Newbie-2005 Ultra stereo upgrade
 

I have been reading this forum for years and love it. I joined, finally, and I am doing a lot of mod's to my bike.
Bike:2005 Ultra Classic
Riding style: all weather, cross country and with PGR, 500+ a week on average
Music: Country mainly, 70's 80's rock and some old school rap
Budget: pretty open
Looking for: fuller sound, little more volume, keeping FM (I do not use my factory CB)
Current stereo: factory Harley HU(not HK) and 5.25" boom audio speakers (fairing and TP) for this year bike

Here is what i am looking for my set up, i will DIY for the install of everything:
Head unit: Aquatic AQ-MP-5UBT-HS (i like the ability to expand for more speakers (2) later, that i can use it to power accessory lighting on the bike, comes with a surface mount USB charging outlet)
Speakers: BT7P1 PRO SPEAKER for fairing and tour pack, ARC Moto 692 in lids
Amps: two ARC KS125.2 BX2 (one to power the fairing and TP speakers and the other to drive the 6x9s)
Lids: Hogtunes 6x9 lids (painted to match my bike)

After much reading on this forum I believe this set up will give me what I am looking for in audio on a motorcycle. I usually play my music through a 3.5 jack from my phone to my factory Harley head unit, not a HK. I would like to use BT instead.

Comments, suggestions or idea's are very welcomed. I am serious about my music/sound but I am not trying to win a contest. This build is for my enjoyment of music while on my bike. I ride in all conditions so heat/cold/rain and elevation are considered.

Thank you for any and all comments

I have the exact same model year bike just not the Ultra, I do have the king tour pack that came with it from the factory minus the rear speaker pods and I added the factory color matched lowers. My set up consists of a Sony HU with Bluetooth, Aux, and USB Im running a set of PA Mmats in my lowers and a set of AD designs CX62's in my fairing running them with an Arc Moto 600.4 four channel amp and it cranks I can hear it loud and clear at speed 70/80 mph...................And I'm sure if I had my system professionally tuned it would sound even better! I have been tossing the idea around of adding rear speaker lids this winter but undecided yet. If and when I do decided to move forward I may look into the RF TMS69BL9813 lid kit Instead of buying new aftermarket lids, plus paint, plus speakers, plus adapters ETC just not sure I wanna pull the trigger yet as most if all your sound is heard from the front stage. I assume you have lower fairings? and in your case if it were me I would buy a nice aftermarket HU a good 4 channel amp and some speaker pods for the lowers and 3 pairs of good 6.5" speakers and forget the lids?The BT7P1 PRO SPEAKERs are good speakers though but there are many good options out there................Im sure others will chime in...................Good luck!

InthewindMN you are correct, good catch and thank you. Badazzpred you also are correct in that filling the lowers makes sense.

So, which 6.5 for the three area's (fairing/rear pods/lowers)? And if I decided to do the lids as well, what 6x9s and which amps? i am assuming if i move to 8 speakers total then i will need two 4 channel amps?

Could i run the fairing speakers off the HU, the lowers and TP pods off a 4 channel that is powerful enough and the 6x9's off a 2 channel that is powerful enough as pointed out by InthewindMN.

If it were me, I would run the fairing and lowers off a good 4 channel amp and add another micro amp in the fairing for the 6x9's in the lids. Running the fairing (or any speaker) off the HU wont provide enough to be heard at speed. A good coax in the fairing will provide the all highs you need, a set of PA style in the lowers will provide a good midbass and a good balance up front. You wont need a coax in the lowers. As far as rear lids go, the RF rear lid kit mentioned above is a solid play and can add that sound to create a "bubble" of sound around the rider. That kit tilts those 6x9's towards the rider and will round out all the sound needed for that "bubble" of sound and includes all the wiring, speakers ect. needed for the install without any paint work needed.

Good amps for that setup include:
ss pn4.1000 $
stinger spx 700/4 $$
rf tm400x4ad $$
jl xd 400/4v2 $$$
focal sport $$$

A good micro amp for the rears include:
nvx mpva4 $$
gz gzra (highly recommended I have not run one) $$$
others are out there but I have not run them.

Good coax for the amps suggested depending on listening style:
hertz hcx, mpx, cpx. $$$
arc 602 motos $$$
sony xs-gs 1651 $$
db wdx motos $$
beyma 6cx200fe coax $$$$$$$ lol
infinity ix62 kappas $

Good pa style speaker for lowers include:
prv 6mr-500-ndy $$
hertz svt $$
beyma 6g40nd $$$$

Rear 6x9
rf tms69bl kit $$$

There are other options out there but this will give you some research criteria to start with.
Just my thoughts.

travelingypsye thank you very much! This gives much to search and compare. And thank you for being detailed on the speakers. I have not been in the speaker game for many years and never for a bike so this is all new to me. These threads have done a great deal to bring me up to speed.

Any suggestions on the HU or is the aquatic av good for this type of set up?

Also, with the RF lid kit it says it is for ABS lids not fiberglass, um, how can i tell the difference?

Your stock lids are abs. Some aftermarket lids are fiberglass and that can be hard to cut without it splintering. The rf kit is designed for stock lids.

I personally am not a fan of the aquatic head units as they have a history of not being dependable. The concept of them is great and look good on paper but if you research them, even on this forum, you will find a lot of threads about them going bad. A good single din sony or kenwood would be better in my opinion preferably one with a white background display so it can be seen in bright sunlight.