Budget B&O front door upgrade

[themishmosh]

After having installed a subwoofer to the B&O system, I thought I was satisfied. The B&O is pleasant enough IMO for an OE system provided you do not listen to music that loud--by that I mean, not turning the volume past 8 or 9. I did not want to go full-on custom so was looking for ways to replace the speaker components in just the front speakers. I also would want something I could adjust solely with the treble-midrange-bass sliders in the Sound menu. And despite what power the B&O is advertised as, in reality, it probably isn't a lot so high sensitivity would be key. I also didn't want to spend a fortune and ease of installation was a factor. The B&O front doors have a 1" soft dome tweeter, a 3" midrange and a 6x9" midbass unit. The OE midrange and the midbass unit are pretty cheap drivers--exactly what I wanted to replace.

OE Tweeter:

OE 3":

OE 6x9":

 

[themishmosh]

3" replacement:
I chose the FaitalPro 3FE22 3". There are certainly a number of other contenders (Peerless, Fountek, Dayton Audio, etc) that will fit, have high sensitivity and low power requirements. The 3FE22 improves midrange clarity, dynamics. The stock mounting bolts are 4" apart, which is wider than most 3" speaker bolt-to-bolt distance. To mount the 3FE22, I used one of the mounting bolts and used short, stainless screws in two of the other mounting tabs because there is door panel plastic (and gap) behind the midrange metallic grille. I soldered the wires off the stock 3" onto the new one (I believe black is ground, green is positive). Mounting depth for the 3" and 6x9" is important--too deep and the door panel won't snap back into place. FYI: The 3FE22 is a paper cone driver but they are not all made equal.

6x9" replacement:
PowerBass OE69C-FD. This is a direct fit replacement kit (includes a pair of speakers with housing, stock harness plug) and also includes a pair of 1" soft dome tweeter (not used). You won't get noticeable deep bass improvement with this upgrade but the mid bass is less colored, fuller, more dynamic and plays louder. This driver has high sensitivity as well. Replacement is easy peasy--simple remove and replace. The mounting screws (4), overall depth, and harness plug are all the same as stock.

PowerBass OE69C-FD

OE Series 6"x9" component speaker system for Ford vehicles

www.crutchfield.com

UPDATE (see follow-up post): MUST DO MODIFICATIONS... Due to treble brightness, presumably do to high end peak of the FaitalPro, I switched the stock high-pass capacitor from 6.8mfd to 4.7mfd to up the crossover frequency to around 8.5kHz since the FaitalPro 3" has pretty good high frequency extension. Also added Dayton Audio LPF 5kHz (4 Ohm version) in line to FaitalPro. Also replaced stock fabric dome tweeter to Kicker CS series 3/4" ti tweeter pictured below:

END RESULT: Both can play louder than the units they replace and sound better--you can turn it up to 12-14 and it'll sound good. The sound is definitely less colored than stock, more dynamic and more revealing. SETTINGS: EQ - flat, Stereo (not surround), with fade forward. I still would highly recommend adding a subwoofer--I have my subwoofer providing low bass fill below 75Hz.

 

[jsgoofn]

Thanks for sharing! This is good stuff. I was not impressed with bass response either and this would be a good fix.

 

[Mindhead1]

I still would highly recommend adding a subwoofer, which to me makes more difference than the above changes IMHO. I have my subwoofer providing low bass fill below 75Hz.

Where do you place the aftermarket subwoofer?

 

[themishmosh]

I have a sub in the trunk. Line converter and amp are in the tray above the spare tire.

 

[themishmosh]

UPDATE:
I have been very pleased with the sound of the above upgrades with my powered subwoofer. For those that want a little more extended and crisp highs, I have found a good replacement for the OEM tweeter that will fit in the OEM tweeter mount with no additional mounting hardware needed. The Kicker 3/4" titanium dome tweeter set 46CST204 ~$70 at time of writing. It come with a bypass cap that makes for a crossover frequency of 4.5kHz. I did not use this but instead used the 4.7mfd cap that I used above (8.46kHz crossover), since the 3" FaitalPro has extended high end. The flush mount is attached to the tweeter and must be removed. After that, you simply insert the tweeter in the stock location and it will be a perfect press fit. The sound is noticeably more airy and crisp. There is no harshness or untoward brightness. I would recommend this tweeter over the OEM tweeter. Also, note that the PowerBass kit also has a silk dome tweeter. I did not even use this as I feel these inexpensive silk dome tweeters are similar--smooth but with a rolled off top end.

FINAL UPDATE:

The 3" FaitalPro speakers in my mind are excellent. BUT... they have a pronounced 8kHz peak that some call "forward sound" but I call annoying. I would recommend using a low pass filter before the speaker. These are very easy to wire up and are inexpensive. I think they work very well with the Kicker tweeters above with my bypass capacitor before the tweeter. The LPF I chose is sold by Parts Express under their house brand (?) Dayton Audio. Link is below. It is a 12dB / octave 2nd order filter whereas the tweeter high pass cap is 6dB/octave at 8.46kHz. The result to my ears is just perfect.

Dayton Audio 5k-LPF-4 Low Pass Speaker Crossover 5,000 Hz 12 dB/Octave

Dayton Audio 5k-LPF-4 Low Pass Speaker Crossover 5,000 Hz 12 dB/OctaveDayton Audio's premium inline passive filters make it easy to limit a driver's frequency response to a specific desired bandwidth. By using combinations of these filters you can create complete 2-way or 3-way crossovers. The...

www.parts-express.com

FOR REFERENCE:
COST: $155 for the 6x9", $66 for a pair of 3FE22. $70 for a pair of Kicker tweeters. So, total $300 or so, and 2 hours of your time. Not bad.
3FE22 specs: 3FE22 (4Ω) by FaitalPRO
PowerBass OE69C-FD info: Power Bass USA OE69C-FD OEM Replacement Component Speaker System Ford / Lincoln
Subwoofer install DIY (Thank you Mcglsr2!): 2020-explorer-st-aftermarket-amp-sub-install.484508
Removing Front Door:

Door clips that may break when you remove the front doors:
Amazon product ASIN B07CJLB446

 

[Rick]

Thanks for the update.