Wanted to share my amp and speaker install and include a few pics and things I learned.

The first task I had was undoing what the previous owner had done. After pulling the fairing I was met with this mess. The only plus that came out of this is the discovery of the blue connectors you see. They are a typical blade connector except that both the male and female sides are fully insulated and they fit together tighter than any other connector I'd ever seen or used. Took me a little bit to find out where to get them so to save you that footwork they are available at Home Depot



After removing all of that crap I had a much cleaner inner fairing to work with. As you can see in this next pic there was plenty of room now. I had already installed the adapter rings in this pic. If you have a Roadie as I do and you get the ARC adapter the orientation is very important. At least if you want to ever get your outer fairing back on. In the pic you can see that I set them with the flare portion pointing toward the outboards side. That was incorrect! When installing them the flare needs to be pointed either inboard or down. Especially if the speakers you're going with have a larger magnet or speaker basket.



Here you can see the amp and speakers installed. The amp is mounted using a bracket I purchased on Amazon from a seller named HD Parts for $30. They also sell a bracket for batwing fairings, also for $30. It's well made out of solid steel. It does however come unfinished so a quick coat of primer and gloss black automotive paint to prevent any rusting was in order. In the pic is a pair of Polk MM651's. I ultimately went with a pair of Infinities thanks to help from Gannicus, more on that at the end. I know a lot of folks don't recommend using connectors and I do understand why but I figured I'm likely to be making changes, at the very least an aftermarket HU, and the disconnects will assist me in those swaps. Once I have all the components I'm sticking with in place I'll likely splice and solder everything in place permanently.




Here are a couple showing the wrapping with the polyfil. Including one showing the difference in the polyfils. As has been said in other threads use three layers and either tuck it up or you can do as I did and zip tie it in place. For clarification, from UltraNutz, that's three layers of the thin stuff. It's about 1/16th of an inch thick which is different than the higher loft stuff.









Test everything and set your gains. You can find those instructions in the sticky thread here https://www.hdforums.com/forum/audio...-with-dmm.html It doesn't get much clearer than it does there. Also, if after setting all your levels you're thinking you're not happy with the overall sound, in particular the bass response, DO NOT get creative and think by turning up the gain it will improve it. Once the outer fairing is back in place the bass will tighten up......significantly.

After that make everything neat. Electrical tape and zip ties are cheap so use some, lol. Re-install the outer fairing and enjoy.

I hope this helps anyone doing an install. I must also thank all the usual suspects who helped me in deciding which equipment to use and other questions...UltraNutz, AAWAV, and especially Gannicus. I'm sure Gannicus got tired of seeing my name in his in box but you would be hard pressed to find a more stand up guy anywhere. He sold me a set of Polks which ended up having an issue in one of the crossovers. Unlike what most guys would do and tell you sorry but they are yours now he instead sent me a new pair of Kappas and said to give them a try. If I like them, keep them and send the Polks back and if I still liked the Polks he'd find a replacement crossover and I could send the Infinities back. Oh, and did I mention the speakers were in the mail before he ever received the payment. I can't thank him enough for all his help. But for the 100th time.... THANKS GANNICUS.

 

Man that looks great. Very clean install....I need to tighten up my work!

+1 on Gannicus. Helped me out as well.

Are you selling the Clarion? I have a friend looking for a budget upgrade. If you’re looking to sell it send me a note.

Thanks

 

You can not go wrong with the info you got . from Gannicus nutz or Aawav they have all helped me out so much. Thank you for the pics. I solder and shrink all my stuff don't like tape it gets warm and slips off . I hate crimping my wire's. Just my info. Glad you are happy and good to go.