So, I have:


Harley Boom 4.3 on a 2014 Street Glide - No flash
RF PBR300X2 Amp
Infinity Kappa 6.5" in the pods




I ordered and will be installing a BT LL (BT355) in the next few days and am looking to find out what realistic expectation I should have on improvement of sound. So far the setup I have has been way beyond the sound of the stock setup and until I started wearing earplugs have not noticed any problems in the quality. Now that I wear earplugs most of the time a lot of clutter noise has been eliminated and I can hear a bit of a distortion at higher volumes.


So, questions:


Will this make the radio/bluetooth achieve louder volume?


Will the quality of sound improve? Meaning, will I have cripser highs and deeper lows?


Can I increase the gain on the PBR300X2?


I hope that this addition is noticeable but it would be great if it's night and day improvement.


Thanks for your input.

 

Here's the deal with the stock Rushmore Infotainment radio:

It uses an approximately 24db bass boost to make the stock speakers sound good (that's subjective ).

When this 24db bass boost is amplified it WILL cause distortion. The better your amp and speakers, the worse the distortion.

You can try and combat the bass boost in 1 of three ways; Digital Signal Processor, Flash (more about Flash in a second), or with a Line Leveler (BT355 or magic box).

Of note on flashes, there are several flashes some of which DO NOT EFFECT THE SIGNAL ie stock SG/RG/SGS/RGS (0 amp, 2 speakers), or stock Ultra (0 amp, 4 speakers). Now, you don't have to have the rear unlocked as you could just split the front signal to the rear but if you want to use the fader option you will need to have a stock Ultra flash (0 amp, 4 speakers) done.

Other flashes include the "Fosgate" flash which is 1 amp 4 speakers and the "Soundzcustomz" flash which is 2 amp 4 speakers but neither of these flashes will let you have fader or much tone control.

The BT Line Leveler is the easiest and cheapest way to squash the signal and with any kind of clean power and good speaker combo you will for sure notice the difference. You will also retain tone control and fader (provided you have the stock Ultra flash).

With the pbr and kappa's, well it might be better but it might not be either.

Hope that helps.

 

Sounds like my problem..



As noted, I bought a BT355



As noted, this has not been flashed.



Again, stock configuration, no flash has been done.



Don't have an Ultra, mentioned I have a 2014 Street Glide so no fader.



So, one of my 3 questions was kind of answered.


Here they are again:


Will this make the radio/bluetooth achieve louder volume? Based on the info above, I don't really know.


Will the quality of sound improve? Meaning, will I have cripser highs and deeper lows?


Can I increase the gain on the PBR300X2? Assuming that we are eliminating the boost I would think that a good amount of gain can be achieved.

 

1. Yes, an amp and better speakers will increase the volume from stock.

2. This will also depend on the amp and speakers. I don't have any experience with the PBR or Kappas. From what I have read on here this will be loud and clear, but not sure about bass.

3. Still gonna wanna be careful with the gain here. Follow the sticky above on adjusting the gain.

 

with the addition of you will not have bass, the kappas are pretty bright but it will be louder

 

Thanks. I wasn't expecting subwoofer bass just better than what I have now with the amp and kappas. I would imagine that removing the signal that is causing the distortion would allow for better bass considering what I have.

 

I have an amp and better speakers, the question was specific to adding the BT355 and what to expect as far as volume levels compared to the RF/Kappa setup without it. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that.


Thanks.


I have it memorized and will readjust after adding the line leveler.




Thanks for the feedback.

 

Quote:


I have an amp and better speakers, the question was specific to adding the BT355 and what to expect as far as volume levels compared to the RF/Kappa setup without it. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that.




Well. I started out with a flash and a SNI-35 and then went to a BT355. As far as the SNI or BT making things louder, that's debatable. With either of them you are able to amplify the signal to your amp through the RCAs, but this will be limited. Bunker has worked with the BT355 gain quite a bit and was only able to get maybe 2 volts, whereas an aftermarket stereo can send up to a 6 volt signal. I know this might not answer your question, but in theory, yes it can make you louder, but you also have to adjust the gain on your amp for every adjusment on the SNI-35 or BT355 (which is just a beefed up SNI-35 with some compasitors to flaten the bass curve)

 

So my theory about moving the **** up on the gain was possibly accurate, that is good to know. I really don't need it louder if I can have the same volume with a cleaner signal I will be good with that.

 

Keep in mind that the gain **** is not the hidden volume ****. The pbrs distortion point is very early so you more than likely wont have the gain past half...You should not be anywhere near half or you will be getting massive distortion from those kappas. You stock head unit will start throwing tis own distortion at roughly 3/4 volume so that's where I would set your gains by. No higher than that.