I also wanted to chime in on this thread as I to was selected by John to test these speakers.

First I would also like to thank John and J&M for allowing me to test these speakers and provide a review or customer feedback for others to decide on there purchase for my 09 Streetglide. John also contacted me about my choice of either chrome or black grills, which I choose the black ones as I wanted less attention drawn to the inner fairing but I think you would not go wrong with either set. My speakers arrived late Friday night and I installed them on Sunday afternoon. I had been looking at replacing my original HD speakers but one did not have the coin to spend on a set of 6.5" speakers with an amp and some of the reviews I was not sure what I would have purchased anyways, I had been looking at replacing the stock units with an after market 5.25" or a 6.5" speaker upgrade but then these were comming out and I wanted to wait and see. I realize that I am on a bike so you loose alot of clarity in the music when riding 80mph with the wind noise and such but the HD system you could not even turn up to half way before it distorted so bad you just turned it down or almost had to guess what you were listening to.

As far as the install goes this was my first time removing the front fairing which is a piece of cake 3 windshield bolts and 4 fairing bolts, I did find that my front lower bolt holding the outer fairing on was missing.

The instructions were very easy to follow and the entire process took maybe about 1 1/2 hours as I wiped down and cleaned everything as well as inspected the inner workings and tightened hardware. The directions J&M provided with the kit were very easy to follow and the speaker parts bolted right on the original inner fairing. The directions show for both the early 09 and late 09 brackets. I happen to have the early style brackets and again everything bolted up very easy. The speakers look high quality as we would expect from J&M and were packaged great to protect during shipping.

Attached at the end of this post is a link to pictures of my install.

After the speakers were installed the directions ask you to test to make sure everything was connected correctly prior to installing the outer fairing. When I first turned the bike on as previously posted it was lacking a little bass but you could hear the speakers very clear and had a nice sound. Once I knew they were connected correctly and worked I put the acoustic padding on the back of the inner fairing and installed my outer faring less one bolt until the dealer opens on Tuesday.

After I finished installing the fairing and windshield I turn the bike on and attached my Ipod and WOW I was really impressed without running an amp that the speakers sounded that great and pushed out a fair amount of bass. After adjusting the Bass/Treble I was able to turn the speakers up almost all the way on the HD head unit without any distortion using all types of music. The true test would be how they sounded on the interstate at 80 mph. So after I had to wait a couple of hours for the rain to stop I went for a short 20 miles ride up the interstate at about 80 mph and the speakers played clear and you could finally hear and understand the vocals on the HD stereo and really pushed out some pretty good bass IMHO. I was extremly happy with the switch, quality and result and feel that this is a great system upgrade that would give you good gains without breaking the bank. I am sure there are better sound systems that cost quite a bit more to install but again in my opinion this upgrade would be well worth the money at the price point.

I am looking to find a system with 6.5" speakers and amp setup and compare the same music source to really get a feel for how they compare.
I will after extensive use post again my results and thoughts on this upgrade as well as if I find another system setup to compare it too.

http://s793.photobucket.com/albums/yy212/scubamike68/

Again thanks to John and J&M for another fine quality product added to there list.

 

I'm really hoping that you guys received yours just because you are closer to him. I was selected as a tester and I have yet to receive mine for trial. I would have loved to have been tinkering on the bike this weekend. I hope they come tomorrow.

 

Dawg,

If he selected you as a tester I am sure you should receive them on Tuesday, I am in Oregon so I am pretty close to AZ. It really is a easy install. I now am thinking about adding rear pods to my tourpak and installing the 7.25" speakers in the pods but need to figure out what I need for this. Time and money will also dictate. Enjoy the new speakers and I look forward to your review of them as well.

 

Yea I see that his new rear speakers will be out in November. I can't wait to try these out and then I'll make a decision about upgrading the rears.

 

Ranman,

Your set-up (amp and 6.5 components) is what I'd like to hear a direct comparison review of.

There is no RMS rating listed for the J&M speakers; only a max rating and it's relativey low.
It would be interesting to see how long they would last connected to an ARC amp.

 

I would also like to see a side by side on the 6.5 system and the 7.25 speakers but as much as I like the 7.25 speakers the amp set up may still push out more sound as it has more power but also cost a fair amount more. I guess it just might depend on everyones taste and budget. Maybe once there are enough 7.25 speaker set up out there ssomeone can find either an arc system or biketronics system to compare the two just to see. Time will tell, I still for the money think the J&M 7.25's are a good system upgrade and a fair price IMHO.

 

LINK to my review

 

So far it sounds good, if you can hear the stock (no amp) HK radio at Highway speeds. Keep us updated.

 

does anyone doing the testing live near phoenix az???? lets do a sound off.

 

I want some for my RG when they come out on the 15th, but only if I can return them if I dont like how they sound.