Speaker Upgrade

[Tireman]

I put a Rockford Fosgate PMX9813 in my 2011 Triglide last fall after another HK head unit died!
Very nice unit however, I'm not impressed with the sound quality. I can barely hear it at speed and it's muffled. The HK sounded better. I was satisfied with the sound before. I thought about speaker pods for the lower fairings too. Any suggestions on speakers or ??
TIA.

[cbumdumb]

Time for an amp

[Leed]

If you're still running stock speakers I'd consider replacing those first.  Then an amp will only make things better if you still need one.

[Hossamania]

Stock speakers are 2 ohm (and suck), aftermarket units are (usually) 4 ohm.

[Tireman]

So I want to be looking at 4 ohm speakers then?

[Helmwurst]

Make sure your head unit is rated to drive 4 ohm speakers, most are.

[Hossamania]

Most aftermarket speakers and units are 4 ohm, Harley seems to be the only using 2 ohm.

[Hossamania]

I just looked up that unit, it says 4 ohm output, so while it says direct replacement, it does not match your stock speakers.
Peruse this section, there are a whole bunch of threads on speaker options.
Stock speakers suck.  Matched or not. Yours are ten years old, rained on, heated, cooled, beat up. Time for new!

[Coyote]

It's rated for 2 ohms.  That's why they call it a direct replacement. Wouldn't be otherwise.

https://rockfordfosgate.com/products/details/pmx-hd9813/

[Tireman]

I just looked up that unit, it says 4 ohm output, so while it says direct replacement, it does not match your stock speakers.
Peruse this section, there are a whole bunch of threads on speaker options.
Stock speakers suck.  Matched or not. Yours are ten years old, rained on, heated, cooled, beat up. Time for new!

Yeah Hoss I looked it up too. Never was much of an audio guy more into performance. After looking at speakers and amps wow! A guy could do some nice engine mods for the price of some of that stuff!!

[Hossamania]

It's rated for 2 ohms.  That's why they call it a direct replacement. Wouldn't be otherwise.

https://rockfordfosgate.com/products/details/pmx-hd9813/

It lists both 2 and 4 ohm, so I got confused, sorry about that.

I just looked up that unit, it says 4 ohm output, so while it says direct replacement, it does not match your stock speakers.
Peruse this section, there are a whole bunch of threads on speaker options.
Stock speakers suck.  Matched or not. Yours are ten years old, rained on, heated, cooled, beat up. Time for new!

Yeah Hoss I looked it up too. Never was much of an audio guy more into performance. After looking at speakers and amps wow! A guy could do some nice engine mods for the price of some of that stuff!!

So true!

[Coyote]

Any amp rated for 2 ohms will work fine at 4 ohms (although your max output will drop). What you don't want to do is hook up a lower impedance load to an amp that's not rated for it as the amp may become unstable or be damaged.

[Tireman]

I'll remember that! Thanks

[Leed]

I replaced my stock speakers with 2ohm 6.5in Infinity Kappas 2ohm in the front and 2ohm stock sized Kickers in the back.  It was a definite improvement but adding a new head unit (Alpine) and matching Alpine amp really brought the system to life.  I now can listen to it at highway speeds easily.

[Tireman]

Ok, if the Rockford Fosgate unit I have is rated for both 2&4 ohm, my next question would be which sounds better and why? Like I said I'm not an audio guy! The stock unit sounded better.  Thanks

[Hossamania]

As long as the impedance matches, the difference should be negligible.
What are you using for a music source?

[Tireman]

Sirius, Bluetooth to my phone.

[Coyote]

Better or louder? Your best setup will be to add an amp and go with 4 ohm speakers. Sirius sucks no matter what but if you are playing MP3's, download MP3 Gain and re-normalize all your MP3's to around 99dB. Don't do this to your originals but do it to the ones you want to hear on the bike in a separate folder. This will compress them (yes it's a form of distortion but it will make them much louder on the bike and you won't know the diff). You will be amazed how loud they sound.

[Tireman]

yeah louder. I'll show your suggestions about re-doing the MP3's to my son. He'll make the changes for me because I know zero about it! Thanks for all of the replies and suggestions!
Ron

[Hossamania]

The only way to go louder without (much) distortion is with an amplifier. Speakers to match.
It's just money...

[Tireman]

The only way to go louder without (much) distortion is with an amplifier. Speakers to match.
It's just money...

Sorry Hoss, I was replying to Coyote reply#14 when I referred to my stock head unit sounding "better".
I'll start stimulating the economy with 4ohm speakers!

[Hossamania]

Got ya on the stock unit sounding better when loud.
New speakers definitely will help. An amp will help even betterer...

[Tireman]

Noooooo.....it sounded "louder" than the new Rockford Fosgate I'm thinking speakers first. Like I said this "Potty mouth" cost $$$$!

[Hossamania]

Got ya on the stock unit sounding better than the Fosgate when loud.
New speakers definitely will help. An amp will help even betterer...

That is what I meant.
I like mine loud. Still running a stock unit with Boom! speakers that I got for free, sounds better than the stock speakers by far. But, I still want an amp and new speakers. 'Cause I like it LOUD!
But I want cams too. Life's choices are hard!

[Tireman]

I hear ya brother! Fast & Loud! I see the Boom stuff isn't too bad price wise but I'll do more research. I'm currently building a 117" for the Triglide so while the cases and heads are being addressed I figured the radio needs a little upgrade.

[Hossamania]

Also I wonder if there are some settings on the Fosgate that need to be tweaked. Some that are a little deeper in the menu?

[Tireman]

There more than likely is. The RF is way more complicated than the stock HK unit. I think it has an equalizer or some  too. I guess I should put the battery in and take a look/listen. Knowing me it's all f'd up! I did see when I put it in that there were what I call "preset" setting for different types of music....rock, country, crap, pop etc.