The BoomII system is OK as long as I'm not moving too fast (40 mph or better). I plan on installing an Arc Moto 600.4 amp pushing a pair of Hertz HCX 165 in the fairing and a pair of Polk mm692s in the lids with the BT355 line leveler. Is that a good "not break the bank" system? Recommendations?

 

unfortunately you won't be happy until youre at the 2k mark. Dsp, amps, pa speakers and tweeters

 

This is far from the truth
I havent heard those fairing speakers but the polks are pretty decent. That setup should be much better than the boom stuff you have now. Remember sound is personal preference. What some guys like others wont. What do you want to achieve from your upgrade?

 

Keep in mind that the hertz like power. The 600.4 is a nice amp, but 150W going to them will leave you wanting more eventually. Getting the front stage right is priority one, so that has to be dead nuts on and then build the rear end to compliment it. Of course once the front end is sufficiently stout, then the rear really has to bring it to be heard at speed. Let the addiction begin.

 

I mainly want to be able to hear it at speed. I know I'll lose bass but the Boom has no Boom. That 150W is 75W to each speaker? Yeah, maybe I may want more power. Amp recommendations for a good sounding 4 speaker setup? I may spend a little more.

 

Well in my opinion just buy the best you can afford now. Otherwise you'll be constantly upgrading wasting money on what was bought previously

 

I agree. I want great sound from the fairing and good fill from the rear. So more power is needed up front for sure. I have never dealt with a DSP before and tuning may be a problem for me without more knowledge. I want to keep my head unit by the way. I want a good powerful sounding system that can be heard at speed. My last bike was a Road King which I never wanted music on.

 

OK guys. Biketronics has given me a plug and play option: Premiun Hertz Mille Legend speakers powered by a BT4180.14-4 channel amp along with BT457 5x7 lid speakers and associated hardware for a complete plug-n-play system and only needing the radio re-flashed

 

I've run the 2180/4180 in the past and currently have the 4250 in my 18 CVO and have zero complaints. BT is well known for clean power and some of the best customer service on the planet and they send you everything needed to plug into a stock harness in a matter of seconds and it can easily be returned to stock configuration if needed. The knock is their amps do not have an adjustable crossover. If you plug it in and like the sound you're golden, if you plug it in and like to tweak you're screwed. The only way to adjust is through the line leveler which is kind of a rough adjustment and if you go to far you can mess things up pretty easily. Outside of that you would need a DSP or aftermarket HU with built in crossovers and EQ to tweak.

The 5x7 are OK around town and will provide some fill up to about 45mph. Above that a good setup up front will easily overpower them at highway speed. To get true fill from the rear that can keep up with an excellent front stage you really need 6x9 in the lids with some power to them. I started down that route and ended up staying with 5x7 in the rear because my front is solid enough to keep me happy. The only way I can hear the 5x7 at highway speed is to turn my head or adjust the fade a couple notches to the rear, which leaves me with not enough volume up front. The good thing about 5x7 is all you have to do is cut the bottom of the basket out and they drop right in with the BT adapter. To go 6x9 you have to hack your lids up more.

Which milles are you looking at - the 165.3 or the 1650.3? There's a big difference with the 1650.3 being a significantly better speaker. I run the 1650.3 up front in my 16 and 18 and love the sound. I'm not bashing the 165.3, it's just not as good as the 1650.3 . They can be bright if not tuned properly, which as I mentioned can be an issue with the BT amp - it all depends on what your ears like.

On a CVO you'll also need a harness to include the jumpers for the boom amps when you remove them. As you mentioned the flash is a must. The CVO flash on my bike didn't work for crap when I pulled the boom stuff. Switched to the stock ultra flash (4 speakers, 0 amps) and it sounded tons better and I still have fade. Some guys swear by the 8/2 flash as well, but I believe you lose fade with it.

At the end of the day my advice is always to get the best amp you can afford and build your system around that. The hot speaker flavor of the day comes and goes and good speakers are cheap compared to good amps. A good 4 channel amp (or a couple of micro 2 channel amps) is worth it's weight in gold and won't need changed out if you decide to try different speakers down the road.

 

Check out this thread and see what others have installed.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/audio-systems/1216430-comprehensive-list-of-member-systems-7.html#post17737206