Premium car audio for Ford Bronco to replace the standard Bang & Olufsen audio system
Car audio for Ford Bronco is one of our unique projects. We have improved car audio with different premium factory audio systems in different cars – among them Bose in Audi, and Mark Levinson in Lexus or Meridian Surround in Range Rover, but we dealt with Bang & Olufsen for the first time. It was very interesting to understand how this audio system is arranged, what components the manufacturer used and, of course, the greatest interest was in how this vaunted premium sound plays and sounds.
It was even more interesting to work for the first time with such an interesting car as the 2023 Ford Bronco. This SUV came to Ukraine from the USA, and the owner immediately realized that the factory car audio did not suit him. The decision to improve it came immediately.
WHERE ARE THE BANG & OLUFSEN SPEAKERS IN THE FORD BRONCO
Let’s tell you what speakers the Ford Bronco’s factory Bang & Olufsen premium audio system includes and where they are located.
Let’s start with the front acoustics – the system has two 16 cm midbass speakers located in the kick panels at the feet of the driver and passenger. There is very little volume there, the manufacturer chose the place for the midbass speakers clearly on the residual principle, excluding the search for the optimal place for the best sound of the speaker. On the other hand, the unusual design of the doors forgives such a shortcoming – the doors in this car are removable, which means that the speaker cable cannot be run, and therefore the speaker too.
In the dashboard, the manufacturer placed the tweeters under the windshield. Well, at least here is a normal place for speakers!
The rear speakers are also located unusually and non-standardly – in the housings that are attached to the ceiling, the speakers are turned towards the driver – that is, they play from behind, into the back of the head. If there is an audio processor, such a location of the speakers is not a problem.
The standard subwoofer is located under the trim in the trunk on the right side. We did not find any premium features when opening it – a regular flimsy plastic case with the simplest primitive subwoofer speaker with a hint of a magnet. Of course, there is no bass and there cannot be with such a design.
In general, after all the speakers were dismantled, we got this “impressive” picture
NEW AUDIO SYSTEM FOR FORD BRONCO
Well, despite the fact that the standard Bang & Olufsen did not impress either the car owner or us – the equipment nevertheless had to be selected to wipe the nose of all these premium systems far in advance! Here is our set, which consists of:
- Match UP8DSP Processor Amplifier (one device will allow us to implement a new audio system for 7 speakers with full channel amplification)
- Midbass 16 cm handmade in Italy from the ATI brand
- Full-range speakers 8 cm handmade in Italy from the brand ATI
- Coaxial speakers 10 cm from the brand Helix
- Subwoofer speaker 20 cm from the brand Helix
SPEAKERS FOR FORD BRONCO
All new speakers were installed in the standard places, in some places they were modified and customized, in others they added vibration isolation and anti-squeak so that the standard places could withstand the new load of the new speakers, which are several times more powerful than the standard ones.
New midbass speakers at the driver’s and passenger’s feet
New broadband in the dashboard
New coaxial speakers in standard housings on the ceiling
SUBWOOFER FOR FORD BRONCO
As we wrote above, the standard subwoofer is located in the trunk under the trim, and we decided not to complicate the system with complex solutions like a stealth case or a case in the trunk – we decided to modify the factory case by treating the plastic with vibration insulation. We selected a 20-centimeter subwoofer speaker with an ultra-compact basket and ultra-small mounting depth. It turned out elegant, completely unnoticeable from the outside and, most importantly, musical! Technologies do not stand still and a seemingly modest speaker can surprise! In general, the Ford Bronco definitely has more low frequencies.
After final assembly, no one will suspect that under the casing there is no longer a standard Bang & Olufsen subwoofer, but a new one from the Helix brand!
BOOSTER FOR FORD BRONCO
The amplifier turned out to be tricky. The standard amplifier in this car receives a digital signal from the factory head unit, which means a certain difficulty for us – to save the signal we needed either a special adapter, which cannot be bought in Ukraine, or remove the standard amplifier in principle – which is also impossible, because when it is disconnected, the audio system stops working in principle.
We decided to take the signal from the factory amplifier and feed it to the new Match UP8DSP processor amplifier. But here too we encountered difficulties, even despite the ultra-compact size of the device, we had a hard time finding a place for it. It would seem – such an SUV as a Ford Bronco and there is no place for an amplifier the size of a tablet? Yes, because the car is special – it is designed for literally diving under water, which means the place for the amplifier must be well protected from water.
In general, we found such a place – in the niche of the trunk on the left, made a custom mount for the amplifier and installed it in the best possible way.
Come to us for new car audio! You will enjoy your favorite music – we guarantee!
