Speakers

[dwjohnson]

 Hey guys, ok getting closer to trying some audio upgrades. Bike is a 2011 Limited with stock radio and speakers. A friend gave me a "Dual"  marine amp to try and while I have the fairing off, thought I better ask about speakers.
So give me the low down on speakers with out confusing me,  cause I've looked at so many. Many to choose from, many options...2 way, 3 way, cheap, expensive, 2 ohm, 4 ohm...etc.  should I swap out the stock speakers? Should I go with 6.5" or 6.75"? Any mounting issues with the bigger speakers? Looks like most bigger speakers come with the mounting adapters.
  If I need to swap them out, could I get a specific  good, middle of the road suggestion? Thanks for any advice.
 

[Hossamania]

Need a little more info on the amp, what is the output rating, what is the ohm rating, how many channels?
Without knowing any of that, stock speakers suck.

[dwjohnson]

 alright, guess it's how you decide to run it but it says...
300 RMS total watts,  75 x 4 channel @ 4 ohms, - or 98 x 4 channel @ 2 ohms, - or 140 x 2 channel bridged @ 4 ohms
Pretty lost at all this info Hoss, help me out
I figured I would only use it on my two fairing speakers but if it's easy enough and worth it, maybe I could tie it into my two rear tour pak speakers also???

[Coyote]

I figured I would only use it on my two fairing speakers but if it's easy enough and worth it, maybe I could tie it into my two rear tour pak speakers also???

You need to decide this first. The amp can drive 2 speakers or 4 depending on how you configure it.  It's a 4 channel amp.

[Hossamania]

Your stock speakers are 2 ohm, so you can hook it up to all 4 speakers, easy enough, it might sound ok and you won't need new speakers. But, you will probably find that as mentioned before, they suck, and you'll end up blowing them anyway.
You could get 2 new 4 ohm speakers for the fairing, Infinity 6.75s are pretty good, many others, Polk comes to mind. You could do that and keep your rear speakers hooked to the radio at unamplified power. Or you can get all four new speakers, 4 ohm, and Bob's your uncle.
You could call Hog Tunes and see what they have, they do this for a living. You can also go through some threads here and see what's been done by others.

[dwjohnson]

 Well I believe I will just go with keeping stock speakers for now, and use amp to drive all 4. Don't even know how well amp will work, gotta be a reason the guy just gave it to me...
  Several questions already and I do not have my fairing off yet... Now not knowing much, especially about radios, how will I tie the stock head unit's speaker output to the amp input? This amp has 4 RCA cables for head unit low level inputs. I'm thinking maybe an adapter of some sort I guess, if the head unit does not have RCAS hanging from it.
  The speaker wire has two leads, are they + and - and how do I tell?
  What kind of connectors are available for speaker wire to speaker wire connection or do we just twist and tape? 
  There is a Purple wire (remote turn on) wire coming from amp that is suppose to connect to head unit amp power wire or maybe a power antenna port??? Guy told me it had to be hooked up for the amp to come on. Amp also has it's own bigger Red + wire and Black- wire.

[PoorUB]

If all you have for inputs are low level, it won't work, at least without adding more components. You need a line or high level input amp.

Also with a generic, off the shelf amp it will involve cutting up the factory speaker harness unless you get creative and buy the proper molex connectors and make adaptors. Another reason why the companies that sell dedicated amp and speakers kits are a good deal. Most are plug and play.

[Coyote]

Just buy the correct width spade connectors (both male and female). Use these to plug into your stock speakers and the wires going to them. There is no need to cut anything. If you don't have a high level input, you can buy a cheap adapter as well. (Make sure you get one with level adjustment)

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[PoorUB]

Yep, I guess I was thinking all four. If you just do the fronts it is easy.

[Coyote]

Same works on the rears. Wire is cheap.

[PoorUB]

Sure, but to run wire back and forth you need to pull the tank. I would rather butcher the harness at that point.

[Coyote]

Really? It takes like 6 mins to pull the tank on a 2011.   

[travelingypsye]

I am new to this forum but not to the scooter audio game. DW, just exactly what amp do you have? Those stock speakers will blow quickly with any power. Depending on just what amp you have will depend on what speakers will sound good if any as the amp just may be junk to begin with.

[dwjohnson]

 It's a marine unit, name is Dual. It came from West Marine. I'll have to check the model number but it's like a DMA4100BT, it has blue tooth feature and states 1200 watts max

Also, now I am considering the ear bud route. Seems better all around to me in being able to actually hear the music. But what do I plug them into? Do you have to install a headphone jack and wire it up in order to listen to the ear phones?

[Hossamania]

Usually earbuds run off of your phone or iPod, some type of MP3 player (or Salam...) with the cord plugged in, not the radio itself. You can also set up Bluetooth earbuds, again off of your phone. I do t think the radio on your bike has an audio output, but I could be wrong.
You might try a local car audio shop about setting up your amp it you aren't comfortable doing it, or contact another audio company about a whole new system that would be a plug and play set up, such as Biketronics or Hawgtunes.

[Rsw]

Ok

[Coyote]

While I can't stand using ear buds on the bike, I have done installs and adapters for several guys that wanted them. The cleanest way is to use the headset jack/wiring. I'm guessing you don't have that. You can install your own headset jack and speaker switch as well. A DPDT toggle switch will transfer the speaker audio from speaker to jack. I'd start with a 1k ohm resistor on the hot lead of the headphone side to help limit the volume. Also, for the headphone, you will want to tie the + to each speaker + (through the resistor). The - side of the headphones should go to ground (not the speaker - as the stock head unit is a bridge amp)

[PoorUB]

Coyote, If he wants to go tbe ear bud route, wouldn't  this work?
https://www.amazon.com/PAC-SNI-35-Variable-Line-Converter/dp/B001EAWS3W
Just wire it across the front speakers, no need to add a switch. The speaker will be on also.

[Nebraskarider1]

That amp only has low level input so you will have to get a line level converter. That being said if you run 4 speakers off it you won't have fader function if that's important to you. It's up to you but I don't think you get enough sound out of the rear speakers when travelling down the highway to justify replacing or hooking them up to the amp, I'd just upgrade the fronts and put the amp to them only,... bridged with 4ohm speakers. If you run stock speakers or HD Boom speakers they are 2ohm and that amp says only 4 ohm should be used if bridged, so keep that in mind if you intend on keeping the stock speakers. It will fry the amp eventually if you use lower ohm speakers than recommended, probably rapidly in a hot non ventilated setting like inside a fairing.


Added, I have an 09 Ultra and an 11 RG, HD Boom speakers in the Ultra and J&M Rokker 7" in the RG, no amp on either bike and Hands down the HD Boom speakers sound 3 times as good. Pricey but great sound quality, I don't know if the Rokkers would do better with and amp but the crisp clean sound isn't there like the Booms at any volume level,... with that thought maybe if you ran 4 HD Boom speakers off that amp it would be a pretty good upgrade. Since the amp is 2ohm capable may as well take advantage of it,  and the speakers are 2ohm so you'll have plenty of volume. Less ohms=more volume.  I had some Infinity speakers on an older Ultra that ran 4 ohm speakers, the mounting tabs broke off eventually from the vibration. Just some more thoughts.

[Nebraskarider1]

Hit quote accidentally, whoops

[Hossamania]

When comparing the speakers between the Ultra and the RoadGlide, many have complained that apples to apples the RG does not sound as good as the Ultra, so the difference you hear between speaker brands may not be completely due to the speakers themselves.

[dwjohnson]

 Thanks for all the info so far.
As far as the ear buds, I'm an old fart stuck in the past... I still have my flip phone so no easy way there to use the headphones.
The stock radio does have a hole in the front face but no sound from plugging in ear phones there, I tried.
And now the wife is saying it's loud enough. Dang it, should have never asked her...
Thought I had heard some negative reports on the HD Boom stuff,? If I did, maybe it wasn't the speakers???

[Hossamania]

That plug hole is for aux input (like a phone or iPod or Walkman cassette player), not sound output.
I am using the BOOM speakers in front on my '12 with the stock radio, they work better than the stock speakers, all 2 ohm. Aftermarket speakers are 4 ohm and won't be as loud, hence the preference for an amp to drive them.
I think you will find that radio reception and sound are not nearly as good as a dedicated music source, or using a CD in the player.

[Hossamania]

Usually earbuds run off of your phone or iPod, some type of MP3 player (or Walkman...) with the cord plugged in, not the radio itself. You can also set up Bluetooth earbuds, again off of your phone. I do t think the radio on your bike has an audio output, but I could be wrong.
You might try a local car audio shop about setting up your amp it you aren't comfortable doing it, or contact another audio company about a whole new system that would be a plug and play set up, such as Biketronics or Hawgtunes.

Sorry, didn't proofread that before posting. Autocorrect can be a pia sometimes.

[Nebraskarider1]

When comparing the speakers between the Ultra and the RoadGlide, many have complained that apples to apples the RG does not sound as good as the Ultra, so the difference you hear between speaker brands may not be completely due to the speakers themselves.

These are the ones in the RG and the Ultra just has stock size HD Boom speakers, one would think these would be better since bigger and 3-way but even parked they sound kinda tinny, just not as clean as the HD Boom speakers, Maybe an amp would help but I'll probably replace them with the HD speakers first, wish i knew who made them for HD so I didn't have to pay the HD "brand tax"

https://jmcorp.com/JM-ROKKER%C2%AE-XXR-671-Fairing-Speaker-Kit-wGrill-Mounted-TweeterMidrange-for-1998-2013-Harley%C2%AE-RoadGlide_p_314.html