Surprisingly clean budget install
Surprisingly clean budget install
Just installed a budget friendly system on my friend's 07 SG and it turned out a LOT better than expected. This coming from somebody that installs high end equipment frequently.
He already had the lower cost Aquatic head unit paired to a blown set of Hogtunes speakers. So on a tight budget, installed an extra set of Infinity Kappa components I had paired with a Powerbass ACA 240.2 amp. Put the tweeters in the upper gauges, amp on top of head unit, crossovers on the support behind the tweeters (upper gauge holes).
Fully expected 'ok' sound using that head unit and an amp I picked up on closeout. To my dismay it was terrible, far worse than I imagined. There was almost no midrange, vocals were almost nonexistent. Couldn't figure it out! Then I switched the input to the amp. At first used the high level input since the only low level out on the head unit said it was for the rear channel. No big deal, high level input shouldn't be an issue right? Wrong. After I switched to the low level rear output, BAM! Sounded fantastic. Amp gain went to 50% before tripping distortion which I sort of expected, but at half it seems to power the Kappas just fine.
Just wanted to throw the experience out there. I know a lot of you cats want better sound without breaking the bank. This was a previous generation set of speakers paired with a $50 amp off of a (my opinion) ok-ish head unit. Still blows me away how loud and clear this setup turned out with minimal investment.
He already had the lower cost Aquatic head unit paired to a blown set of Hogtunes speakers. So on a tight budget, installed an extra set of Infinity Kappa components I had paired with a Powerbass ACA 240.2 amp. Put the tweeters in the upper gauges, amp on top of head unit, crossovers on the support behind the tweeters (upper gauge holes).
Fully expected 'ok' sound using that head unit and an amp I picked up on closeout. To my dismay it was terrible, far worse than I imagined. There was almost no midrange, vocals were almost nonexistent. Couldn't figure it out! Then I switched the input to the amp. At first used the high level input since the only low level out on the head unit said it was for the rear channel. No big deal, high level input shouldn't be an issue right? Wrong. After I switched to the low level rear output, BAM! Sounded fantastic. Amp gain went to 50% before tripping distortion which I sort of expected, but at half it seems to power the Kappas just fine.
Just wanted to throw the experience out there. I know a lot of you cats want better sound without breaking the bank. This was a previous generation set of speakers paired with a $50 amp off of a (my opinion) ok-ish head unit. Still blows me away how loud and clear this setup turned out with minimal investment.
Don't go past half-gain on the amp though, that's about where it starts to distort. Seems to put out enough to make the Kappas dance though, and it fits on top of the radio in the batwing fairing. Not a bad little amp if you can score it for a deal!
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Joined: Mar 2008
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From: SW Florida
Powerbass ACA 240.2 $65
Kappa 62.11i speakers $110
Speaker Adapters $22
Boss Audio Amp Kit $15
Total $212
This install developed when my friend had a $1600 budget that became a $0 budget then turned into a $300 budget hahaha! Saw the amp on closeout and figured it's worth the $50 to take a chance.
One thing to keep in mind though, this bike was also running the lower end Aquatic head unit. While not a fan of it, still better than the stock radio.
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