I received the J&M Rocker 7.25" speakers on Friday, having some time to wind down the weekend tonight I decided to knock out the install. My bike already has a JVC KD-AVX77 head unit and Arc KS125.2 Mini amp installed, so installing these speakers in place of the Hertz Titan XL 6.5" speakers I had in my scoot was going to be a pretty straight forward affair.

I listened to clips from a few well known tracks on my existing setup before tearing it down:

Metallica, Sad But True & Nothing Else Matters
Dire Straits, Money For Nothing
Alanis Morissette, Uninvited
Toby Keith, Beer For My Horses
Dream Theater, Metropolis Part 1 "The Miracle And The Sleeper"

I know these tracks inside out and they each have certain qualities that will challenge any set of speakers to reproduce them accurately. After the short listening session I felt I had a good feel for where I stood with the Hertz speakers...

It took me about 40 minutes to pull the fairing cap, swap the speakers, check the crossover and gain settings and button it back up.

On first listen I must say I am pretty impressed with the improvement J&M made over the initial 7.25" speakers. I didn't play them at full volume right out the gate, I kept the volume down to about 60%, enough to make them come to life but not stress brand new drivers right out of the box.

Things I noted on first listen:

1) Better bass response than the Hertz setup.. Not substantial bass, these are not subs, but they do reproduce the bass and grinding riffs in Sad But True VERY well. Male vocals sounded good.

2) Midrange was a little more up front than the Hertz, much better than the original J&M 7.25"... Tracks like Money For Nothing, Uninvited and Nothing Else Matters sounded much more balanced than before. The dynamics in the intro of Money For Nothing are extremely complex, you have keyboards, pounding drums, the crack of a snare and then Mark Knopflers overdriven finger picked guitar riff.. It sounded GREAT... Alanis Morissette's vocals on Uninvited shined, you could hear every detail, spectacular. The overly produced Nothing Else Matters with it's simple guitar riff, Jame's snarling vocals, the symphonic section and the bluesy solo towards the end all sounded awesome... Good Job J&M...

3) High end... Tweets were a little more in your face than the Hertz, I like this, some people don't. I think it will help in the motorcycle environment so that the highs will cut through some of the wind.. I was listening in my garage, so I will get back to you after a road trip.

Overall the J&M 7.25" speakers sound VERY good. MUCH better than the originals and somewhat better than the Hertz. Are they comparable to my AVI tri-star BSM's in my Challenger? No... But they don't cost $1500 and aren't driven by a 500 watt amp either They are an improvement over other speakers I have put in my bike and so far they are the best speakers that have been in my batwing.

I am very critical of stereo equipment, if it doesn't sound good it will not be in my ride. These speakers will stay in my bike for a while, they sound good and reproduce music accurately... I may even try the 7.25" fairing lower setup at some point.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

I'm fixn to start putn together my Fugly. Have cut holesin the Inner fairing and what not to install the Yaffe style set up.

My question is tho, I'm putn in a Sony gt930 radio, its a 4 ohm set up, are these J&M's a 4 ohm speaker?
My buddy put the same radio in his 06 Streetglide and the Rokkers, and Man does it Kick-Butt! thats w/no amp!
I'm gonna put a 4-channel amp in my fairing for the front 4 speakers, stock holes and the other holes that I cut out on the inner fairing.
I'm freakn diggn the **** out the sound of them new Rokkers.

 

The Rokkers are 2Ohm speakers. I would use an amplifier that is 2Ohm stable to drive them. It sounds like you are going for a loud stereo in your bike, you may want to put a nice four channel in the fairing and match up the speakers to ensure it sounds good. Loud is easy, well balanced is difficult, especially on a bike.

 

Because I have read lots from you and you actually helped me out a few times there is no question you are not blowing smoke about these new Rockers. Any chance to go for a ride with them yet? Thanks for a great write up and all the details.Kris

 

I haven't gone out for much of a ride yet... I will be getting out this weekend. I broke the speakers in a little last night, hooked the battery up to a charger and ran the system at 50% volume for a few hours. Will pop the fairing cap and try to adjust the crossover a little lower on Friday, will let you guys know how it sounds come Saturday.

BTW - The Hertz speakers are sold.

 

A buddy of mine just installed these in his RG Ultra. They sound great. I avhe not ridden the bike but I can hear it well when we are riding. Good stuff. We sell the J&M stuff at a nice discount everyday. PM or email for pricing please.

Drew

 

The hertz are sold already!!??!! Must be prety darn good if sl_uc sells the hertz he has been speaking highly of for a while now. I sure hope ya really like them, and we will stay tuned for the post weekend info.

 

Don't get me wrong, the hertz speakers sound GREAT... The Rokkers just sound a little better...If you saw how much car audio gear I have laying around you'd understand why I wanted to let the Hertz speakers go.

If I ever grow tired of the Rokker's I have a roadmap for something else I'd like to try... Morel Elate 5.25" components in the fairing using the Hogtunes tweeter pods to mount the tweets and some 7 or 8" SUBS in the lower fairings.

Woo Hoo...

 

Thanks for the review...I think you just sold me on the speakers. A friend of mind has the J&M 7.25 with the amp and they sound awesome to me.

Rockford Fosgate has a new four channel amp coming out supposedly next month, model PBR300X4 Link

What happens when I add the 2-Ohm Rokker speakers with the 2-Ohm HK radio and this 4-Ohm amp. The amp is rated at 75 Watts x 4 @ 4-Ohm. I'm don't understand what the good or bad is when a 4-Ohm amp is used on a 2-Ohm system. I would purchase the Rokker amp but the price seems excessive to me. Thanks!

 

Thanks for the write up, I have been thinking about the amp and those speakers.

I checked out the amp you mention (CigarCritic) and although strange, they say it is only 4ohm stable. So you can not hook it up to 2ohm speakers, unless you hook it up to 8- 2ohm speakers so each channel sees 4 ohms. Short story is, 4ohm amp rated at 300 watts, sees a 2ohm load and tries to produce 600 watts and overheats and dies.