My 2014 Street Glide Audio Install review
#1
01-18-2015, 09:53 AM
My 2014 Street Glide Audio Install review
I wanted to wait till I had a few hundred miles in the seat after I did the install before I wrote anything up.
I put on 6k miles last summer with the Harley Boom Audio installed, 2 front speakers and amp.
It sounded great, till I started hearing some other friends bikes, so I began my research.
I looked at several options including many that were suggested on here, I was ultimately swayed by my dealer for several reasons, good or bad, warranty played an issue and they were clear about that.... I know many folks here will have their own opinion, but you guys don't warranty my bike, my dealer does.
So it was narrowed down to Biketronics, Hog Tunes, Boom (Which I already had) and J&M.
They were all installed on Bikes at the dealership and they were good enough to roll them outside and I could hear them in an open environment which was great to be able to compare.
Im not kidding myself, I know Im not going to hear on my bike what I hear inside my car or home, its just not possible. What I did want to accomplish was hearing clearly, songs, notes and words when I rode on the highway, without having to crank it up and have a ton of distortion and frustration.
I wont go thru all the tests, Im an engineer by degree and **** is an understatement, just ask my kids. The craziness that I put the dealer thru going from bike to bike with a db meter and recording, but I ended up with a J&M Rokker series. My dealer was great but offered no deals off of retail prices so after all that work, I ended up purchasing from Hill Country Customs Cycles in Spicewood Texas, right down the road from me and they offered a New Years special of almost 28% off retail...
J&M is not for everyone, lots say John is hard to deal with, I found that not true, he gave honest advice to me via email and was very low pressure. They are not the cheapest date around, that's for sure, but this was the system I choose after hearing on another Street Glide at the dealership.
I ended up with Rokker JAMP 500HC14-SGP amp and HCRK-6652TW fairing speakers. I plan on adding saddlebag speakers later down the road, but at this point only using the fronts.
Packages arrived next day after purchase (Did I mention Hill Country gave free shipping) they were packaged from J&M very well and I was ready to get started.
Laying everything out on the bench, I did notice that the new stainless mounting plate had super sharp edges and spent some time, about 2 beers worth filing them down, and then covered the edges in plastic dip coating, they really should look at this quality control issue, I know its stamped, but still...
Directions are fair, they could add alot more detail or photos (Not sure about copy right stuff with Harley) they were fair, but again could have had more detail to make it easier.
Speakers went in without a hitch, had the pods off before so I knew about the crazy bolts underneath... Just a tip when putting them back, do those first and just get them started, too hard to do once the others are all in...
Amp was 100% plug and play just as advertised, what a rats nest of wires after that fact that you must come up with a plan for, Im sure with any install you will have this, but I think this was more time coming up with a plan for the wires and securing them. removed the tank and ran the harness under the tank, if I didn't already know where the master grounding bolt was, It would have been frustrating, again more detail in directions...
So time to test.
I fired it up and it was not impressive, was sort of frustrated then I remembered the guy at Hill Country told me I had to flash the amp... Duhhhh...
So I got out the dongle and connected to my laptop and went on line to J&M, selected the download exactly for my set up, uploaded without a hitch and then disconnected and covered the connection hole with some electrical tape to prevent dust or dirt getting in (For this price, I should have gotten a plastic or rubber cap)
Fired her back up and WOW... a huge difference in the garage sound, but I have a stereo in the garage so wanted to get her out on the road...
This weekend has been a great test rode just over 200 miles yesterday in all sorts of areas, highway, city, back roads and the system performed amazing. Sound was considerably better, clear, bass punched through and you could feel it in front of the speakers, I generally had my boom on 3/4volume on the freeway going to work in the mornings and it sounded like crap... With the new J&M system, 1/2 volume was all I needed and was clear, heard sounds I never hear before on my bike, only in my car... I run XM most times but also tested with my Ipod nano as well.
I am very pleased with the system at this point, easy to upgrade to more speakers, fairly easy to install, ear test was very pleasing, again cost was maybe 20% more than for comparable systems I was looking at, but its what "I" liked.
Everyone has there own opinion, with thousands of great minds here on this site and that is one of the things I have valued about this site since I joined in 2005.
Hope this helps someone, one way or another, make some sort of decision on what to do.
Big Shout to Hill Country Custom Cycles for hooking me up with a holiday discount, free shipping and great customer service
Jake
I put on 6k miles last summer with the Harley Boom Audio installed, 2 front speakers and amp.
It sounded great, till I started hearing some other friends bikes, so I began my research.
I looked at several options including many that were suggested on here, I was ultimately swayed by my dealer for several reasons, good or bad, warranty played an issue and they were clear about that.... I know many folks here will have their own opinion, but you guys don't warranty my bike, my dealer does.
So it was narrowed down to Biketronics, Hog Tunes, Boom (Which I already had) and J&M.
They were all installed on Bikes at the dealership and they were good enough to roll them outside and I could hear them in an open environment which was great to be able to compare.
Im not kidding myself, I know Im not going to hear on my bike what I hear inside my car or home, its just not possible. What I did want to accomplish was hearing clearly, songs, notes and words when I rode on the highway, without having to crank it up and have a ton of distortion and frustration.
I wont go thru all the tests, Im an engineer by degree and **** is an understatement, just ask my kids. The craziness that I put the dealer thru going from bike to bike with a db meter and recording, but I ended up with a J&M Rokker series. My dealer was great but offered no deals off of retail prices so after all that work, I ended up purchasing from Hill Country Customs Cycles in Spicewood Texas, right down the road from me and they offered a New Years special of almost 28% off retail...
J&M is not for everyone, lots say John is hard to deal with, I found that not true, he gave honest advice to me via email and was very low pressure. They are not the cheapest date around, that's for sure, but this was the system I choose after hearing on another Street Glide at the dealership.
I ended up with Rokker JAMP 500HC14-SGP amp and HCRK-6652TW fairing speakers. I plan on adding saddlebag speakers later down the road, but at this point only using the fronts.
Packages arrived next day after purchase (Did I mention Hill Country gave free shipping) they were packaged from J&M very well and I was ready to get started.
Laying everything out on the bench, I did notice that the new stainless mounting plate had super sharp edges and spent some time, about 2 beers worth filing them down, and then covered the edges in plastic dip coating, they really should look at this quality control issue, I know its stamped, but still...
Directions are fair, they could add alot more detail or photos (Not sure about copy right stuff with Harley) they were fair, but again could have had more detail to make it easier.
Speakers went in without a hitch, had the pods off before so I knew about the crazy bolts underneath... Just a tip when putting them back, do those first and just get them started, too hard to do once the others are all in...
Amp was 100% plug and play just as advertised, what a rats nest of wires after that fact that you must come up with a plan for, Im sure with any install you will have this, but I think this was more time coming up with a plan for the wires and securing them. removed the tank and ran the harness under the tank, if I didn't already know where the master grounding bolt was, It would have been frustrating, again more detail in directions...
So time to test.
I fired it up and it was not impressive, was sort of frustrated then I remembered the guy at Hill Country told me I had to flash the amp... Duhhhh...
So I got out the dongle and connected to my laptop and went on line to J&M, selected the download exactly for my set up, uploaded without a hitch and then disconnected and covered the connection hole with some electrical tape to prevent dust or dirt getting in (For this price, I should have gotten a plastic or rubber cap)
Fired her back up and WOW... a huge difference in the garage sound, but I have a stereo in the garage so wanted to get her out on the road...
This weekend has been a great test rode just over 200 miles yesterday in all sorts of areas, highway, city, back roads and the system performed amazing. Sound was considerably better, clear, bass punched through and you could feel it in front of the speakers, I generally had my boom on 3/4volume on the freeway going to work in the mornings and it sounded like crap... With the new J&M system, 1/2 volume was all I needed and was clear, heard sounds I never hear before on my bike, only in my car... I run XM most times but also tested with my Ipod nano as well.
I am very pleased with the system at this point, easy to upgrade to more speakers, fairly easy to install, ear test was very pleasing, again cost was maybe 20% more than for comparable systems I was looking at, but its what "I" liked.
Everyone has there own opinion, with thousands of great minds here on this site and that is one of the things I have valued about this site since I joined in 2005.
Hope this helps someone, one way or another, make some sort of decision on what to do.
Big Shout to Hill Country Custom Cycles for hooking me up with a holiday discount, free shipping and great customer service
Jake
Last edited by HD Jake; 01-18-2015 at 02:22 PM.
#2
01-18-2015, 10:30 AM
#3
01-18-2015, 11:01 AM
#7
01-18-2015, 03:54 PM
No sure if flashing the amp is the right terminology , I'm a gear head, not a audiophile (if that's even the right word) but on the J&M site there is programming to upload into your amp for different configurations .
For me, it worked really well and the system is great, put another 100 miles on today rode up near the OK border and back and hearing some sounds I have not heard in a while thru my stereo
For me, it worked really well and the system is great, put another 100 miles on today rode up near the OK border and back and hearing some sounds I have not heard in a while thru my stereo
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#8
01-18-2015, 06:42 PM
Ultimate HDF Member
The "flash" is indirectly related to the amp but actually has nothing to do with the amp itself. Basically what you are doing is resetting the factory EQ curve on the HU which is set very low from the factory. When adding an amp at the factory settings the system will have excessive gain causing distortion and or damage to your speakers. In other words. Too much power for the factory settings when a high powerd amp is thrown in the mix. All "flash" means is saving the new settings.
#10
01-18-2015, 07:38 PM
Banned