You are aware that you'll have to paint the Hogtune lids, right? They come flat black.

Ahhh, it's just money. lol. I'm not even thinking about how much I spent on it all. lol

 

I think about it every time I look at the bike.

Then I remember I'm not done because I want the CVO rear end. Not to mention I have another order coming from Kutter with more bling.

Ugh.

But it gets better. One day you will be satisfied and you think you're done. Then you log on here and see the latest shiny thing and you have to have it. It's a sickness.

 

Ya I realize they need paint

 

As a result of the cash that I spend on the bike, I'm very cautious as to where I leave it. I live & work in Charlotte, so I will not ride to work and leave it in a parking garage all day. Going to dinner or hanging out, I'm always thinking about it. Last Summer, I rode to Charleston & I purposely got a room where I could watch the bike at night. It's a shame that you have to worry about these things. My last bike 3 idiots tried to steal it. I was in Walmart getting some wings. My girlfriend was parked near my bike in the parking lot. She called me screaming that 3 Mexican guys were trying to roll it (this story isn't negative towards Hispanics because she's Puerto Rican). I came running out and put my hand in my vest yelling at them. They got into their truck and pulled off. It's cool that we can invest so much into the bikes but the problem that I worry about is somebody trying to rip it off in broad day light.

 

Ridedaddy - Bike audio is very subjective depending on what your expectations are. I personally went through countless speakers and amps prior to joining this forum and listening to guys like Nutz and Pioneer about 3 years ago. All I try to do these days is share my experience with guys who are just starting out like yourself and save them from spending thousands of dollars like I did. Lucky for me I make a pretty good living and I had the money to burn. Every suggestion I make on this forum is from all the mistakes I've made along the way and trust me there were plenty!!

But with Major help from the guys on this this forum I finally got it figured out. Since then I have installed several systems for friends and they now call me "The audio guy" even tho I learned everything I know from NUTZ and the guys on this FORUM. And I mean EVERYTHING! I will be the first one to say I am NOT an expert. But I do learn rather quickly and NUTZ is an excellent teacher.

I've always had an engineering mind and it came easy for me. on top of that both my sons are electrical engineers and they even chimed in when they seen me failing miserably. All that said to finally get to your question. . . IMO the key to HEARING your sound system at high speed is to match your AMP and SPEAKERS effectively with POWER with as many speakers possible on your bike!! The more the better.

The speakers:
Need to handle at least 100 watts
Need to be at least 90 DB (89.5 is ok if you are a JL audio guy)
Need to have rubber surrounds.

The Amp:
Needs to be 2 or 4 Ohm compatible.
Needs to produce 100 watts or more CLEAN Power. Again the more the better!!

Others may disagree but this is what I have found WORKS if you want to hear your system at high speed. and trust me I invested heavily to come to these conclusions. . .lol

 

This is how I feel. To most motorcycle riders, what we do is not necessary. But we all came to this forum for a reason. Most people would be happy with the Boom or Hogtunes stuff, but to those that want more, they come here to gain from others experiences. Sometimes what is recommended is not the cheapest, but it's less expensive to buy the right stuff the first time instead of multiple.

When I add up the money I lost by buying the inexpensive stuff first and selling it for less than half of what I paid for it, it would have went a long way with what I have today.

 

That's why my mantra is " DO IT ONCE, DO IT RIGHT " !!

This will be the 6th summer for my original system, WITHOUT an upgrade !!

Six years ago, people thought I was CRAZY for putting this type of a system in a bike,.....now everyone wants too !

It's sad to keep reading stories of guys chasing the audio demon, and dumping cash....

My advice is: save up til you have enough cash to do it right, or do it right in phases...

Your ears are the only ones that you have to please !

 

GP. . .You are the guy who inspired ME!!! Your system 6 years ago was unheard of! I just wish I had the common sense you had back then to do it right the first time! There is no substitute for knowledge!

 

Thanks Pioneer...I did notice last night that the ENTIRE saddlebag is reverberating, which was causing the "clunking" sound I heard. I ordered a HogLiners kit for Long bags last night. I hope that carpeting the interior (glued to the bag itself, not a drop-in) will calm things down on the unwanted-noise front.

 

Gents,
This may be too little too late but for what its worth, here's my .02 - I recently blew one of my 5.25 Boom audio fairing speakers...so I needed to upgrade to new 6.5" speakers but until I resolved the issue with buying new speakers, I decided to fade all sound to my rear lids (Boom audio 5x7 speakers) just so I didn't have to listen to the distorted sound of the blown speaker... the end result was pretty impressive albeit not quite as loud as I would like ( but better than driving down the road with nothing) ...I'm only driving them with a 75w Clarion 1410 amp with stock HU....but at 70-75 mph I could hear my system loud and clear...now was it so loud I couldn't take it , no ...but riding solo I could easily have gone for quite some time without replacing speakers in my fairing because the quality and clarity was better than I expected. Which was something I never would have known had I not blown a speaker and realized just how much they add to my system going down the highway... IMHO I believe lid speakers add a definite surround sound experience that is heard more than you may realize, especially with music that has instrumental separation..ie Santana etc... So for those of you that have lids, fade to the back and see how much they give you going down the road...you might just be pleasantly surprised :-)