The Bronco is a tough cabin to get good sound in. It has flat glass, hard plastics, thin trim, and a roof and doors that come off. Sound reflects off those surfaces or escapes through them. A repeat client from Vancouver brought in his 2023 Bronco because the factory B&O system lacked bass, volume and a clear soundstage. We've heard the same problems in other Broncos.
He wanted the whole system rebuilt, so that's what we did.
The front stage
The biggest change was at the rear-of-cab speaker location. The factory fits a 4″ speaker in a moulded pod. We built new pods to take 6.5″ Helix Compose Ci3 C165.2FM-S3 coaxials in the same location, then replaced the remaining 4″ drivers with matching Ci3 C100.2FM-S3 speakers.
The extra cone area made a big difference to midbass. Processing alone can't add that. With the bigger drivers, the system played noticeably louder before it got harsh, and the soundstage spread across the cabin.
Power and processing
Two amplifiers run the system: the Helix M FOUR DSP, a four-channel amplifier with a 10-channel digital processor built into it, and a Kenwood eXcelon X802-5 five-channel — about 1,200 watts across the pair, with the subwoofer on a channel of its own.
The DSP lets us work around the Bronco's hard surfaces and uneven speaker distances. We set the level and crossover for each driver, then correct the timing to put the soundstage in front of you. We tune the response in the actual vehicle at the shop.
Bass without losing the back
The owner uses his cargo area, so the usual answer — a box behind the rear seat — was out. After several Broncos we have settled on a better one for this vehicle: mount the enclosure on the inside of the tailgate. It is dead space, it is out of the load floor entirely, and it puts the subwoofer firing forward into the cabin.
The Bronco now plays loud and stays clear, with imaging that holds at highway speed. The owner kept all his cargo space.