Road Glide Stereo Pump Up

[04Glider2]

2004 Road Glide, stock radio, no amp
Not satisfied with the J+M speakers in the stock location with the stock radio. The stock head unit is only 20 watts so it is somewhat underpowered to say the least.
New plan is to replace the J+M's with Polk Audio DXI 6.5's in the uppr fairing and DXI6X9's in the lower fairing facing the forks. Adding a Rockford Fosgate PBR300X4 amp with one channel for each speaker. Don't think the stock head unit has any choice of front to rear fader but that will be ok. It is not the Harmon Kardon unit.

Don't know if it is worth removing 2 gauges to put in seperate tweeters? Don't particularly like the look of the tweeter pod that replaces the speedo/tachometer bezel. (Hog Tunes?) Hope the sound is good enough with the two ways in upper speakers.

I know the glove boxes will have to be cut to clear the magnets and the clearance to the forks may be a problem so I will check the grille clearance on the 6X9's before cutting the holes. The DXI 6X9's seem to have a higher grille than some of the other 6X9 speakers.

I have read that the Fosgate amp runs hot? Does anyone know if that is a problem with it inside the fairing?

Any suggestions on lower profile 6X9's? Lower grilles or lower magnet height would be nice.

Any speakers I would consider need to be ok with moisture or marine rated considering they are exposed to a lot of various weather.
JohnCa58 and Seattle dyna posted some pics of a RG with 6X9's so maybe they will chime in.

Speaker / Amp suggestions are welcomed and pics if you have them of the 6X9's with the fairing cap off would be appreciated.
Not interested in putting anything in the saddlebags or tour pak, still need to have the room back there.

Anyone who has done something like this is that can share anything to watch out for or problems they ran into and solutions will be welcomed.
If you want to e-mail me pics send me a PM and I'll get the addy to you.

[biggzed]

That system should sound pretty good. I haven't read of anyone having actual performance issues with that amp yet. Amps will get hot to the touch, but they are designed to handle it. It's also worth noting that amp is designed for 4 ohm loads. I've read of guys trying to run them at 2 ohms. Maybe they are the ones complaining of heat issues.

If you end up putting the 6x9's in the fairing, I would like to see the pics. That's a pretty tight space. I've seen a few system with 6.5's in there where the glove box remained in tact.

Good luck with your project.

Zach

[04Glider2]

Thanks Zach,
If I can't fit the 6X9's in I am thinking the Polk DXI6500 (have seperate tweeters) may be the answer in the lower part of the fairing. I see Paul Yaffee has a system with tweeters in the fairing below the gauge areas. That would be my second choice.
I have read the amp runs hot with 2 ohm speakers and it will void the warranty. It is not designed to run that way.
On e-bay there is a seller with the FG PBR300X4 and speakers who is listing it at 600Watts @ 2 ohms. I don't think it will last long that way.
Project will start after Christmas and I will post some pics and review of how it went.
Any other people with thoughts or ideas are welcomed to comment.

[seattledyna]

here is a bike that came in with speakers in the flat side of the inner fairing, they really did sound good!
while it was here I cleaned up the glove box area and remounted the speakers with nicer hardware

[04Glider2]

Hey Mike,
Was there any clearance problem with the forks?
I see the speakers are mounted on the fork side of the fairing, I thought they would be mounted from the inside, but maybe that depends on the speaker design and how the grilles mount to the speaker.
I bet the sound will be way better than what I have now.
Thanks

[seattledyna]

it was close but there was still enough clearence between fork leg and speakers

I agree they should be mounted on the inside, but then you would have issues when the outer fairing goes back on, with lower profile speakers you could probably do that.
The glove box was still functional (but smaller) as they had put in a new "floor" in them

[JohnCA58]

Those are actually old pictures,  there is now another Arc Amp inside the fairing on the other side,   04 I sent you e-mail with info on that set-up

[seattledyna]

the icing on the cake for that red RG is its getting these speaker pods for the lowers!!