Audio upgrade recommendations
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 11,615
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From: Baton Rouge, LA
For about four years I've had a Hogtunes system including their small 2-ch. amp (~32w/ch.), 5¼" speakers, and Hog (tweeter) Pods. The amp died last summer and I did my usual research, settling on an Elf E2125X 2-channel amp based on good feedback on forums, a perfect fit atop the stock head unit, and a killer price I found on a refurb ($135). This amp produces 125w/ch. @ 2Ω and can be found new on Ebay for $200.
The 5¼" Hogtunes speakers were 2Ω and the Hog Pods 6Ω, so when wired in parallel the impedance was 1.5Ω, 0.5Ω lower than the amps minimum. So, I decided to upgrade the speakers too, settling on 6½" Biketronics (Hertz) units rated at 3Ω, which put total impedance at 2Ω giving the amp its highest power output. If you use only 4Ω speakers (i.e. no Hog Pods) the amp will only put out 75w/ch., which would probably be more than ample, but I would go for 2-3Ω speakers if only two are used.
This combo was what I wish I had from the beginning. The music sounds like it is literally thrown at you, very audible even at highway speeds, and you can even hear hints of bass, something almost impossible to acquire from a batwing fairing regardless of amp or speaker size. It is far better than the stock system and impressively more so than the previous Hogtunes arrangement. The downside is that the speakers have large, heavy magnets and weigh-in at 40 oz. each vs. 14 oz. for stock and 28 oz. for the Hogtunes. I worried about the effect on the already marginal fairing brackets and made another bracket for added support, as seen here (scroll down to Post #10). I don't know if it'll make any difference, but time will tell.
BTW the Elf amp is nearly identical to the Arc 125.2, as seen in this article. I can recommend this particular combo, as I'm very happy with the result I achieved here. Here is a thread I started last summer when I was in research mode, and there is some good feedback in it.
The 5¼" Hogtunes speakers were 2Ω and the Hog Pods 6Ω, so when wired in parallel the impedance was 1.5Ω, 0.5Ω lower than the amps minimum. So, I decided to upgrade the speakers too, settling on 6½" Biketronics (Hertz) units rated at 3Ω, which put total impedance at 2Ω giving the amp its highest power output. If you use only 4Ω speakers (i.e. no Hog Pods) the amp will only put out 75w/ch., which would probably be more than ample, but I would go for 2-3Ω speakers if only two are used.
This combo was what I wish I had from the beginning. The music sounds like it is literally thrown at you, very audible even at highway speeds, and you can even hear hints of bass, something almost impossible to acquire from a batwing fairing regardless of amp or speaker size. It is far better than the stock system and impressively more so than the previous Hogtunes arrangement. The downside is that the speakers have large, heavy magnets and weigh-in at 40 oz. each vs. 14 oz. for stock and 28 oz. for the Hogtunes. I worried about the effect on the already marginal fairing brackets and made another bracket for added support, as seen here (scroll down to Post #10). I don't know if it'll make any difference, but time will tell.
BTW the Elf amp is nearly identical to the Arc 125.2, as seen in this article. I can recommend this particular combo, as I'm very happy with the result I achieved here. Here is a thread I started last summer when I was in research mode, and there is some good feedback in it.
Last edited by iclick; Jan 9, 2012 at 01:30 PM.
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