Okay. I still need to mess with the configuration of the HU for best sound at speed and I think that will take time. In the garage this sounds great though.

After my morning ride I think maybe I was expecting a little too much. I could hear it and the quality sounded OKAY but I honestly think my hog tunes speakers and amp with stock HU was louder because of the basic settings. That was my 75mph down the highway test.

Again I believe this has to do with basic settings vs. trying to "shape" my sound with the new Sony HU I have. It has the 12 band equalizer, etc. so there is a lot to configure. It's a pain to make adjustments and go for a ride and then pull over, configure and go for another ride. And then as if on queue, Florida rain starts this morning.

2 concerns...1. When I was pulling out of a spot I turned the handle bars all the way to the left and I lost all sound. As soon as I moved them back the sound came back. 2. When I start the bike I hear a pop from the speakers.

Any suggestions from our audio guru's???

 

The "pop" is the amp starting up. Turn down your volume when shutting down.
As far as the sound cutting out when you turn the bars, I'm thinking a loose power connection somewhere. Amp possibly?

 

Totally agree. Loose wires on the sound. Check all of your connections. Power, ground and speaker.

 

Well I found the problem with it cutting out when turning the handlebars all the way left. The blue wire from stereo to the biketronics module got caught between the triple tree thing and frame. Thought I had all the wires tucked away nicely but I missed one. It's a little squished but still works. Wrapped electrical tape around it. Decided to add poly fill around the speakers while I took the fairing off again. Not sure if there is a difference in sound. I did adjust the eq and think I got a little more sound and less distortion. I should have gotten a receiver with fewer settings.

Still hear a pop from the speakers when I start the bike, even with the volume all the way down.

All in all I'm happy but was expecting too much I think.

 

I have to say I think we all want more than we can get. It's not a truck so we have to think about that.

 

Very true. I think it's more because I came to this from the hog tunes which was way louder than stock. When I first installed that I was really happy. From hog tunes to the 7.1's the sound is definitely cleaner and it is technically louder by 3db according to my db measuring app on the iPhone haha. Got 93 db on the hog tunes and 96 on the 7.1's. Again, richer sound from the 7.1s.

All in all I'm happy and they do sound better. I know they will eventually break in as well.

That being said, my ears are ringing from taking it out on the road and adjusting settings.

 

Maybe someone can chime in who knows, but I don't know how Biketronics selects the gain settings and crossovers for their amplifiers? Do they automatically adjust based on what the head unit sends to them? If that is the case, I'd guess they are limited by design on how much bass and treble boost for a given frequency. Does the amp sound better with the flat (neutral) settings rather than your "equalized" settings?

 

No. Flat definitely sounds flat. It sounds much better when I adjust the EQ. I put it on the rock setting but had to bring bass down to almost flat. Sound level on HU goes to 50 and starts to sound distorted around 43. Not complaining and that is loud. I'll keep adjusting it. The problem is that there are too many adjustments and a sick wife and kids in the house. Was jamming out in the garage and they didn't seem to like that. Haha. Need to learn about slope, hpf, etc. this Sony has a ton of configurations not to mention the 12 band EQ.

 

my 4180 pops also...2 others I ride with also have same pop on 2180s

 

Okay so I spoke with a tech at Biketronics today and he gave me some good pointers I will share with others running my set up. I'm out of town but look forward to getting back so I can change the settings around on the Sony MEX GS610BT (for those of you with the same or similar radios).

• DSP: Off

• DSEE: Off (This will make the system distort at louder volumes. It makes the sound better at lower volumes or in the garage but on the highway doing 70 it will make it distort more.)

• HPF should be set at 80Hz-100Hz. He said start with 80Hz but if I like it really loud maybe try 100Hz.

• Slope should be at 2. (I currently had it set at 80Hz with the Slope set to 1. He said set to 3 if I go to the 100Hz and that will help with LOUD) I honestly have no clue what Slope does but I will do what he says.

• Loudness: Off

• Reference All or Front

• EQ can be boosted higher on the high frequency for "at speed" clarity. Now that I will change the slope he said I can mess with the second band, etc. on the EQ (Keep the 1st band at 0). Adjust the other bands to just below where it starts to distort on bass guitar/drum/bass, etc.
• Don't worry about Polyfill unless I'm entering a bike show or looking for best quality sitting in a parking lot jamming out. Doesn't make a difference at speed.

Hope this helps!