Hello all,
Audio noob looking for advice for upgrading my speakers for my setup on my 2012 Road King:
Stereo: JVC KW-M785BW
Amp: Hertz 4.500
Upper Fairing Speakers: (2) Rockford 6x9" P1694 75 watt RMS 4ohm
Lowers: (2) Rockford Prime R165X3 6.5" 3-Way Full Range Coaxial Speakers 45 watt RMS 4ohm
Story time...
I bought the fairing in Daytona a few years back at an audio shop with a single din and the 6x9s currently installed with no amp. Not enough, so I added a PBR300x4 amp. Not enough so I added lower fairings and the 6.5's. Not enough, so I upgraded the amp to the 4.500 (couldn't afford the 4.900 at the time) and JVC double din for navigation & wireless apple carplay. I listen to mainly rock (Sirius XM Octane or Boneyard streamed via BT). Not necessarily looking to drop a grand on 4 speakers, but looking for more. Speakers don't hold up great around the 75-80mph. Setting them to sound good around town makes them distort at the higher levels on the highway. I've done a ton of searching on the forums, audio shops pages, videos online etc. Most of the setups I am seeing have the 6.5's in the fairing and 6x9s in the bags and recommend the 4.900 with the SX 165 and 690. I looked into them, PRV, and a couple other brands, but don't want to be in a spot dropping a ton of cash on speakers that my amp can't push. I would like a decent amount of mids/bass if possible, understanding it's not going to shake the house or anything crazy, just more than what I have... I would prefer not to cut my bags due to the bag guards installed and not add another set of speakers on the tour pak as I routinely remove it in the summer months. Sorry for the novel, just wanted to share what I have done so far. Any recommendations to the right direction would be much appreciated! Please let me know if there's any additional information I should provide to help get my question answered. Cheers! (also, picture was taken prior to me finishing the install, I'm not an animal with the lack of heat shrink and crazy wire routing w/ GPS covered...)




Thanks for looking!!!

 

I would stay with fairing and lower speakers. Don't worry about lids.
You are a little light on power for 4 speakers, but if you were to use some 2 ohm speakers, you can get the most out of the amp.

Cicada CXX's are a great sounding speaker for metal/rock/country. They have a good amount of midbass and are all weather. They aren't the cheapest speaker around by far, but they are great quality and sounding.

DD audio also makes some good 2 ohm speakers (6.5 and 6x9). They don't require a lot of power to get loud either and they sound good. They are not as warm as the Cicada's and not as much midbass, but they are nice and clear and less expensive.

Those would be my 2 suggestions for speaker upgrade using the Hertz amp.

 

Thank you for the reply. I found the VO-M6.5B-S2 and VO-M6X9B-S2 100-300 watt RMS, looks like both are discontinued but still available on a couple different websites for ~$250 for all 4 (definitely in my budget). The new VO series are all 4ohm from what I can see.
You weren't joking about the Cicada being pricey... If there's not a significant difference between the 2 brands I can't justify over 4X the cost.

Would I be better off investing in a set of high quality 6x9s running on 2 ch 4 ohm at 300 watt RMS and no 6.5's? I was thinking it would be a fuller sound with all 4, but seems I'm a little limited on options with this amp...
Thanks again

 

The updated DD audio models are: VO-XN306 and VO-XN6X9A and they come in 2 or 4 ohm.

You know, that's actually kind of a good idea honestly: running just a set of 6x9 off the amp. If you were to do that, I would suggest the Cicada's for sure. Yes they are not cheap, but they sound great, especially for the type of music you listen to and they are neomagnet to keep the weight down. You are not going to want to large magnet speaker in your fairing. Then down road, you could upgrade to bigger amp and add 6.5 in lowers.

 

How much do the VO-XN306 really need to work? Specs are high?

 

Thanks for the update on the DD's!
Update for me...
So I disconnected the lower speakers and rewired the 6x9s to be 2 channel only. Much louder and fuller sound on the highway, could hear clear as day going 85-90. Head unit set to flat eq, loudness and all the other random crap off, no distortion at all. I think it was at 27 of 40 on the volume level. I wish I could retain true left and right, but no big deal. Tone and body at lower levels cruising around town aren't great, but I imagine it's just due to the quality of speakers.
Looks like I will ditch the 6.5s for now, reconvert the lowers to storage, and save up for some Cicadas and pray they go on sale...
Thanks for all the help cshocker! I learned a ton.