John,

3 questions:

Does anyone make a rear (passenger) pod that takes bigger speakers,..

.and what is the esimated attendance at the Reno bike week ??

Will your lower speaker boxes be 'lower vent' functional ??

Thanks

 

Nice install but does it make the lowers unremovable?

 

GlacierPearl ,,,,

I have not seen any rear passenger pods that take larger than a 5.25" speaker ,,, but that does not mean they don't exist ,,,,,,

BUT a company by the name of “Rock-in-tops” is installing the J&M 7.25” speakers into his specially designed saddlebag lids, and the sound is outstanding, compared to the rear passenger pod position ,,,,,

as for attendance at Reno Street Vibrations, I really don't know, we were so busy at our spot at Reno HD, I never had time to poke my head out of the sand ,,,,,

absolutely the J&M 7.25" lower speaker boxes will be vent functional, just like the Harley models, I would not have it any other way ,,,,,,

FrenchBiker ,,,,,,

yes it does, unless we put an in-line plug in the wiring harness going to them etc ,,, and that may in fact be a half decent idea ,,,, I will need to think about that for a bit ,,,,

 

The fairing lowers remain just as removeable as they were with the glove boxes except for the additional step of removing the speaker/grille to access the fairing cap nuts. I used quick disconnect connections for the speaker wiring.

Costs: Fairing lower speaker boxes: $63.00 pair list from HD;
Infinity Reference 6.5" speakers: 60.00 pair;
OEM Speaker Grilles: 74.00 pair list from HD; and,
Wiring harnesses (optional) 16.00 pair list from HD

TOTAL: $213.00

I had a chance to wire the fairng lower speakers and I couldn't be happier; like riding with a wall of sound (almost); listening with the bike stationary isn't an accurate representation of what it's like riding. This mod is a keeper. Also, I don't think the system would work nearly as well without the ability to use the fader control and amplify the sound of the fairing lower speakers.

Carl

Edit of 11/18/10: Originally I used Infinity's speaker grilles; cost $20/pair. Subsequently purchased OEM grilles for $74 list price, and have adjusted the total cost accordingly from that originally posted.

 

I like.

 

Man, put me on that list!!!

Couple questions John.........

Are you going to be doing anything to power those lower speakers or are you just going to have them powered my the radio? Seems like a waste to have such a big speaker powered by the radio only. Reason I ask is because the ARC four channel amp will not fit under the fairing. That would be a helluva upgrade to add those 7.25 lower speakers with the same fairing speakers with a four channel amp to power it all!

 

R8 ,,,,

new 500w 4-ch J&M amp coming in early 2011 ,,,,, and I agree, if you are going to go thru all the work and $$$ to install the J&M 7.25' speakers in the lowers, might just as well use our 250w or new 500w amp to power them ,,,,,,

 

I was by the one of the local dealerships today and took some quick measurements using a piece of paper and I believe that the H-D Speaker boxes will NOT work with the HD Heavy Breather (with the short element).

I'm not apposed to changing the air filter setup and figured that I would be for this mod, so it's not a big ordeal for me.

JMJOHN, after looking at your videos, I am hoping that these are concept designs and are still under final development. I have your AMP and speakers already and enjoy them tremendously but the lower speakers that I have seen so far from you look unrefined. Almost like it was pieced together. I look forward to detailed pictures of the final design.

 

GP, Dragonfly Concepts offers 6.5" speaker pods for $200 w/o speakers:

http://www.dragonflycycleconcepts.com/speaker_pods.htm

And this ebay seller fabs them, as well as offering a speaker pod recovering service (which I used and was well-pleased with):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Harle...Q5fAccessories


Carl

 

In an earlier post, I mentioned the cost of this project was about $213 using HD list prices. To clarify that, just a couple of points. First, I already had the Arc 125.2 amp so that wasn't an added cost for the project. I doubt that adding the fairing lower speakers without a stout amp amplifying the signal to the fairing lower speakers would be satisfactory.

Second, you'll need the four-channel configuration with fader control to provide a stronger audio signal to the fairing lower speakers or figure out some other solution to create a stronger/louder signal to the fairing lower speakers. To achieve the four channel configuration and fader control on a non-Ultra fairing model bike, you'll need to access the rear speaker outputs on the back of the HK head unit with HD's non-Ultra overlay harness (NUOH), p/n 70169-06, that plugs into the otherwise unused (i.e. unused on stock non-Ultra fairing models) 35 wire pinout connection on the back of the head unit. The NUOH has a list price of $129. I already had one on the bike when I added the CB module, and associated connectors. So that was another cost that I didn't incur for this project.

If you want to avoid the cost of the NUOH, this thread explains how to make your own, inexpensive harness:

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...head-unit.html

These two observations (the need for a stout amp and four channel configuration with fader control) are based on my experiences with fairing lower speakers prior to this project. The experience of others may be different. If it is, I hope they'll post their observations and experience.

If you don't already have a good amp or the non-Ultra overlay harness, these probably will be additional costs if you undertake this project.

Carl