My vote is entirely for the better souding, louder and cheaper aftermarket options. That Harley deck is just one of the biggest rips offs I've ever seen for price. But, some people gotta have HD so thats their option.

This winter my bike is currently getting a Sony M8815X deck and Hogtunes speakers, along with the gizmo (interface) necessary to make the deck work with HD hand controls.

If you want the ability to plug in a MP3 player, just make sure your deck has a Aux. input. For my deck, the aux. input is in the back of the deck, so we are running an adapter wire out of the deck and onto the bars, so I can just plug in a little MP3 player when I want to...

[IMG]local://upfiles/6348/B1BAA8BDF426437384EE5A6F931218D1.jpg[/IMG]

 

I haven't been getting my notifications of reply to this thread...so I'm a little late responding.


[quote]ORIGINAL: tda69


Where have you been? Maybe a 'factory' radio has the unconcealed slot, but the vast majority of aftermarket decks have the flip down faceplate. It gives them more room to have a larger digital display. The Clarion deck I have in my truck has this feature so I use it often.

 

[quote]ORIGINAL: SeaHag

I haven't been getting my notifications of reply to this thread...so I'm a little late responding.


I'm curious to know what the term vast majority means to you. Since you asked, where I've been is a place called reality, where "vast majority" means more than than most or well above the average. Since you stated that the vast majority of aftermarket decks have a flip down faceplate like the Clarion deck in your truck, I thought I'd check the Clarion website. Not counting "Marine grade" stereos or cassette players, Clarion has (2006 models) 10 radio/cd decks. Of the 10 only 3 have the "flip down" console. Which means the vast majority DO NOT have flip down consoles.

Not that I really care to debate the issue with you, but I think we're comparing two different things. The radios with the flip down consoles (led/lcd display) are very different from the current HD radios made by Harmon Kardon or previously Radio Sound. You will notice there are no flip down consoles (lcd/led display) on those stereos. Instead, they have a simple dust cover that flips up.
Here's a quote from Radio Sound's website: "For over twenty years, Radio Sound has designed audio products to withstand harsh outdoor elements like rain, dust and snow as well as survive any vibration and rough terrain that the vehicle encounters.". Ref: http://www.radiosound.com/about.htm I'm sure you are very happy with your stereo with the flip down console. The question is whether or not it would hold up to rain, dust and vibration from being mounted on a motorcycle long term.

 

Ok...either you don't know what I'm talking about, or you don't know what you are talking about. I think its the latter. I found it hard to believe that there were so few flip down faceplate models in the Clarion lineup, when I see them everywhere when I go into any car stereo shop or our local best buy store. So I also visited the Clarion car audio web site....and of the 10 units in production for 2006, 6 models had flip down faceplates!...Then I went to Sony's car audio website and checked out their Xplod lineup...of 10 models, 7 have flip down faceplates. I'm sure if I visited Pioneer or Alpine, I'd find similar results as well.

YOU SIR, DO NOT KNOW CAR STEREO EQUIPMENT. I have been testing, if you want to call it that, the weatherability of these radios in ALL condition for over two years....The guys I got the idea from, had been running them for three years before me. You DO NOT NEED a marine grade radio for your motorcycle period.

I am sure Radio sound makes very durable units...but they are underpowered and featureless, when compared to other offerings. Harmon Kardons new offering have all the features HD has been lacking....but they don't appear to be very durable from the reports I'm reading on sights like this one.

 

[sm=yikesomg.gif]Tell me you're kidding? You must have a lot of time on your hands. Seriously, I don't have time to check every website of every stereo manufacturer to see whether or not they have flip down faceplates. What does it matter or prove anyway? I could seriously care less. It was your broad and sweeping "vast majority" statement that got my attention. Since you are being so literal and specific I checked the Clarion website. Anyone who cares to check will see that according to Clarion, of the 10 models they only offer 3 "flip down consoles" (models DXZ265, DXZ365MP, DXZ465MP) not 6 as you indicated. If you are going to be literal, fine be literal, but don't include units that are not listed as "flip down consoles." I will agree with you on one point though...I am not a car stereo expert and thank God for that. There are far more important things that deserve my attention...aftermarket car stereos aren't one of them.

At this point it's pretty much a pissing match, so I'll just leave it there.

 

I was wondering how you could miss it twice, so I went back to Clarion again to see what you are not seeing. The entire DXZ family of stereos has a flip down/slope down faceplate in which the disc entry slot is hidden/covered. It is a DXZ model that I have. It took a bit of actually reading the product descriptions to see how you could not be seeing my point. The higher priced models in the DXZ family (865/765/665) have the motorized version of the flip down faceplate in which a motor slides the faceplate down and out of the way instead of a spring just popping the door open so to speak. The higher end motorized version they are calling a "sloping" faceplate, whereas the lower end spring actuated is called the "flipdown" faceplate. I think this is where our different experience shows. You didn't know what you were looking at unless it told you point blank.

tda, you seem like a guy who's content the let the motor company do your thinking for you; atleast in regards to the stereo department. I don't want this pissing match to continue any longer either. I only started rebutting your statements because they contradict my own personal experience...and I think my car audio background provides me more insight than you have.

Just for the record, my car audio background is not as a professional, but I was heavily into the scene starting in high school where I started helping my friends install car stereo systems. A couple of them were into it competetively and one even won some competetitions. I have continued to keep quality audio systems in all my vehicles as well as installing them in friends and family members cars. In all, I'd say I've been installing and following the car audio world intermittently for the last 20 years. I would not call myself an "expert"; but I know more than most of the guys that they hire at places like best buy to work the department (atleast in my experience).

 

For the members here that will only feel comfortable with a marine grade stereo. The best option I have found for this, and indeed one I may end up getting in the future, is the Rockford Fosgate line of marine components. They were the only ones I could find, in my research, that included the electronic skip memory buffers. Since I have not experienced any problems with weather affecting the aftermarket deck in my bike, but I have experienced the skips that take place when a stereo is mounted directly over the front suspension, I find the electronic skip buffers to be of higher importance than the marine rating.

This is a nice example of the Rockford marine offerings http://www.cardomain.com/item/ROCRFX9220M

It has a 30 second memory buffer, with CD/Mp3 capability, and a wireless infrared remote...which means it will interface with the PAC S-wix interface controller that I use to communicate with the stock hand controls.

FYI... The biketronics kits, as well as the hawgwired kit (I believe) limit you to only Sony offerings. I have not found any of the Sony decks to have the memory buffers, but maybe some do. Anyway, if for whatever reason you want to run a different car stereo than Sony, the Pacific Accessory Corporation (PAC) offers the S-wix infrared interface controller. With this, you can use any infrared remote compatible reciever. Had I known of the biketronics kit, I may have gone with them as well, but when I did my own stereo install, their name wasn't being spread all over the internet on forums like this. Maybe they hadn't even developed it yet in the winter of 2003? So if you wanted to get a marine grade radio like the Rockford Fosgate unit, and control it with the stock controls, you would need one of these. I modified my stock glove box to function as the stereo mount; but I believe bikeronics sells the mounting kits seperately if you don't want that hassle. The PAC S-wix was $47.00 online when I purchased a couple years ago.

 

Biketronics - Bolt in a SONY or Pioneer to work with Factory Hand controls. A Set of HogTune, J&M, Sony Explodes speakers, etc.

Hell of a lot less cash and a much better perfoming solution. F the Factory.

 

[QUOTE=tda69;297025]
lol, im not gonna get into a vast majority debate with ya but... i will say i have a flip down sony with 41,000 miles on it in 2 years... it is a tuff unit that has not been affected by water, dust or anything else... i can tell you it may have, "may" have skipped very few times.....

 

Wonder if this new receiver would work with the hand controls...

The receiver sucks in an ipod like a CD.. has no CD slot.. just an ipod slot.

Fusion Ipod Car Stereo



Oh there is a Marine unit too that sucks down an ipod..which wont skip