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.
Time for an amp
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.
Stock speakers are 2 ohm (and suck), aftermarket units are (usually) 4 ohm.
So I want to be looking at 4 ohm speakers then?
Make sure your head unit is rated to drive 4 ohm speakers, most are.
Most aftermarket speakers and units are 4 ohm, Harley seems to be the only using 2 ohm.
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!
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/
Quote from: Hossamania on January 03, 2021, 08:50:33 AM
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!!
Quote from: Coyote on January 03, 2021, 09:05:45 AM
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.
Quote from: Tireman on January 03, 2021, 09:07:48 AM
Quote from: Hossamania on January 03, 2021, 08:50:33 AM
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!
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.
I'll remember that! Thanks
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.
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
As long as the impedance matches, the difference should be negligible.
What are you using for a music source?
Sirius, Bluetooth to my phone.
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.
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
The only way to go louder without (much) distortion is with an amplifier. Speakers to match.
It's just money...
Quote from: Hossamania on January 04, 2021, 05:07:50 PM
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!
Got ya on the stock unit sounding better when loud.
New speakers definitely will help. An amp will help even betterer...
Noooooo.....it sounded "louder" than the new Rockford Fosgate :wink: I'm thinking speakers first. Like I said this $hit cost $$$$!
Quote from: Hossamania on January 04, 2021, 06:50:13 PM
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!
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.
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?
There more than likely is. The RF is way more complicated than the stock HK unit. I think it has an equalizer or some :turd: 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.