Wanted to share some thoughts with you guys regarding specs. Had a chance to work on a bike with Focal PS 165 F 's in the fairing paired with Hertz ST25 horns, and 8.8's in the lids. I'll post a vid hopefully this weekend. Those Focal woofers were loud, I mean stupid loud, like pro audio incredibly loud AND sounded great. We ran them without their component passive crossover and dialed them in with the DSP. We had planned on yanking them out in favor for some PRV's but found no need to. So last night I get home and look up the specs:

https://www.focal.com/en/car-audio/c...-kits/ps-165-f

These things are rated at 70w RMS and 87db sensitive? What the hell!!! We normally use PRV's that are 250/500 w and 95ishdb sensitive. How could this be. Scrolling thru a website scrolling thru specs I would've skipped these and that happens to LOTS of great speakers. So something to consider if I skipped out on these previously, have I ever purchased the WRONG speaker before because on paper it looked like it had the right specs. (More on that below). Here are few possibilities - the specs are based on the tweeter, woofer and passive crossover together. Perhaps the tweeter can not take the same amount of power, OR perhaps the 70w RMS is at it's lowest 60hz rating. What about if I crossed them a 100hz? Would that rating still be 70w, or can I now give them 100-125w? Lots of variables now to consider when putting these on a bike and we use them for something a bit different than they were designed to do.

Now check out the specs of this speaker the DS18 EXL-MM64nb. Specs state that it can play down to 60hz-16khz and rated at 200w RMS. I ran these speakers for a while and assure you that at 200w they can't play 60hz. So are the specs incorrect? No they are 100% correct BASED ON HOW THE SPECS WERE DONE. Take a look at vid below and check out 1:03 mark and you will see that at 1w and 1 meter away a tiny little light comes on showing the speaker can produce 60hz at 1w. How do you think those frequencies, it can barely produce, sound when you give that speaker 150w? So were the specs incorrect --- nope, but you wouldn't know unless you try the speaker out.

Just a few things to consider when looking at speakers. I can't tell you how many folks I talk to that grab the WRONG speakers because they saw great specs see online. Oh and another thing these specs don't show is sound quality.


Happy Hunting!

 

Going through some old post, this thread did not catch my eye.

I think Haze makes a great point here. So I will bring this back to life and see if any one else has found more speakers playing out of their listed specs.

Personally I have taken the GZ Red basket down from the listed 150hz and they sounded good.

So lets bring the thread back..

Juice

 

I haven't found any yet that will play lower than specs. I have however found several that won't play as low as specs called out, regardless of power cut-back.

I personally would contemplate a little less volume in the fairing to accomplisha warmer sound quality with some hit to them. I just haven't found them yet.

I would be interested in knowing how low you managed to get the "reds" to play, without distortion. I think the worst thing I did was put the BT brackets in. I can change speakers with ease and am willing to do so, to a fault...lol

 

I have taken them down to 120hz, 12db slope and they are warm. But I have enough low end and put them back as I am sending them a stupid amount of power.

But with that said look at this!



I know we cross these lower than recommended, with plenty of power!

Juice

 

Thanks Juice. Hey I tried, but no one cared! Lol

Oh well. Good luck hunting!

 

I occasionally will try something out of the box of normal combo's, and sometimes get lucky. I have an '07 Dyna with a small (tsukayu) fairing, that I've tried at least a dozen speakers in, with few sounding good. The warmest, clearest setup yet, was a set of Timpano slim's(6.5) ran off a Arc Moto bridged, and through a DB Euphoria crossover(before I added the DSP) and with the Euphoria tweets. One of the Euphoria's let loose the magic smoke so I replaced them with these, and holy crap, them things pounded! They didn't just sound better than the Euphoria's they flat out blew them out of the water. Currently I have a set of Beyma coax that don't sound anywhere close to those Timpano's, although they are only getting half the power. I'll have to add a small amp to run the horns and try the Beyma's that Arc bridged before I give up on them.

I added PRV Forte 8's to the bags with the Beyma's and they were knocking pretty good until I got a little happy with the volume ****. I replaced those with the new 8" PRV 600X Midrange, just to try them out in the bags, and f*** them things are LOUD!!! They certainly don't hit as hard as the Forte's but damn wide open they drown out the Beyma's. Tomorrow I'll have time to tune them more and take a ride to see what they sound like, and see if they can be heard at speed.

 

Brother, I'm not real sure I got my arms around ur post. What exactly are u recommending?

T

 

I think he's just saying tinker with stuff and see what you can find out. Very little of what we are doing with these bikes has been thoroughly tested by "professionals" so we all benefit from just monkeying around and sharing our stories.

I recall swapping some stuff around one time and my original Motos were only getting a little over 100w and they sounded noticeably warmer than they are known to.

 

Right on brother. Just curious what specific Timpanos and Beymas are being tinkered with. I learn new stuff every day and this feedback can be very helpful!!

T

 

Beyma 6CX200Nd , which is an awesome speaker in different setups, but less than astounding in that Dyna fairing with only 150w each.

Timpano TPT-MB6 Slim, ran through a DB Euphoria crossover with the DB tweeter.