Anyone serious about audio? Not happy AT ALL with j&m, what do I do?
#61
03-19-2012, 10:53 PM
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streetglide audio
I know this is an exhausted topic but that's what forums are for enthusiasts right?Enthusiasts always have questions so here are some of mine hope you can help.I too am looking to upgrade my audio on my 09 streetglide.Just a 2 ch system for now but potentially adding 2 more in the future unless it's not worth going to 4 ch.I would like to limit my 2 ch setup to a max of $1000 budget for now.At home I have a Marantz 5.1 pre-amp PS Audio pwr amp and 5.1 Totem spkr setup and looking for a nice turntable if you have a mid to high end vinyl spinner your thinking of selling let me know.Hope this helps you get a feel for the kind of fidelity I'm after. Someone recomended Fosgate Marine.What's that like marine stuff for bikes makes sense to me given the environment their in.Hope I can get some quality feedback from the guys that understand R.M.S etc.Cheers
#62
03-20-2012, 05:38 AM
Stellar HDF Member
I know this is an exhausted topic but that's what forums are for enthusiasts right?Enthusiasts always have questions so here are some of mine hope you can help.I too am looking to upgrade my audio on my 09 streetglide.Just a 2 ch system for now but potentially adding 2 more in the future unless it's not worth going to 4 ch.I would like to limit my 2 ch setup to a max of $1000 budget for now.At home I have a Marantz 5.1 pre-amp PS Audio pwr amp and 5.1 Totem spkr setup and looking for a nice turntable if you have a mid to high end vinyl spinner your thinking of selling let me know.Hope this helps you get a feel for the kind of fidelity I'm after. Someone recomended Fosgate Marine.What's that like marine stuff for bikes makes sense to me given the environment their in.Hope I can get some quality feedback from the guys that understand R.M.S etc.Cheers
#63
03-20-2012, 01:12 PM
Using the Hawg Wired HSA-150 interface. The best I can do is scroll up or down the folder / song selection on my IPod and my USB memory stick. It works great for the radio and CD controls.
Last edited by LeeH; 03-20-2012 at 01:18 PM.
#64
03-20-2012, 10:39 PM
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I run a Sony head unit ran without an amp and sounded nice and clear. Just needed to drive the Hertz speakers. Run Rockford Fosgate pbr300x2 driving the speakers with 100 watts per speaker sounds great. The Hertz are a great sounding speaker but they do need to be driven by an amp just like any top of the line speaker.
#65
03-21-2012, 11:18 AM
I don't normally pipe up in forums, but motorcycles and music are my hobbies so this thread drew me in. I read all of the posts and besides everyone trying to one-up each other, there was some good information. Music and the way it sounds are very subjective and a lot has to do with the type of music you are listening to. One thing is certain, I have never heard a sound system on a bike that can even come close to the balanced sound of a good audio system. I have thousands invested in audio equipment at home and in my truck and I don't care how many amps or speakers you put on a bike, it doesn't even come close to the fidelity of a true audio system. Here are some points I'd like to inject:
Truly good bass can never be achieved with small speakers, especially when they don't have a tuned cabinet to reside in. The fairing is open and you will get phase distortion that cancels bass from the back of the speakers. There was a bike at Daytona that had 2 8" sub boxes in the saddle bags and it had good bass, but that is an exception.
On a bike you are competing with road, wind and engine noise. Pumping more power doesn't eliminate this noise, so even if you are pushing your system to it's limits, that noise is still there. My hearing is important to me and I don't care to go deaf just trying to hear mediocre sound at 80mph. I'm also not worried about trying to impress other bikers at bike night with my sound system, I just want good sound.
This leads up to the only true solution if you truly care about fidelity and not just showing off. I made a headset that incorporates high end ear buds into my helmet. This serves two purposes, it cuts out much of the wind and road noise and injects the sound straight into my ears. This way I can turn the volume down and still hear the music clearly and crank it up without going deaf. Also, when I'm not listening to anything the ear buds act as ear plugs to protect my hearing. Even low passages can be heard clearly this way.
The source input is important, too. Trying to stream Pandora while going down the road will result in crappy sound since it will be 128k at best and while moving more like 64k. Also, all "I" devices have notoriously bad DACs and this introduces distortion. I use an good MP3 player connected to the aux. input with a RS cable (don't waste your money on Monster cable, you can't hear the difference on a bike) with 320k MP3 files. And all radio, whether FM or XM is compressed almost to the point of being unlistenable to me.
The one thing I have learned from this thread is there are no good solutions to the crappy sound from fairing mounted speakers. The only solution is to eliminate the speakers altogether. I can then invest in great ear buds ($100 to $200) instead of amps and speakers for thousands. Of course, my solution is not for everyone, especially if you like to pull up at lights and show off your system. But if fidelity is what you are really after, there is no other choice.
Truly good bass can never be achieved with small speakers, especially when they don't have a tuned cabinet to reside in. The fairing is open and you will get phase distortion that cancels bass from the back of the speakers. There was a bike at Daytona that had 2 8" sub boxes in the saddle bags and it had good bass, but that is an exception.
On a bike you are competing with road, wind and engine noise. Pumping more power doesn't eliminate this noise, so even if you are pushing your system to it's limits, that noise is still there. My hearing is important to me and I don't care to go deaf just trying to hear mediocre sound at 80mph. I'm also not worried about trying to impress other bikers at bike night with my sound system, I just want good sound.
This leads up to the only true solution if you truly care about fidelity and not just showing off. I made a headset that incorporates high end ear buds into my helmet. This serves two purposes, it cuts out much of the wind and road noise and injects the sound straight into my ears. This way I can turn the volume down and still hear the music clearly and crank it up without going deaf. Also, when I'm not listening to anything the ear buds act as ear plugs to protect my hearing. Even low passages can be heard clearly this way.
The source input is important, too. Trying to stream Pandora while going down the road will result in crappy sound since it will be 128k at best and while moving more like 64k. Also, all "I" devices have notoriously bad DACs and this introduces distortion. I use an good MP3 player connected to the aux. input with a RS cable (don't waste your money on Monster cable, you can't hear the difference on a bike) with 320k MP3 files. And all radio, whether FM or XM is compressed almost to the point of being unlistenable to me.
The one thing I have learned from this thread is there are no good solutions to the crappy sound from fairing mounted speakers. The only solution is to eliminate the speakers altogether. I can then invest in great ear buds ($100 to $200) instead of amps and speakers for thousands. Of course, my solution is not for everyone, especially if you like to pull up at lights and show off your system. But if fidelity is what you are really after, there is no other choice.
#66
03-21-2012, 11:46 AM
Road Warrior
All I can say here is dont tell BOSE, their 901's have been legendary since the 70's, I made duplicates because I couldn''t afford those units but they were the top rung in music, not sure if this is still true but to me, good things do come in small packages.
Install what you want and listed how you want, all else is BS.
Install what you want and listed how you want, all else is BS.
#67
03-21-2012, 12:25 PM
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All I can say here is dont tell BOSE, their 901's have been legendary since the 70's, I made duplicates because I couldn''t afford those units but they were the top rung in music, not sure if this is still true but to me, good things do come in small packages.
Install what you want and listed how you want, all else is BS.
Install what you want and listed how you want, all else is BS.
you are completely missing his point...
first of all the Bose that you speak of are sealed in an enclosure,
they are listened to in your living room, not flying down the freeway @ 80mph.
lastly your comparing highly equalized 8 ohm loud speakers to $99 coaxial car speakers not really apples to apples.
Every thing that the new guy said is valid!
#68
03-21-2012, 12:40 PM
I don't normally pipe up in forums, but motorcycles and music are my hobbies so this thread drew me in. I read all of the posts and besides everyone trying to one-up each other, there was some good information. Music and the way it sounds are very subjective and a lot has to do with the type of music you are listening to. One thing is certain, I have never heard a sound system on a bike that can even come close to the balanced sound of a good audio system. I have thousands invested in audio equipment at home and in my truck and I don't care how many amps or speakers you put on a bike, it doesn't even come close to the fidelity of a true audio system. Here are some points I'd like to inject:
Truly good bass can never be achieved with small speakers, especially when they don't have a tuned cabinet to reside in. The fairing is open and you will get phase distortion that cancels bass from the back of the speakers. There was a bike at Daytona that had 2 8" sub boxes in the saddle bags and it had good bass, but that is an exception.
On a bike you are competing with road, wind and engine noise. Pumping more power doesn't eliminate this noise, so even if you are pushing your system to it's limits, that noise is still there. My hearing is important to me and I don't care to go deaf just trying to hear mediocre sound at 80mph. I'm also not worried about trying to impress other bikers at bike night with my sound system, I just want good sound.
This leads up to the only true solution if you truly care about fidelity and not just showing off. I made a headset that incorporates high end ear buds into my helmet. This serves two purposes, it cuts out much of the wind and road noise and injects the sound straight into my ears. This way I can turn the volume down and still hear the music clearly and crank it up without going deaf. Also, when I'm not listening to anything the ear buds act as ear plugs to protect my hearing. Even low passages can be heard clearly this way.
The source input is important, too. Trying to stream Pandora while going down the road will result in crappy sound since it will be 128k at best and while moving more like 64k. Also, all "I" devices have notoriously bad DACs and this introduces distortion. I use an good MP3 player connected to the aux. input with a RS cable (don't waste your money on Monster cable, you can't hear the difference on a bike) with 320k MP3 files. And all radio, whether FM or XM is compressed almost to the point of being unlistenable to me.
The one thing I have learned from this thread is there are no good solutions to the crappy sound from fairing mounted speakers. The only solution is to eliminate the speakers altogether. I can then invest in great ear buds ($100 to $200) instead of amps and speakers for thousands. Of course, my solution is not for everyone, especially if you like to pull up at lights and show off your system. But if fidelity is what you are really after, there is no other choice.
Truly good bass can never be achieved with small speakers, especially when they don't have a tuned cabinet to reside in. The fairing is open and you will get phase distortion that cancels bass from the back of the speakers. There was a bike at Daytona that had 2 8" sub boxes in the saddle bags and it had good bass, but that is an exception.
On a bike you are competing with road, wind and engine noise. Pumping more power doesn't eliminate this noise, so even if you are pushing your system to it's limits, that noise is still there. My hearing is important to me and I don't care to go deaf just trying to hear mediocre sound at 80mph. I'm also not worried about trying to impress other bikers at bike night with my sound system, I just want good sound.
This leads up to the only true solution if you truly care about fidelity and not just showing off. I made a headset that incorporates high end ear buds into my helmet. This serves two purposes, it cuts out much of the wind and road noise and injects the sound straight into my ears. This way I can turn the volume down and still hear the music clearly and crank it up without going deaf. Also, when I'm not listening to anything the ear buds act as ear plugs to protect my hearing. Even low passages can be heard clearly this way.
The source input is important, too. Trying to stream Pandora while going down the road will result in crappy sound since it will be 128k at best and while moving more like 64k. Also, all "I" devices have notoriously bad DACs and this introduces distortion. I use an good MP3 player connected to the aux. input with a RS cable (don't waste your money on Monster cable, you can't hear the difference on a bike) with 320k MP3 files. And all radio, whether FM or XM is compressed almost to the point of being unlistenable to me.
The one thing I have learned from this thread is there are no good solutions to the crappy sound from fairing mounted speakers. The only solution is to eliminate the speakers altogether. I can then invest in great ear buds ($100 to $200) instead of amps and speakers for thousands. Of course, my solution is not for everyone, especially if you like to pull up at lights and show off your system. But if fidelity is what you are really after, there is no other choice.
#69
03-21-2012, 01:28 PM
Outstanding HDF Member
All I can say here is dont tell BOSE, their 901's have been legendary since the 70's, I made duplicates because I couldn''t afford those units but they were the top rung in music, not sure if this is still true but to me, good things do come in small packages.
Shakey
#70
03-21-2012, 01:35 PM
Outstanding HDF Member
I agree with most of what the new guy said. High Fidelity ain't gonna happen on a bike at 70+ mph. I too am not a fan of earbuds, so I think my modest (~1600.00) system does a pretty good job of conveying the music at speed. It is far better than the stock system and is good enough for me when I'm on the road.
Shakey
Shakey