I've seen all kinds of guys on here with 14 ultras and no stereo reviews. how dOeS it sound?

 

Info below was part of my '14 Ultra review on Friday. A lot more oomph to the sound with deeper bass. I noticed it has the tour pack bass ports as standard. Not sure if you saw the photos floating around but there are also enclosures behind the speakers in the fairing. Don't get me wrong, it's not gonna sound like a good car stereo, but it's a huge improvement over the old stock stereo.

-Infotainment system is cool. Mine has the BOOM Box 4.3 but they can be ordered with the 6.5 from the factory. I listen to a lot of Pandora or Spotify and having the Bluetooth connection is convenient, plus being able to store/charge my phone in the dash. The stereo sounds a lot better...better than the BOOM audio upgrade on previous models.

 

Bass is OK sitting the parking lot trying to impress friends, but it means nothing at speed. The wind noise effectively takes it away. What you need at speed is the capability of a very loud and clean high frequency volume from a stereo system which works well to cut through the wind noise. The stock system wont do that with only 25 watts/channel and the stock speaker system. Heck, the previous system was 20 watts/channel. It's a damn shame that HD limp-dicked the output capability of their new head.

They say it's a 25% improvement in volume output. WRONG. It's a 25% improvement in power output (from 20 to 25 watts) but not volume. Volume is measured in decibels, not watts. It takes a doubling of the power output to increase the sound by just 3 decibels. And 3 dB is barely noticeable. It takes about 10 dB to make an audible difference. So their advertising is certainly, and I would say intentionally, misleading about their new miracle head unit.

Check out this article for a basic discussion of the relationship between power, voltage, and decibels in audio applications:

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/how...eloudness.html


And by the way, on the input side, the new head did away with the aux jack. So no more capability of hard-wired tunes being piped into the new radio. It's all bluetooth now. One step forward, two steps backwards. The HD way.

 

Well I got an ss4520 and 4 Polk 651 that imntaking out before I trade my street glide in. I thought I seen someone post that there's not much room under the fairing and will those enclosures hold a 6.5 or do ya gotta buy diff enclosures

 

I brought my new 2014 Ultra Limited home today, so I am still learning everything. My prior ride was a 2012 Limited with a 250Watt J&M Amp and four of the Rokker speakers. I was worried I would not be able to live with the stock speakers without upgrading them and getting an amp. I think the stock stereo and speakers go much louder than I thought and sound really good. I will probably get the Boom audio amp and upgraded speakers, because I love overkill, but for a while I will be very content with the stock system and will be more than happy. I'm not that techy, but was able to pair my phone very easily via Bluetooth. Playing the music from my phone on Bluetooth the sound was very low and could not be heard well during riding, even with the volume on full. However I bought a USB connector that connects to the normal USB connection on the bike and the smaller end to the phone from Best Buy and the sound is amazing and the phone charges too.
BTW, I'm loving everything about this bike and am picking up pretty quickly the stereo and navigation.

 

i have a 14sgs and it seems like the only way i can play music is through blue tooth. I have a s4 android phone and when i plug it into the usb it does nothing. Is there only certain model phones you can use and can you plug an ipod or mp3 player into it

 

I'm not sure I agree. With the USB input I just downloaded media to a thumb drive and stick it back in the dash-box. I can load different thumb drives for different venues or load one with all of it. I actually find it easier to manipulate than a hard-wired iPod or iPhone . . . and if you use the Bluetooth it's even easier. I think it's actually one step backwards and two steps forward.

 

Put your music on a USB stick. It works great. Better than using BT & your S4. BTW - You can have both connected at the same time.