I just bought a new rear end section for my 08 street glide, 4.5 inch extended bags. I started this bike with some mild upgrades and one of them was with the Arc Audio MPAK 6 set up (speakers and amp). Well here comes the dilemma....The setup I have now seemed to be good until I started running at highway speeds, now it seems the louder I turn it up the more distorted it runs or the speakers just can't keep up, im not for sure. I am looking for a new speaker set up that will have good clean mids and I am wanting to add some speakers to the new bags. The concern I have with the speakers in the bags are the room they take up and how effective they are while riding. I still want to use the bags for carrying the stuff I normally have with me, tools, jacket, extra glasses, the normal crap. Any suggestions would be helpful and much appreciated.

thanks.

 

Go big or go home !! Do it once, and do it right......

See so many guys like yourself, that keep chasing better audio, and end up doing 3 or 4 upgrades, and invest twice as much money in the end, and they could have doing it right the first time.

Do a LOT of research, with your eyes & EARS, get a plan together, THEN ask questions BEFORE you spend all of your audio money again.

Most people ask questions after they bought sub-standard equipment........

BEST of luck !!

 

thanks for the advise I seem to be right there at the cuff of spending money and not being happy. Do you have a store I can call for advise and equipment or are you just a fountain of knowledge?

 

Well,.....first things first.

What are all of your components ?? Factory HU or aftermarket ??

Are you considering bag lids, since you don't want to give up much space ?

The good news is, you use the amp, even though it's only 2 channel, as long as you add a 4 ohm speaker in the bags. Your front speakers are 4 ohm, so you could wire them in parallel , so that the amp sees a 2 ohm load.

All of your speakers will receive 62.5 watts.

Now you need to decide on what kind of bag speakers you want. If you have the $$$$ for lids, you'll get a 'fuller' sound. If you put the speakers in the bags like mine, you'll save some $$$, but lose your highs...

Many choices for ALL components out there, and many different combinations to assemble them !!

 

well my full set up right now is a factory HU, arc audio 6.5 in the wing, arc ks125 amp in the wing. I am going to get the speaker lids for the bike in the next month. I want 6x9s in the bags and 6.5s in the front still. The question is should I look to get a complete set like polk or hertz and get all 4 of the same for a better quality? What about the arc amp now, should I go with a 2 amp set up and keep the arc for the front speakers and buy a different one for the 6x9s? will that even work or will that be to much power to the speakers? I am looking for a nice clear sound with some bump. I am also going to be lining the bags to help with the sound.

Now the HU. I am running the stock setup right now, but I might be interested in an aftermarket one. The problems I have seen is that a lot seem to leak or have issues from what I have seen down here in Columbus. I also want to keep the hand controls for the stereo so that is a must.

The stereo shops that I have dealt with have all asked me to come in, then when I show up they tell me there is nothing they can do without the bike there. or worst yet I go in to talk about set ups for the street glide and they are more interested in my girlfriend than my money.....I know I have a lot of questions and I appoligize but I want to get some general info before I start this project and unfortunately there is no such thing as a review for any stereo equipment for bikes that I have found without them wanting you to buy the stuff from the bull review. everything from JIMMIES HOMEMADE SPEAKER to stuff like POLK all have the same review of being the best out there.

Thanks for any input.

 

Well,.....you can start by adding the speaker lids. My personal favorite in a 6X9 is the Pioneer TS-D6902R.....They provide more bass than any other 6X9 speaker on the market.

I would wire them in parallel with your existing front speakers, using the Arc amp, with your factory head unit.

However,....at 62.5 watts each, the Pioneers will still be hungry for more power.

If this is enough for you, GREAT !! If not, you could replace the Arc amp, or just add another 2 channel amp, like the Rockford Fosgate PBR 350/2.

The head unit replacement depends on what you want for a music source. Of course, an aftermarket unit will sound a little better, and give you options like IPOD capability, USB, blue tooth, etc...

You can usually sell your factory head unit for what it will cost to buy an after market radio , with install kit, and handlebar control module.

Once you identify your 'must haves', and your budget, the rest will fall into place.

Lucky for you,...........there are already some decent existing components to work with !!

 

thank you for all the help, it gives me a place to start.

 

i got an aftermarket head unit and ive had no problems im just north of columbus. i got 4 polk mm651 2 in the front 2 in lowers and its loud too loud to even turn up all the way not a ton of bass but ur not gonna hear bass at 70 anyway if u got any questions pm me ill help u out

 

thanks I have been looking all weekend and talking to a ton of people. Checked out about 30 bikes and I decided to go with the polk 6.5s in the front and 6x9s in the rear with the arc audio amp. If the amp isn't enough then ill go with the new polk amp that sounded really good. Went to the store to compare the items and I have to say im seriously impressed with the polk speakers compared to the arc audio ones they had. ill keep you all in the loop on the progress.
]
thanks for all the info

 

#1........It's NEVER too loud......BELIEVE ME !!