B&O System Upgrade for my 2021 Ford Ranger Lariat Tremor

[troutspinner]

As long as you use some sort of DSP or interface that will flatten the signal out and adjust the bass roll off you should be good. However, you are correct that you do not want redundancy so I would pick the best path for you and stick with it.

With Forscan, you should be able to provide a consistent signal. No roll off so to speak. I’ll shape it with a DSP and REW.

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[JDubb]

I would highly recommend using an Audiocontrol 5 channel amp. Its clean, gives you lots of adjustment capability to include summing, and it has the power needed to run all of your door speakers and subs.

 

[JDubb]

Very true. I like the ability to set and change gains with zero distortion. I have adjusted it to my liking at the moment and will continue to tweak it as I listen to it more. Clarity and an even frequency response is what I look for. I like punchy bass and matching midbass to match it. So far so good! I am very impressed with it, although it wasn't cheap. Maybe I will sell all of my B&O equipment now. This would make a really nice system for someone.

 

[jflogerzi]

If you said after installing you used a digital referencing system that listens to the interiors total bandwidth and how it is affected by interior materials and made your adjustments from the profile shown other than just by ear then, it is not the same. I would say that’s what Ford is doing with an entire team of engineers. Granted on a budget but the system is pretty well tuned for a factory setup.

I have some of this equipment and it’s amazing what tweaks here and there will produce!

Sadly Ford engineers have to deal with the bean counters and audio is not high on there priority list. They do the best they can with what parts and budget is available to them. Does not mean any aftermarket adjustments or additions can't enhance or improve on the sound quality.

 

[ljames]

I do not understand your point of view on your original post? Is it the dual subs you are referencing or are you making the blanket statement that one cannot make a better sounding system than B&O/Ford…..volume aside?

Linearity throughout the volume level (SPL) is a very difficult beast. Sound can be very subjective and when you hear something louder, most peoples reaction is to think that is better.People who have VERY good hearing can differentiat about 1.5 db.Also regarding eq. this is a area where convincing your self that it is better becomes very easy, I see systems where eqs. are in place and typically in a smile because that is what people think is right and it generally is at very low volumes. Turn it up and things change quickly. This is why the best sounding speakers (flatest freq. response, abillity to present good phase throughout the freq. response is so very critical to a very good tune at all levels. Try working on that problem, without the help of Ford, JBL, Sony, B&O etc. I. And no- bass doubling is a out of control woofer which is moving so much that the bass is doubling. You have heard this many times on the street, it is a rattling sound. IS 2 subs a overkill in a pickup? probably yes. Unvented boxes however are less efficient and have a flatter response, most subs have very bad peak in the 100-150 hz range which is most of the doubling sound you hear on poor/ overdriven systems. And DSP which often throws accurate phase content out the window can be a poor start. If you have ever heard a very good set of speakers playing in stereo the magic is not in how loud they play rather in the 3 dimensional sound you get, not to be confused with stereo seperation.

 

[troutspinner]

Linearity throughout the volume level (SPL) is a very difficult beast. Sound can be very subjective and when you hear something louder, most peoples reaction is to think that is better.People who have VERY good hearing can differentiat about 1.5 db.Also regarding eq. this is a area where convincing your self that it is better becomes very easy, I see systems where eqs. are in place and typically in a smile because that is what people think is right and it generally is at very low volumes. Turn it up and things change quickly. This is why the best sounding speakers (flatest freq. response, abillity to present good phase throughout the freq. response is so very critical to a very good tune at all levels. Try working on that problem, without the help of Ford, JBL, Sony, B&O etc. I. And no- bass doubling is a out of control woofer which is moving so much that the bass is doubling. You have heard this many times on the street, it is a rattling sound. IS 2 subs a overkill in a pickup? probably yes. Unvented boxes however are less efficient and have a flatter response, most subs have very bad peak in the 100-150 hz range which is most of the doubling sound you hear on poor/ overdriven systems. And DSP which often throws accurate phase content out the window can be a poor start. If you have ever heard a very good set of speakers playing in stereo the magic is not in how loud they play rather in the 3 dimensional sound you get, not to be confused with stereo seperation.

I understand your point of view and agree. Overcoming environmental factors and vehicle noise, throughout all conditions and speeds just can’t be achieved with typical aftermarket equipment.

That is not to say that it isn’t worth doing, it’s just not going to be as good throughout but with volume to over-power these factors, the brain is happy.

In modern vehicles with processing, I’ve often thought about just replacing speakers with comparable range speakers and amping each channel independently. No processing, just leveling outputs to see if it would be as enjoyable as factory but cleaner when louder.

 

[brohammer619]

I did a lot of research prior to changing out the B&O system in my 2021 Ford Ranger. I swapped out the front door speakers with Infinity component 6.5 inch. The rear doors I swapped out with 2 Infinity Coax 6.5 inch speakers. I removed the B&O Amplifier and added a nav tv a2B zen interface and a 5 channel audiocontrol 5.1300 amplifier which gives me 100watt RMS per channel to all of the door speakers and 500 Watts RMS at 2 ohms to the 2 Pioneer 10 inch subs. After tuning this beast it sounds amazing! Just the right amount of crisp clear mids and highs with nice tight bass coming from the 2 sealed 10 inch enclosures. Check out these pics and thank you for checking out my build!

What pioneer sub/box is this ?

 

[Nick Barber]

The best upgrade I made to my audio system was disabling the fake engine sounds.

 

[JDubb]

What pioneer sub/box is this ?

I bought it used with the sub in it already so I'm not 100% sure. After looking for a new one to purchase for a couple weeks I determined it must be discontinued. I'm going to be building a new one which will be more narrow but longer and have slightly more airspace. Thanks for looking!

 

[brohammer619]

I bought it used with the sub in it already so I'm not 100% sure. After looking for a new one to purchase for a couple weeks I determined it must be discontinued. I'm going to be building a new one which will be more narrow but longer and have slightly more airspace. Thanks for looking!

Cool keep us posted with your progress. I’d like to copy it if it works out

 

[Joeiconic]

my 40 years in the audio business tell me you can convince yourself of anything. I do not have to hear the bass doubling to know it is not nearly as good as Bang and Olufsen and Ford put together.
You cannot begin to duplicate the engineering that went into the factory system. Can you make it play louder- no doubt, but linear throughout the SPL is what you want. But what do i know?

Yeah, I agree with this. Because of wind noise, road noise, engine noise, etc., a vehicle is just about the worst environment you can have for music reproduction. The main way to overcome that noise is volume. I bet there hasn’t been an aftermarket system installed in the history of car audio that had less volume than the stock system it replaced. On the other hand, in high-end home audio where the environment is more easily controlled, many audiophiles consider very low powered systems with highly efficient speakers to be the best way to achieve the cleanest sound. So, while you can certainly buy car audio gear that has better signal to noise specs, etc., the main benefit you are getting is added volume, which gives the perception that it sounds better because it is overpowering the always present noise. If you were to take the same after market gear and install it at the same power as stock, you probably wouldn’t notice much difference.

 

[seanellaz]

I did a lot of research prior to changing out the B&O system in my 2021 Ford Ranger. I swapped out the front door speakers with Infinity component 6.5 inch. The rear doors I swapped out with 2 Infinity Coax 6.5 inch speakers. I removed the B&O Amplifier and added a nav tv a2B zen interface and a 5 channel audiocontrol 5.1300 amplifier which gives me 100watt RMS per channel to all of the door speakers and 500 Watts RMS at 2 ohms to the 2 Pioneer 10 inch subs. After tuning this beast it sounds amazing! Just the right amount of crisp clear mids and highs with nice tight bass coming from the 2 sealed 10 inch enclosures. Check out these pics and thank you for checking out my build!

I put a 10" Pioneer TS-W254R subwoofer driver in an old Kenwood speaker cabinet, ported and tuned to about 25Hz, driven by a BOSS 2000m Monoblock amp. Speaker rides in back seat like passenger. Very ugly but sounds GREAT. VERY deep bass. Your setup is WAY more aesthetically pleasing. I also killed all of the motor / exhaust sound "enhancements" with forscan. Otherwise stock system gets plenty loud w/o distortion as the sub offloads some of the power which would otherwise go to making the little door mounted speakers do the bass.

 

[JDubb]

Yeah, I agree with this. Because of wind noise, road noise, engine noise, etc., a vehicle is just about the worst environment you can have for music reproduction. The main way to overcome that noise is volume. I bet there hasn’t been an aftermarket system installed in the history of car audio that had less volume than the stock system it replaced. On the other hand, in high-end home audio where the environment is more easily controlled, many audiophiles consider very low powered systems with highly efficient speakers to be the best way to achieve the cleanest sound. So, while you can certainly buy car audio gear that has better signal to noise specs, etc., the main benefit you are getting is added volume, which gives the perception that it sounds better because it is overpowering the always present noise. If you were to take the same after market gear and install it at the same power as stock, you probably wouldn’t notice much difference.

Road noise can be difficult, however I have lined my doors and rear wall with sound deadening and it did make a huge difference. It's impossible to get rid of all of it but my Ranger now sounds more like a Lincoln or caddy inside.

 

[Bob902]

Road noise can be difficult, however I have lined my doors and rear wall with sound deadening and it did make a huge difference. It's impossible to get rid of all of it but my Ranger now sounds more like a Lincoln or caddy inside.

I was surprised how much better the stock system sounded just by adding sound mat.

 

[JDubb]

I put a 10" Pioneer TS-W254R subwoofer driver in an old Kenwood speaker cabinet, ported and tuned to about 25Hz, driven by a BOSS 2000m Monoblock amp. Speaker rides in back seat like passenger. Very ugly but sounds GREAT. VERY deep bass. Your setup is WAY more aesthetically pleasing. I also killed all of the motor / exhaust sound "enhancements" with forscan. Otherwise stock system gets plenty loud w/o distortion as the sub offloads some of the power which would otherwise go to making the little door mounted speakers do the bass.

Love it! You buy what you want and as long as you like how it sounds then that's all that matters.

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