Which Amp Channels Power Which Speakers?

The rep at mObridge has me about 80% ready to try their amp. It’s something I’m sure I can do myself. You lose the center and D-Pillar speakers but you gain headroom and better control of the sound. If I don’t like it I just need to unplug it and send it back. It comes with a 30 day warranty, even if you install it. That says something because 99% of electronics can’t be returned once they have been installed! The only thing you’re stuck with is the custom wiring harness they have to make up which cost like $50. The hardest part of the Install is running a power wire from the battery to the amplifier and that shouldn’t be too difficult. The way the rep explained it to me is, the amp has 8 regular channels, a subwoofer channel and one set of RCA outputs to add an external amp. The front doors are run actively off channels 1-6, the rear doors passively off channels 7 & 8 and the sub off channel 9. The reason I’m not 100% is because of all the conflicting information I’ve found about how the speakers are wired. Most of the diagrams show the rear door speakers wired together with what looks like some type of crossover. The best way to do it is like UNBROKEN said, rip out everything and replace it. You just have to find a shop you’re comfortable with. Either that or do it yourself.


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i had my door panel off today. The tweeter has a cap on it... its part of the removable assembly. The harness looks like an octopus, so you can't really tell if the speakers share channels. However, given they capped the tweeter, it is likely fed with another speaker. I believe the image I posted earlier in this thread is correct - in the front doors the tweeter & mid share a channel and the 6x9 is fed separately.

Here you go, straight from the service manual.
Front door tweeters and rear D-pillars are running from the head unit. Everything else off the DSP amp

Thanks, I just had mine off and swapped out the tweeters with some old Morels I had. Swapped the cap out with a 10uf to lower the crossover point a bit. Even though they are powered by the head unit it's an improvement over what was there and really I just couldn't leave it that way and put it back together lol

That’s what the rep at mObridge told me. Those channels are not amplified and play the chimes. So you would have to run speaker wires from the aftermarket amplifier to the front tweeters? Or at least to where the Front Audio Control Module is? Also, wouldn’t you lose the chimes?


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This diagram shows something different. I'm not positive what "Emergency Call" is but it seems to make a difference. I do have a speaker with a small button on it above the rearview mirror.


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Then there is this one (supossed to be from a 2020) showing the front door mid and tweeter on one channel. It also shows the D-Pillar speakers coming from the amplifier instead of the Front Audio Control Module. It's all just so conflicting!

Lol. Maybe both takes are correct…
https://www.foexplorer.com/ford_exp...operation_and_component_description-1067.html

The difference is with and without emergency call. Here's the wiring for both and honestly I don't know how to tell if the system is wired for it or not. Maybe relays exist to change the wiring? I do know that emergency call is disabled on mine as evident by the icon in the upper right corner of the display.
Also every integration DSP I've seen so far has the option to map the mono sink (chimes, call audio) to specific speakers so you shouldn't lose that ability if mObridge also includes that option. Can't imagine they wouldn't have that

Why even deal with all this shit? Grab an interface and the DSP amp of your choice…plug them in and go.

Agreed. I have a NavTV Zen A2B, Arc Audio Blackbird, all new drivers for the front doors, and boxes of wire and noise dampening waiting for install. Had big plans to get installation going this weekend, but whatever is going on with my achilles is gonna put it on hold for a bit.

Did you have any weird issues to sort out with call audio canceling out or echos on the Zen?

None at all. It’s been flawless for me.

Good, that's been my only hesitation to decide on interface TOSlink to DSP. I know Ford has a habit of wiring their audio systems out of phase to prevent echo and/or cancellation with the phone mics. I'm guessing NavTV handles that issue with processing and that's why I worried about delays, echos etc.

I don't know, Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill here but I just don't want to muck it up and fry something. The mObridge rep just told me that the ACM has a cheap class D chip capable of 25w by 4 channels. He also said you need to run an interface from the ACM to the back and, well heck, here is his email:
"Hi Bruce,

This is correct, these speakers (front door tweeters and D-Pillars) are powered off the ACM. However, technically though they are still amplified, the ACM has one 4 channel cheap D class chip in it capable of 25w per channel. This is what will be driving those speakers . What we need to do, which is the same procedure as the F150 unleash and Bronco B&O system, is run our ACM T harness to grab these speaker wires and route them back to where our amp is. Photo attached. The only unknown with the explorer here is the harness length, you may need to cut it as it is currently the correct length for the Bronco.

The vehicle chimes are actually also available on A2B so we can pick which speakers we want to route these too. We can map them to any speaker powered by our amp."
So to just plug in the ZEN, connect it to the DSP/Amp and go sounds like a recipe for something fried. However, I'm going to just hand it over to my installer and let him figure it all out. He's done Ferraries, Mercedes, BMWs so he is familiar with figuring it all out. Just gonna go with the plan of using the ZEN to either the Blackbird or te Alpine Status 12-Channel amp then to the Alpine Status mono amp and subwoofer. I'll let him figure out the mapping of the channels.

No clue where you got the idea that plugging in the Zen and an amp will fry something but that’s so far off base it’s not even worth a response.
Do what you wanna do but I’ve watched you from the first day here ask for help, get it, make a decision, lather, rinse and repeat way too many times. And now you wanna be a Guinea pig for Mobridge.
Just pick a damn interface…which will keep all your warning chimes, phone calls etc just fine…pick a DSP amp with the amount of channels you need and get to work. You’re making it WAY harder than it is.

From the mObridge rep and some other posts of people having their system screwed up by an unexperienced shop!
Because of the conflicting information: posts, diagrams, mObridge rep, installers, etc..
Exactly my final plan. NAV TV ZEN, Blackbird DSP amp, Alpine Mono amp, front door speakers, rear door speakers and a sub. All bought and paid for waiting for installation.

As Unbroken said why the complexity? Get a Nav TV Zen a2b and required amps/dsp and speakers and get it done, all issues and problems solved. I personally bought one off ebay and saved a couple of bucks. Just make sure to test it as soon as it arrives if you do. I belive I got mine around 350 shipped. Which helps spend that money somewhere else.

Some people are not as gifted as other people. When you struggle with Autism and OCD (as I do) some things can become overwhelming and you second guess yourself. Anythings easy if you know how to do it! If you scroll back to my original post you will see I only asked a simple question. Unfortunately, I didn't get a simple answer but a lot of conflicting information. I just wanted to understand how the system was wired. There is more than one thread in this forum where someone's system was screwed up! One girl in particular posted about her horror story after a supposed "experienced" shop trashed her system! One post mentioned using a shop "that specializes in modern integration" so there is some level of complexity here. Anyways, I finally was able to get the info I asked for and make a decision. I'm not going with mObridge. I'm just going to go with my original plan of replacing everything. I've purchased the NAV TV ZEN, Alpine Status 12-channel amp, Alpine Status mono amp, Alpine Status 3-ways for the front, 2-ways for the rear and an Alpine 10" sealed enclosure subwoofer. It may not be on a top-shelf level but I'm sure it will be fine for my preference.

No doubt it will be lots better than stock. Let us know how it goes.


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