Changing speakers to Kickers.

[RidingTheBronco]

Hi, I just changed the four door and center dash speaker to Kicker KSC model speakers.

I have a 2025 BS OB.

It was supposed to come with an "upgrade" to B&O better sound. We'll. I felt a need for more drive.

First thing I discovered was the Kickers are nearly twice the weight of B&O. That means bigger magnets.

The cones look oh so much better, as well.

I can say that I was surprised by the dash layout and the speakers in general. They were not as I found on the internet.

Additionally there seems to be a sub in the very back. I did not address that.

Anyway, it sounds better. So there's that. If you are thinking about it, I would say go for it. The anticipation of removing the panels was much worse than the reality of the job. The dash was the hardest just because they hide screws on the end.

I did take pictures. I'll post them if there is interest in the process.

Door open. That's the Kicker bracket adaptation installed for the speaker -- to the BS back door opening.

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[Quashish]

They fit fine in the front doors? What model specifically did you get?

I looked on Crutchfield and they don't have a kicker option available for the front. Only the rear.

 

[Frenchy906]

I’ll be the first to admit… when I swapped out from the door speakers on my ‘25 with B&O, my output got worse. The sensitivity of the speakers I went with was much lower than the OEM speakers. Compared it with my lady friends ride, and my output was dramatically lower than hers.

Swapped the OEM speakers back in, and all is better.

 

[RidingTheBronco]

They fit fine in the front doors? What model specifically did you get?

I looked on Crutchfield and they don't have a kicker option available for the front. Only the rear.

I got them from Amazon. I got the "better" of the affordable choices.

I also bought two 3.5" dash speakers only to learn there is just one spot in the dash.

There are 4 other speakers not mentioned anywhere I could find. Two are 2" tweeters in the dash and two very small tweeters in the side doors. I didn't even mess with those last two. Also. As mentioned above, I found a woofer in the back near the hatch.

I used 4, KICKER 51KSC6504 KS-Series 6.5" Coaxial Speakers with .75" tweeters, 4-Ohm, Pair.

 

[RidingTheBronco]

I’ll be the first to admit… when I swapped out from the door speakers on my ‘25 with B&O, my output got worse. The sensitivity of the speakers I went with was much lower than the OEM speakers. Compared it with my lady friends ride, and my output was dramatically lower than hers.

Swapped the OEM speakers back in, and all is better.

You probably needed an amp for them. I'll be the first to admit I probably wouldn't do that much work. The other possibility is if you somehow got negative and positive reversed, that could affect output. (I had to cut off the OEM connectors and crimp the supply wires. I checked eack one at least 3 times each.)

I did have to re-EQ, and rebalance my output. That said, these speakers didn't cost a lot and are a pretty good improvement over the B&O speakers.

I used to rebuild speakers as part of my job, so I do have some speaker experience. The B&O speakers were shockingly weakly made. I mean thin paper and small magnets. I would be careful about overdriving them. I think one could blow them out of you crank your tunes.

 

[RidingTheBronco]

They fit fine in the front doors? What model specifically did you get?

I looked on Crutchfield and they don't have a kicker option available for the front. Only the rear.

The front door speakers fit without modification of the mounting bracket. The rear door brackets (2) needed to be shaped for the space. Again, the anticipation of this was more draining than the actual task. The parts you don't want break right off the brackets.

 

[Frenchy906]

You probably needed an amp for them. I'll be the first to admit I probably wouldn't do that much work. The other possibility is if you somehow got negative and positive reversed, that could affect output. (I had to cut off the OEM connectors and crimp the supply wires. I checked eack one at least 3 times each.)

I did have to re-EQ, and rebalance my output. That said, these speakers didn't cost a lot and are a pretty good improvement over the B&O speakers.

I used to rebuild speakers as part of my job, so I do have some speaker experience. The B&O speakers were shockingly weakly made. I mean thin paper and small magnets. I would be careful about overdriving them. I think one could blow them out of you crank your tunes.

I’ve been installing car audio for 22 years. I didn’t do anything wrong besides not check the spec sheet before ordering.

 

[Whpony96]

I’ll be the first to admit… when I swapped out from the door speakers on my ‘25 with B&O, my output got worse. The sensitivity of the speakers I went with was much lower than the OEM speakers. Compared it with my lady friends ride, and my output was dramatically lower than hers.

Swapped the OEM speakers back in, and all is better.

That will happen if you install 8ohm speakers on a 4ohm system. Double the resistance = half the output.

 

[North_of_49]

RidingTheBronco, does it say the impedance on the OEM B&O speakers you pulled out?

 

[Frenchy906]

That will happen if you install 8ohm speakers on a 4ohm system. Double the resistance = half the output.

Well the ones I bought are 4 ohm speakers.

Factory speakers have a sensitivity of ~90db, whereas the ones I installed are 88dB.

 

[RidingTheBronco]

I’ve been installing car audio for 22 years. I didn’t do anything wrong besides not check the spec sheet before ordering.

Ok. Didn't you find the B&O speaker really rinky dink? I wonder why you didn't get better speakers and an amp.

 

[RidingTheBronco]

RidingTheBronco, does it say the impedance on the OEM B&O speakers you pulled out?

4 ohms

 

[North_of_49]

4 ohms

Ok thanks. Your replacement speakers say they’re coaxial. Does the B&O it’s replacing seem to be coaxial as well? I’m not near my Outer Banks right now but I know there are dedicated “tweeter only” in certain places in there which is why I’m curious if the OEM drivers have tweeters.

This might be a relatively cheap solution to making my B&O system sound better. The higher end factory system was a big part of why I went with the Outer Banks that was on the lot at the time, coming from a 2014 Escape Titanium with the Sony system that I was very happy with. But I’m a bit disappointed at the volume level the B&O begins to distort at compared to the Sony and I’m betting it’s not the amp. The sub kicks pretty good though, I’m ok with that part of the B&O.

 

[RidingTheBronco]

Ok thanks. Your replacement speakers say they’re coaxial. Does the B&O it’s replacing seem to be coaxial as well? I’m not near my Outer Banks right now, but I know there are dedicated “tweeter only” in certain places in there, which is why I’m curious if the OEM drivers have tweeters.

This might be a relatively cheap solution to making my B&O system sound better. The higher-end factory system was a big part of why I went with the Outer Banks, which was on the lot at the time, coming from a 2014 Escape Titanium with the Sony system that I was very happy with. But I’m a bit disappointed at the volume level the B&O begins to distort at compared to the Sony, and I’m betting it’s not the amp. The sub kicks pretty good though, I’m ok with that part of the B&O.

OEM drivers don't have tweeters in them. The tweeters are in the doors and the dash as separate units. I was surprised to find them around the vehicle. That said, the Kickers do not have a separate feed or EQ for the tweeters. I didn't look that closely, but logic dictates that they used a filter (resistor) on the input for each of the horns and the tweeters. Truly, this is a bit more detailed an analysis than this approach would call for. I just switched them out.

I can NOT say that the "higher end" system I got was anything different. As you can see, the speakers are Ford® branded. There is no B&O designation on the speakers. There is B&O labeling on the grills and on the dash covering plastic. Why? I can ot say. I sort of feel that whole sound upgrade was BS.

I agree about the subwoofer (s). I did not find more than one Sub. In a car, there is no need for a bunch of low-end.

 

[RidingTheBronco]

I’ve been installing car audio for 22 years. I didn’t do anything wrong besides not check the spec sheet before ordering.

I started thinking about this a bit. Are you a professional installer with 22 years of daily experience? Or, did you change your first personal car stereo 22 years ago? As for me, I pulled my car stereo about 40 years ago. (I dont think that was the first time.) I built that one into a boom-box to take on the road for my job as a roadie. That was the way I could control the tunes near me on the bus or in a hotel room. It was funny and successful. (and heavy)

Anyway, talking about me, nothing implied about you, if I were an installer, I would probably grab some free speakers I took out of someone else's car to use in my car. I think we can all guess that there may have been "poor quality control" on the units that one such person might have used in a test like your test. The question here is whether you used real replacement NEW speakers for your failed improvement? If so, maybe you can do as I did and post photos of the failing speakers. That way, people would know what to avoid.

ie. Which speakers didn't work?

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