So a few buds and I have been testing out some various fairing speaker combinations and the PA Woof combined with tweeters is the real deal. Have several hundred miles on the sled, to include 2 up riding, with these various combos and the sound is really damn good. Loud and clear has hell!!!! Hate to say it but this combo smokes the AWs big time, with one exception.

Some of the parking lot audio guys say that this is some sort of Polish Engineering or "band aid" for what a "real" system looks like but a "real" system is the system that is on my sled and has to answer to my ears and not a DB meter or anyone else's ears. Last I checked, horn have always been intended to be installed in applications no less than 6 to 20 feet from ur ears!!!! Hell, its just a damn tweet with a megaphone on the end of it, right?

The reality of the situation is that this old dawg is not drilling holes in his fairing, giving up a fuel and volt gauge, nor am I gonna add an amp just to provide a separate channel for horns. Just the facts, so adapting is the key. But I am really not even sure I would put a horn 2 feet from my face if I could, at this juncture.

I mentioned that there is one exception that the AWs excel, and it is the 80-90 Hz range that most PAs just are not showing up with really solid presence.

IMHO, the key here is to find a quality PA that can hit hard down in the low 90s and also has a big range upwards to the 8000, 9000, 10,000 Hz range. As for the tweet, recommend a good solid tweet that hits the 1500 hz to 20000 hz range. Hell most of you could just use the tweets that are currently installed like the AT28.

Now another big catch here is tuning thus a DSP or a HU with significant tuning capabilities is a must.

I have tried 3 different sets of PAs with the AT 28s thus far and they all sound pretty damn good but they are hitting the freq qualifications mentioned above. I have another set showing up this week with a published freq range of 70-9000 so this damn thing might just be the unicorn!!!!!!! Of course my unicorn is named Houdini!!!!!!

Call me crazy or a Polish Engineer, but for a dude that sets his audio up only to ride and not to partake in the dick measuring contests, this combo sounds really damn good.

Flame away boys!!!!!!!!!! But pack a lunch cause my thick skull is not easy to get thru to!!!

Tuning, supporting speaks, woof 97+ SPL, mid woof 90 to 8,9, 10000 Hz, tweets 1500-20000 Hz, more tuning, and off you go.

Just saying!!!!!

T

 

Thanks for keeping us up to date on your progress. I am very interested because I think using a PA woof would allow some of us to get away with not having to bridge a 4 channel amp to get the wattage to drive the AWs which would free up 2 channels for more speakers without having to squeeze another amp in the fairing.

Rick

 

T - have you ridden with a properly tuned PA woofer and horn driver? I think you'd be surprised how much better it sounds over a dome tweeter...ESPECIALLY on the road where it matters most.

You may have a thick skull, but you are also the same persons that said "PA speakers my ears no likey" and said you'd never put them on your bike because they hurt your ears when you ride and these are just for the parking lot. So if you can change to PA's....I'm hoping when you FINALLY add some horns you take a pic of the nirvana moment!!

Glad you're digging the pro audio stuff man.

 

Rick, that's the thing to do correctly you want the woofer and the horn to have their own channels. Woofers and tweeters or horns all have different sensitivity. So if you have a mismatched pair one will get WAY louder than the other much faster and sound like crap. 99% of the time we run the horns on their own channel and never use a dome tweeter. This way we can dial in each speaker correctly. No "polish engineering!".

 

 

So lets address the largest and closest alligators to the boat, I ain't drilling holes in my fairing, pulling gauges, or adding an amp to accommodate horns.
There is a huge part of the market that is in this sandbox so shix, I'm gonna play in every inch of it thus finding ways to maximize my audio under those hard line circumstances above.

This shix work boys!!!!

Let my re-phrase my current state of audio, my ears likey PAs with tweets AND a DSP!!!!

The cool thing about audio is that the R&D never ends and really there is no definitive answer for each individual's circumstances. For those in my sandbox, this shix is pretty damn good!!!!

Just get the correct shix though!!!

I'm out riding but did see H throw up a R&D thread, that I have not opened, which is awesome and supports what I just mentioned. Try and find the perfect PAs with the perfect tweeters brotha and I think u will find a market of fellow audio Pollocks that will jump into the deep end!!!!!

Fun stuff boys!!!!

Have an awesome day!!!!

T.

 

Yeah I think that's the correct perspective to have "with a DSP" "the right speakers with the right tweeters" "is pretty damn good". I'm sure it is man and that's a lot of variables to nail down. You know i've been looking for a shallow enough horn loaded dome tweeter that can play almost as loud as a horn and pair up well with pa woofer when mounted in a grill. It's tough....because I've been looking for just the right one!

I think the other side to this is what's perfect for a competition bike and what's pretty darn good for the rider can be two different things, and still possibly work. Just want you guys to get it done correctly and not bandaid the wrong stuff together. So I will caution you guys hunting the PA speakers, because lord knows I tried a boat load of them .....When spec hunting these numbers are not always accurate for what we are looking for on a bike. Take the DD VO6.5 spec'd at 70-13k hz. There is NO WAY that speaker plays that low, Bunker I think ran his at 120hz. Only way to know is to try them!

http://ddaudio.com/products/pro-audi...eries/vo-m6-5/

Happy Hunting!

 

I saw what you did there T with the ruler. Hahahaha good stuff. I've been running PA speakers for over a year paralleled with a set of horns and I couldn't ask for any better. Glad your finally getting it sorted out with the help of the DSP. PA's in my opinion are where it's at.

 

This is a unique and interesting idea. Couple big things that are mentioned that make or break the bank here. One is the frequencies mentioned. Once your pa speak starts breaking 5k or so the shrillness sets it. This can be a personal preference but it is known. Hence where if possible certain xover options help to keep that minimal. Next is the tweeter freq. Get that tweet or horn below 4k and you will get some vocals and even slight drum pop. Tweeter not as much as a horn but possible. Most component sets that use a passive network cut the frequency in the areas I mentioned both low and high pass. I wouldn't focus so much on how high the mid plays as the higher it goes the more potentially shrill it will get without control over that cutoff. Same with a tweet ot horn. To find that magic blend will be a task of lots of trial and error. When running the horn or tweet in parallel using a cap or whatever you still may have a 4ohm nominal impedance but the frequency overlap is where the may or may not sound right plays the biggest factor.

 

I understand that PA speakers and horns are loud, but do you really think that is a good enough reason to swap speakers? I'm running Hertz HCX165s now, pushed by a Cerwin B2 amp. I have no problem cranking up the volume to very loud levels, so what advantage would I have in going with horns and PAs? By the way, I bought the Hertz and the Cerwin amp on recommendations from this forum, but of course that was a few years ago... ;-)