Quality auto sound?
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Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2007
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Quality auto sound?
I went up to the car stereo place here in Denver call Quality auto sound. They do great car stereos. I asked them if they did Motorcycles. I was kind of shocked when they said yes. I told them I wanted an amp and speaker upgrade for my SG. The showed me the Boston Acustic speakers.The amp140 watts per channel. Everything installed for about $600. They like to put the amp in one of the hardbags. Its not that big of an amp and won't take up a lot of space.
The Hog tunes set up is a 48 watt amp and 2 speakers for 300 and the Hawg Wired systems are almost $700 with no install.
Whatcha think?
The Hog tunes set up is a 48 watt amp and 2 speakers for 300 and the Hawg Wired systems are almost $700 with no install.
Whatcha think?
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 10,449
Likes: 46
From: Roswell, GA
RE: Quality auto sound?
I'd ask the auto shop for customer referrals and speak to their customers about how they like their systems, what bikes were they installed on, etc.
Personally, I took the advice of the owner of a high-end car audio/electronics shop to forget about high quality sound on a motorcycle--it may sound good in a parking lot or even at slow speeds, but at anything above 50 mph or so I'd be wasting my money.
Why give up saddlebag space for a 600 buck system from the auto shop, when the HW amp installs inside the fairing for 100 bucks more?
Also, there's a lot of vibration in a saddlebag. Not exactly the same situation, but I carried a Sony Vaio laptop inside a saddlebag, thought I had it well-protected from vibration while I used it to do SERT data runs, and ended up vibrating loose some small screws that shorted the motherboard.
Good luck with your project--I'm all for someone building a better mousetrap, especially if it can be done for significantly less cost than some of the tried and true products already available or offers some other, improved features.
Personally, I took the advice of the owner of a high-end car audio/electronics shop to forget about high quality sound on a motorcycle--it may sound good in a parking lot or even at slow speeds, but at anything above 50 mph or so I'd be wasting my money.
Why give up saddlebag space for a 600 buck system from the auto shop, when the HW amp installs inside the fairing for 100 bucks more?
Also, there's a lot of vibration in a saddlebag. Not exactly the same situation, but I carried a Sony Vaio laptop inside a saddlebag, thought I had it well-protected from vibration while I used it to do SERT data runs, and ended up vibrating loose some small screws that shorted the motherboard.
Good luck with your project--I'm all for someone building a better mousetrap, especially if it can be done for significantly less cost than some of the tried and true products already available or offers some other, improved features.
Tourer
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 479
Likes: 0
From: Somerset, WI
RE: Quality auto sound?
Removing wires from the amp everytime you want to take the bag off to clean the wheel or for any other reason would suck, I would look around for a better pair of speakers than what you have, that will improve your sound without breaking the bank (the bostons are great speakers but you would not hear how great they are at speed anyway)
Aaron
Aaron
Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2008
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RE: Quality auto sound?
DR...
As youmay know from one of my recent replies to the 4 or 5 threads you've started lately to try and figure this issue out, I have quite a bit of experience in the 12v installation industry.
Let me tell you that if you spend roughly the same for a Hog-whatever set-up, you will be getting better quality with what the hi-end shop offered you for roughly the same price. The rubs are these:
-Loss of bag space
-Attached wiring
-Whether or not the installer actually knows bikes. 12v is 12v, no matter what the Redneck says. But... working on a bike can be more challenging than a car or boat. I've done many boat & bike systems, but worked on somewhere in the neighborhood of 15k cars in my time. Simple numbers says you will get better results with more experience.
Problem for you is the lack of knowledge for you about this stuff, as we discussed in a different thread. So even if you purchased a Hog-whatever system, are you going to be the one installing it? If not, you then have to figure in the price of labor for someone else to put it in. If you will be installing it, get a Hog-whatever/whatever-Tronics system. Way easy for you to install.
If not, then maybe you may want to find someone like me in your area or make a road trip to visit me. My gear cost me about $250, installed it myself in the fairing while keeping the HD headunit, and I'd be willing to compare it to Hog-whatever products.
I'm not a rocket scientist by any means, but we all have some areas where we are experts, and this is one for me.
Bottom line-
If you install, get the 120-150 watt Biketronics or Hawg product for easy plug & play and enough power
If you have it installed, just pm me or search my threads and you'll get a good idea of what I recommend. You don't have to come up North to visit me, because I'm sure there are many people like me in your area. Start asking your friends, fellow riders, etc.
Good Luck!!
MM
As youmay know from one of my recent replies to the 4 or 5 threads you've started lately to try and figure this issue out, I have quite a bit of experience in the 12v installation industry.
Let me tell you that if you spend roughly the same for a Hog-whatever set-up, you will be getting better quality with what the hi-end shop offered you for roughly the same price. The rubs are these:
-Loss of bag space
-Attached wiring
-Whether or not the installer actually knows bikes. 12v is 12v, no matter what the Redneck says. But... working on a bike can be more challenging than a car or boat. I've done many boat & bike systems, but worked on somewhere in the neighborhood of 15k cars in my time. Simple numbers says you will get better results with more experience.
Problem for you is the lack of knowledge for you about this stuff, as we discussed in a different thread. So even if you purchased a Hog-whatever system, are you going to be the one installing it? If not, you then have to figure in the price of labor for someone else to put it in. If you will be installing it, get a Hog-whatever/whatever-Tronics system. Way easy for you to install.
If not, then maybe you may want to find someone like me in your area or make a road trip to visit me. My gear cost me about $250, installed it myself in the fairing while keeping the HD headunit, and I'd be willing to compare it to Hog-whatever products.
I'm not a rocket scientist by any means, but we all have some areas where we are experts, and this is one for me.
Bottom line-
If you install, get the 120-150 watt Biketronics or Hawg product for easy plug & play and enough power
If you have it installed, just pm me or search my threads and you'll get a good idea of what I recommend. You don't have to come up North to visit me, because I'm sure there are many people like me in your area. Start asking your friends, fellow riders, etc.
Good Luck!!
MM
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 10,449
Likes: 46
From: Roswell, GA
RE: Quality auto sound?
a911scanner, I thought about sending a PM to ask for the particulars of your installation, but thought it would be better if you would generally share the information.
Here's your earlier thread regarding the speakers and amp:
https://www.hdforums.com/m_3274451/tm.htm
It refers to the converter and its importance but says nothing about the product you used or how you wired it. Both would be very welcome pieces of information.
If you are "in the business" and don't want to share the information, fair enough. If you want to helpout other Forum members, a detailed write-up would be very much appreciated--if you have a better mousetrap that is abetter value than the heavy dollar products out there, there are plenty of us who would like to know what you did and how you did it.
Hope you will take the time to share your expertise.
Here's your earlier thread regarding the speakers and amp:
https://www.hdforums.com/m_3274451/tm.htm
It refers to the converter and its importance but says nothing about the product you used or how you wired it. Both would be very welcome pieces of information.
If you are "in the business" and don't want to share the information, fair enough. If you want to helpout other Forum members, a detailed write-up would be very much appreciated--if you have a better mousetrap that is abetter value than the heavy dollar products out there, there are plenty of us who would like to know what you did and how you did it.
Hope you will take the time to share your expertise.
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6th Gear
Joined: Jun 2007
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RE: Quality auto sound?
My neighbor used them for his Standard. Wooks great and they us IR for the hand controls.
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Road Master
Joined: Feb 2006
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RE: Quality auto sound?
I thought I would step in and throw out my .02 cents and answer a couple of questions.
First HarleyPigMan the converter that a911scanner is referring to in the other post is commonly referred to as a "Line Level Converter" and can be found at almost any store that sells stereos, just do a Google search. In simple terms the Factory HD Head Unit does not offer Line Level or RCA outputs only High Level outputs. This converter simply takes these wire "High Level" outputs and converts them to a "Line Level" output. These most often require a 12volt switch source and ground to hook up along with your speaker outputs from your stereo.
When making a decision on what you are going to do when upgrading your factory system I recommend basing the decision on how much you want to screw with it in the future. I like a911scanner have a great deal of experience in after market car audio, but when it comes to my bike I went with HogWired. This is a very clean and simple plug and play system designed to fit in a fairing and designed to work on a motorcycle. 12volt is 12volts, but not all audio equipment is built or made the same. I did not want to have to replace my speakers in 6 months cause I got stuck in a storm or replace the amp cause I couldn't get enough airflow and had clipping problems. Again all of this can be solved, but what is boiled down to me was ease of installation and the fact that they back their products.
Now with that all being said I did use an Alpine deck with required me to rebuild my factory harness and use a PAC audio interface in order to retain my factory hand controls. This is not difficult to do if you have soldiring skills it is just a little time consuming.
Jeff
First HarleyPigMan the converter that a911scanner is referring to in the other post is commonly referred to as a "Line Level Converter" and can be found at almost any store that sells stereos, just do a Google search. In simple terms the Factory HD Head Unit does not offer Line Level or RCA outputs only High Level outputs. This converter simply takes these wire "High Level" outputs and converts them to a "Line Level" output. These most often require a 12volt switch source and ground to hook up along with your speaker outputs from your stereo.
When making a decision on what you are going to do when upgrading your factory system I recommend basing the decision on how much you want to screw with it in the future. I like a911scanner have a great deal of experience in after market car audio, but when it comes to my bike I went with HogWired. This is a very clean and simple plug and play system designed to fit in a fairing and designed to work on a motorcycle. 12volt is 12volts, but not all audio equipment is built or made the same. I did not want to have to replace my speakers in 6 months cause I got stuck in a storm or replace the amp cause I couldn't get enough airflow and had clipping problems. Again all of this can be solved, but what is boiled down to me was ease of installation and the fact that they back their products.
Now with that all being said I did use an Alpine deck with required me to rebuild my factory harness and use a PAC audio interface in order to retain my factory hand controls. This is not difficult to do if you have soldiring skills it is just a little time consuming.
Jeff
Road Captain
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 641
Likes: 0
From: Central Iowa
RE: Quality auto sound?
ORIGINAL: jskwarek
I thought I would step in and throw out my .02 cents and answer a couple of questions.
First HarleyPigMan the converter that a911scanner is referring to in the other post is commonly referred to as a "Line Level Converter" and can be found at almost any store that sells stereos, just do a Google search. In simple terms the Factory HD Head Unit does not offer Line Level or RCA outputs only High Level outputs. This converter simply takes these wire "High Level" outputs and converts them to a "Line Level" output. These most often require a 12volt switch source and ground to hook up along with your speaker outputs from your stereo.
When making a decision on what you are going to do when upgrading your factory system I recommend basing the decision on how much you want to screw with it in the future. I like a911scanner have a great deal of experience in after market car audio, but when it comes to my bike I went with HogWired. This is a very clean and simple plug and play system designed to fit in a fairing and designed to work on a motorcycle. 12volt is 12volts, but not all audio equipment is built or made the same. I did not want to have to replace my speakers in 6 months cause I got stuck in a storm or replace the amp cause I couldn't get enough airflow and had clipping problems. Again all of this can be solved, but what is boiled down to me was ease of installation and the fact that they back their products.
Now with that all being said I did use an Alpine deck with required me to rebuild my factory harness and use a PAC audio interface in order to retain my factory hand controls. This is not difficult to do if you have soldiring skills it is just a little time consuming.
Jeff
I thought I would step in and throw out my .02 cents and answer a couple of questions.
First HarleyPigMan the converter that a911scanner is referring to in the other post is commonly referred to as a "Line Level Converter" and can be found at almost any store that sells stereos, just do a Google search. In simple terms the Factory HD Head Unit does not offer Line Level or RCA outputs only High Level outputs. This converter simply takes these wire "High Level" outputs and converts them to a "Line Level" output. These most often require a 12volt switch source and ground to hook up along with your speaker outputs from your stereo.
When making a decision on what you are going to do when upgrading your factory system I recommend basing the decision on how much you want to screw with it in the future. I like a911scanner have a great deal of experience in after market car audio, but when it comes to my bike I went with HogWired. This is a very clean and simple plug and play system designed to fit in a fairing and designed to work on a motorcycle. 12volt is 12volts, but not all audio equipment is built or made the same. I did not want to have to replace my speakers in 6 months cause I got stuck in a storm or replace the amp cause I couldn't get enough airflow and had clipping problems. Again all of this can be solved, but what is boiled down to me was ease of installation and the fact that they back their products.
Now with that all being said I did use an Alpine deck with required me to rebuild my factory harness and use a PAC audio interface in order to retain my factory hand controls. This is not difficult to do if you have soldiring skills it is just a little time consuming.
Jeff
You'll love it.