I have a 2013 Aniv., Tri-Glide, and am wanting to install a amp, and speakers so I can clearly hear the radio at highway speeds, and have a little bass in the music as well. I have been researching the Boom, and Biketronics systems, but just don't know enough about them to have an intelligent discussion. I could spend $800 max., so that is my budget. Would appreciate some much needed help and suggestions from some of ya who already have bought systems. thanks....

 

The Biketronics amp and 7" speakers get rave reviews. Check out the audio tech section.

 

Where in NC are you?
I have the full Biketronic system. If you're close to charlottes, I'll let you hear my system.
I promise, you won't find any other system as superior as the Biketronic system but it ain't cheap.

 

I'm in Fayetteville if your closer to me, also have Biketronics amp and 7.1 speakers.

 

Biketronics is the way to go, if your budget allows for it!!!!!

 

I use RF 150x2 and biketronics 7.1s. No problem hearing it at highway speeds. In fact I have to turn it down!

 

Another vote for Biketronics. I had the Titan II speaker upgrade, and loved it. I now have 6 JL Audios on my Ultra, but if I had to do it again on a budget, I'd go back to the Biketronics. (Is it still called the Titan II Speaker Upgrade? It's been a few years since I had them.) Also, if you blow 1 up, Biketronics will replace it. I blew one, and they ended up replacing them both --- no charge. I'd go with them.

 

Choices were limited for me with a Road Glide and I did not know about the audio section so I went with J&M amp and speakers. My bike is stupid loud and before install music was little more than background noise. Now I can hear everything at highway speeds and quite happy. The magnets in the stock speakers are a joke. BTW, I paid about $450 for the set, speakers and amp.

 

I run the Biketronics speakers with a different amp but it really does rock. To get serious improvement I recommend changing the head unit as well. The stock head unit has its limitations no matter what you add to it whereas aftermarket radios offer much better sound quality with a lot more adjustment on the sound. I sell the BT stuff at a discount if you are looking for pricing please let me know.

 

Since you are in NC, you have a helmet law there. I bring this up because you can actually get great ride-sustainable sound quality from a well designed in-helmet headset.

To let you know the road I went down.... I have an ARC 500 watt amp, the J&M 7.1" speakers in the faring and the Polk 6.5 speakers in the lower faring. I have the low-level output mod installed by Iron Cross piping audio to my ARC amp. I also use high-level audio from the HK to drive the rear speaker pods. It sounds fantastic. The HK is also integrated tightly to my Ultra, especially with intercom and the CB, both of which I use. The street glide owner has more freedom to change out the head unit since that bike by default has minimal features compared to an Ultra or to your Trike.

But at the end of the day, even with all that, I still prefer to listen to the music through my premium J&M headset. There is another manufacturer, Edsets Premium Headsets, that also makes a great headset for the Harley. There are also tons of bluetooth headsets on the market as well that offer additional functionality. Even though we have no helmet law here in South Carolina, I always wear a helmet. I wised-up and stopped worrying about "cool" years ago. So the headsets are a natural for me.

After the wind noise plays with your hearing for a while, the music starts to sound different. If you are only barhopping and not really riding, then it is a little better. But the stereo can sound only so good as you travel down the road on a motorcycle and your hearing gets worse and worse as the day progresses...thus the music gets more distorted sounding (although it's not distorted, it just sounds that way in your stressed ears). Then you have to keep on turning it up to compensate. You may have already experienced that.

With in-helmet speakers, the music will sound as good 5 hours from now as it did when you first turned it on. I also use ear plugs which help to not only preserve hearing but also enhances sound transfer, especially base response, to the ear drum. Just ask any audiologist about sound waves through a solid versus sound waves through the air.

Turning up a stereo on a bike in traffic so loud you can hear it a football field away makes you look like a careless dweeb. Who the hell wants to hear all that crap? Kinda like the guy who has his stereo turned all the way up in the car beside you and his speakers are rattling your environment. He's Mr. Cool and everyone else wants to shoot his ***. Raises everyone's stress levels and blood pressure for sure. It's a free country, but really?

Roll all the windows down in your car and leave them down and see how good the stereo sounds after a while. It will always sound better than the one on your bike. And if you are wearing a helmet, the helmet will attenuate a lot of the fidelity of whatever system or speakers you end-up with. That's why I am suggesting that you at least consider a high-quality, helmet headset before you hand over a lot of coin for what will possibly be a disappointment. You will understand once you try a quality headset. BTW, the HD headsets are junk.