What amp to use?????
Road Master
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 935
Likes: 1
From: Indiana
Got my heart set on the new Rockford 4 ch amp coming out next month. Having 2nd thoughts, it stated 4 ohms impedance; damn, my hogtunes speakers, front and rear, are 2 ohms. Don't want to switch out speakers as well.
Currently using an older Soundstream D60II on top of the HK radio for the fairing speakers and radio powering the rears. Looking for a small amp for the rear speakers, maybe I can mount it underneath the stock radio?
Biketronics Hertz is a small one, but it's rated @ 4 ohms as well. Only alternative is the 4 ch Hogtune, replacing the one I use. But the front speakers sound so good, don't want to change that set up either......
Or I can chance it and keep the 2 ohms speakers and use the Rockford, since impedance depends on frequency anyway, might just run a little warmer.
Decision, decision......
Currently using an older Soundstream D60II on top of the HK radio for the fairing speakers and radio powering the rears. Looking for a small amp for the rear speakers, maybe I can mount it underneath the stock radio?
Biketronics Hertz is a small one, but it's rated @ 4 ohms as well. Only alternative is the 4 ch Hogtune, replacing the one I use. But the front speakers sound so good, don't want to change that set up either......
Or I can chance it and keep the 2 ohms speakers and use the Rockford, since impedance depends on frequency anyway, might just run a little warmer.
Decision, decision......
Road Master
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 935
Likes: 1
From: Indiana
Who is Iron Cross and how do I get a hold of him??? I am looking at aftermarket radios because my setup keep clipping and taking out speakers and freaking out the amp any time the base is turned up past about 4. Im told this is because the speaker level inputs so that might solve my problems without replacing the radio. Please PM the info if you can.
http://ironcrossaudio.com/
I send my OEM radio in last winter for service and added a set of RCA (low level output). Really fast turn around time.
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 10,449
Likes: 46
From: Roswell, GA
Who is Iron Cross and how do I get a hold of him??? I am looking at aftermarket radios because my setup keep clipping and taking out speakers and freaking out the amp any time the base is turned up past about 4. Im told this is because the speaker level inputs so that might solve my problems without replacing the radio. Please PM the info if you can.
Carl
I have the Arc mini 125.2 and its a nice amp. Even with the small size it was a tight fit but I was able to mount it right on top of the radio with industrial strength Velcro. They make a four channel or you can run the four speakers you have in parallel and the mini will rock. I bought mine on Ebay for like $175.00 (used but with a warranty).
Good luck!
Good luck!
Advanced
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 94
Likes: 2
From: New Orleans, LA
There are a bunch of clones made by the same chinese factory, some can be had quite a bit cheaper ~$150. Arc, wetsounds, elf, biketronics, vibe, etc. Don't expect plug and play on these, but if you are OK with wiring and can figure out a mounting method then have at it. The 4 channel versions are around 3" longer than the 2 channel, I am not sure about fitting one on top of the HK, it is fairly tight with a 2 channel. Another plus to having an amp is not being tied to 2 ohm speakers, these little mini's will jam 4 ohm 61/2's nicely. I am happy with my Vibe Lite Box 2.
Captsluggo
Captsluggo
Road Master
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 959
Likes: 1
From: Westerville, OH
I hear everyone running that amp in a two speaker system love it, havent heard a lot of 4 speaker systems running the 2 channel. Also ive heard we need to fab our fairing brackets to have the 4 channel arc fit. Anyone running four speakers off the arc 4 channel mounted in their fairing?
The Arc Mini actually runs hotter due to the parallel wiring but it pushes more power because of the wiring configuration.
Again my 2 cents.
Road Master
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 959
Likes: 1
From: Westerville, OH
Who is Iron Cross and how do I get a hold of him??? I am looking at aftermarket radios because my setup keep clipping and taking out speakers and freaking out the amp any time the base is turned up past about 4. Im told this is because the speaker level inputs so that might solve my problems without replacing the radio. Please PM the info if you can.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FzbwLPn...onverters.html
I myself don't understand the need for a 4 channel amp on a bike. Because it's not like you are going to fade more power to one set over another (Like in your car when you fade from front to back). With a two channel amp you can wire the respective side speakers to the amp and you are ready.
The Arc Mini actually runs hotter due to the parallel wiring but it pushes more power because of the wiring configuration.
Again my 2 cents.
The Arc Mini actually runs hotter due to the parallel wiring but it pushes more power because of the wiring configuration.
Again my 2 cents.
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Road Master
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,231
Likes: 0
From: Nor-Kal
Pull the Harmon Kardon out, go with a nice aftermarket head unit and call it done. Line level converters suck.
My buddy has arc 5.25" in his fairing and arc 6.5" in his lowers ran off the Arc mini in parallel.. Sounds great.. He did cap the 5.25" speakers to give them a slightly higher crossover point than the 6.5" speakers....
My buddy has arc 5.25" in his fairing and arc 6.5" in his lowers ran off the Arc mini in parallel.. Sounds great.. He did cap the 5.25" speakers to give them a slightly higher crossover point than the 6.5" speakers....
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 10,449
Likes: 46
From: Roswell, GA
My bike has had the Hogtunes tweeter pod on it before I added the CVO speaker boxes and they tend to dominate the sound at speed; i.e. most of the sound seems to heard from the pod rather than the fairing speakers.
When I added the CVO speaker boxes, I was already using the Arc 125.2 and initially wired them as mentioned earlier; i.e. run four speakers from the two-channel amp. That was okay, but I felt like I wasn't hearing much sound from the speakers in the lowers.
I rewired the speakers using the Arc amp to drive the speakers in the lowers as "rear" speakers, the fairing speakers were wired to the HK front speaker outputs (like MOCO does it), and had the fader control turned on by the dealer. This worked really well and I would not have changed it but for the RF amp coming out. And I did find myself using the fader control from time to time depending on the particular music I was playing while riding. Is fader control "needed," the 2011 CVO SG doesn't have fader control. For me, I already had the non-Ultra overlay harness on the bike so accessing the rear speaker outputs from the HK radio was easy and so I used the four channel configuration ultimately. Even w/o the NUOH, accessing the rear speaker outputs is easy, and the charge, if any, by a dealer for fader control is modest.
As for line output converters (LOC's), when I did the Arc amp install I asked the shop foreman at the quality auto audio shop where I did the install and bought the amp about using them with the Arc amp. He told me they'd done a lot of installs with the Arc amp and never used LOC's because the Arc amp provided such a clean signal.
Being as "sound" is very much a matter of personal preference and experience (what I hear may be, and probably is, different from what you hear riding a bike), a lot of these questions don't have an objectively proveable answer.
Carl
When I added the CVO speaker boxes, I was already using the Arc 125.2 and initially wired them as mentioned earlier; i.e. run four speakers from the two-channel amp. That was okay, but I felt like I wasn't hearing much sound from the speakers in the lowers.
I rewired the speakers using the Arc amp to drive the speakers in the lowers as "rear" speakers, the fairing speakers were wired to the HK front speaker outputs (like MOCO does it), and had the fader control turned on by the dealer. This worked really well and I would not have changed it but for the RF amp coming out. And I did find myself using the fader control from time to time depending on the particular music I was playing while riding. Is fader control "needed," the 2011 CVO SG doesn't have fader control. For me, I already had the non-Ultra overlay harness on the bike so accessing the rear speaker outputs from the HK radio was easy and so I used the four channel configuration ultimately. Even w/o the NUOH, accessing the rear speaker outputs is easy, and the charge, if any, by a dealer for fader control is modest.
As for line output converters (LOC's), when I did the Arc amp install I asked the shop foreman at the quality auto audio shop where I did the install and bought the amp about using them with the Arc amp. He told me they'd done a lot of installs with the Arc amp and never used LOC's because the Arc amp provided such a clean signal.
Being as "sound" is very much a matter of personal preference and experience (what I hear may be, and probably is, different from what you hear riding a bike), a lot of these questions don't have an objectively proveable answer.
Carl