integrity of the vehicle and without detracting from the originality or value of the vehicle. If you own a classic Porsche 993, you understand the push and pull that exists between wanting to upgrade the dated stereo and speaker system with the need to keep everything original without modification. You wouldn’t want to do anything that would in any way detract from the value of the vehicle.

Porsche 993 stereo speaker upgrade

That is why I was extremely selective about what components I recommended to this client for their Porsche 993 speaker and stereo upgrade. We had a couple key requirements.

Porsche 993 Stereo Upgrade Rules to Abide by

I naturally wanted to use equipment that would require minimal to no modifications which means we were limited by certain parameters:

  • Use all the original speaker grilles
  • No modification to the dash, doors or wiring
  • Nothing visibly altered other than the PCCM Classic CarPlay stereo in the dash

It was also imperative for me to include an amplifier simply because the power of any in dash aftermarket radio would not be enough to overcome the road/engine noise of this vehicle. Additionally I wanted to use a DSP amplifier in order to extract maximum performance potential possible out of the speakers as we were not going to add any type of subwoofer.

Good Things Come in Tiny Packages

Meet the MATCH UP 6 DSP. Measuring up at 5.12″ x 5.12″ and only 1.81″ tall this compact amp is an installers dream. It’s a 6-channel amp designed for either speaker level connection or optical SPIDF. Unlike many aftermarket car audio amplifiers, it does not feature an RCA connection.

MATCH UP 6 DSP Porsche 993 stereo + speaker upgrade

The MATCH UP 6 DSP is one of our favorite DSP amplifiers here at the shop. We install this particular amp on a regular basis in a wide variety of vehicles. It features 90 watts X 2 RMS plus another 65 watts x 4 RMS @ 4 ohms with an integrated 31 band EQ and Audiotec Fischer’s advanced digital signal processing software. The higher powered channels are also 2 ohm stable which bumps up output to 160 watts x 2. This compact little amp packs a mighty punch!

Key Ingredients to a Seamless Porsche 993 Stereo Upgrade

I’m about to spill some secrets so take note! This car was equipped with the basic stock audio system which has:

  • Factory tweeters measuring at .75 inches
  • 5.25″ front door speakers
  • 4×6 rear door speakers

In order to keep everything fitting nicely under the original grilles, we utilized the Helix Ci 3 series speakers. The 5.25″ Helix Ci 3 speakers fit perfectly without any modification. Prior to the vehicle arriving, I did a lot of research to find out what speakers would fit with the original grilles.

Helix Ci3 Speakers - Porsche 993

Some of the speakers that kept coming up in my research for the Porsche 993 were old and long discontinued MB Quart speakers that featured a .75″ tweeter. After reaching out to Helix to confirm I was on the right track with fitment, I learned that the Helix Ci3 and Ci7 series are similarly sized to some of the 90’s MB Quart models. This is probably due to Helix having a heavy focus on integration with German vehicles, similar to MB Quart’s original roots from back in the day when it was actually made in Germany (MB Quart is a completely different company today). How convenient!

Helix Ci3 Compose Tweeters .75" Porsche 993

Having the right size equipment is half the battle. The other half is the actual execution which presented some challenges that were expertly overcome. John came up with a very creative solution in order to retain the factory speaker grilles. Check it out:

1995 Porsche 911 Speaker Replacement re-using OEM grilles with Helix Ci3 5.25" speakers

Those are little tiny magnets that John glued to the back side of the original grille. This created a very clean, uniform look that is easily serviceable, but also surprisingly strong. While testing out John’s speaker grille solution I was very satisfied to see that these grilles will not easily pop off.

Attention to Detail in Every Installation

As a small business owner serving clients for 25 years, I have come to embrace an eccentric level of attention to detail in the initial planning phases because I want to cover as many variables as possible and have all the questions covered before the car even arrives. This helps to increase overall efficiency, insure we have all the right parts the day the car arrives and minimizes surprises and delays during the installation process. This hyper focus on details is a strength John and I both share.

While working on the car, inevitably, something will pop up that I couldn’t have foreseen. In this case, one such example was the driver’s side door panel. While working on the Porsche 993 speaker replacement, he noticed one edge of the trim was coming apart at the corner.

Be Prepared to Make Repairs Along the Way

Not able to overlook anything, John went ahead and resecured that corner. He even added some additional reinforcement for the other edges to prevent them from coming loose as well.

The man just can’t help himself. If he sees it, he will fix it. Schedules be damned.

While he was at at, he also repainted the grilles with a fresh coat of black paint. Below you can see the final result on the driver’s side with the freshly painted grilles.

The passenger side came out pretty sharp too:

In preparation for the rear speakers, I ordered and set aside a set of 4″ coaxials, the Ci3 C100.2FM-S3 and 4″ components, the Ci3 K100.2FM-S3. I wasn’t sure whether this car was equipped with a 4×6 or the 4″ component we sometimes see in Porsche models. This turned out to be a non amplified Porsche 993 with a set of 4×6 in the rear deck. I was also slightly concerned about the rear tweeter protruding too high up and interfering with the factory grilles, but luckily that was not an issue.

Porsche 993 rear speakers Helix Ci3 C100.2FM-S3

The old original rear speaker grilles did present a major challenge. The plastic base for each side was cracked. Despite John’s numerous attempts and hours spent trying to repair them, the stubborn old plastic would just crack again each time he reattached the grille. After the 3rd attempt to rebuild I convinced him to order new grilles which of course look great.

The new rear grilles look much better than the original 1995 Porsche 911 grilles. The replacement rear grilles weren’t cheap, but we think it was well worth the cost for a clean look.

It’s not just about looks, we also needed this Porsche 993 stereo to be fully functional. The client opted for the Porsche PCCM Classic CarPlay radio.

Making the Porsche PCCM Classic CarPlay Stereo Sound Incredible

The Porsche PCCM Classic CarPlay radio is interesting to me. The display is SO small I am not quite sure how I feel about it. I generally appreciate the overall look of the modern Porsche 993 stereo.

Although the display is small, it certainly fits the dash and maintains a period appropriate look. The knobs and buttons certainly have a factory like feel to them and the Porsche logo on top seals the deal.

PP-ISO 2 MATCH up 6 DSP harness used to connect to the Porsche PCCM Classic CarPlay Stereo

We used the PP-ISO 2 T-harness to make a clean speaker level connection from the Porsche PCCM Classic CarPlay radio to the MATCH UP 6 DSP amplifier. I asked John to mount the amp in the factory location under the passenger seat. If you didn’t know where to look, you’d never know it was there!

Porsche 993 Stereo Upgrade featuring MATCH UP 6 DSP amplifier mounted in factory amp location under passenger seat.

We chose to run each speaker actively for maximum performance and efficiency. Utilizing each channel for each speaker eliminated the need for any external crossover network. The tweeters were run on the 65 watt channels, the 5.25″ midranges powered off the 90 watt channels and the rear 4″ run off the remaining 65 watt channels.

The combination of equipment used along with John’s expert installation and tuning process created a powerful system that was crisp, clean, detailed and vibrant yet fully maintained the original aesthetics of the vehicle. If you’re interested in a clean and classic Porsche 993 stereo upgrade like this for your vehicle, please contact our shop, Sounds Incredible Mobile in Brookfield, CT.