Audio Amps

[jneed53]

OK -- time to upgrade the sound system. I already know about the speakers, but what about amps? Who is happy with theirs? Where do they go? How difficult to wire? I am NOT an electrical genius, but I know what sounds good, and it is not the stock setup. Hep me! Hep me! This weekend's trip to Austin finally convinced me that the current set up is not good for highway speed(80 mph) and wind(in my face).

[Russ]

I don't know about anyone else, but I've had trouble finding an amp that isn't a huge power drain... As the stators in our bikes aren't as beefy as one from a car, I'm concerned with how much of a strain on the electrical system it would be to put a car amp on a bike. I DO know that you can buy kits for smaller amps, but unless you're electrically inclined, those could prove more trouble than it's worth.

[kbran]

I haven't done this but there is a write up in the tech forum here

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=487

[petekadish]

I just went through this whole process. I replaced all four stock speakers with Polk Audio speakers. Awesome quality improvement! However . . .

 

After replacing the speakers, I began to notice that as the system had been running a short while and had warmed-up, the speakers were requiring more of a draw on the stock amp than it was originally designed to handle. This resulted in "clipping", a symptom which results in the a skipping or cutting-out of of the sound. After the bike and the radio had been turned off and things were allowed to cool off for a little bit, the clipping disappeared, but then reappeared when the system got hot again.

 

I noticed that Cougar in his tech write up, also installed a Power Acoustik amp in the trunk, and figured that might solve my problem. So, I found the new and improved model on E-Bay with exactly the same footprint (so I knew it would fit in the trunk correctly), and guess what? It absolutely works! I (or at least the guy who did the install job for me), followed Cougar's instructions and it works perfectly. The only difference with my system, is that I also installed "Base-Blocker" filters in the lines to each speaker. Our Venture systems with their small four-inch speakers (even the good-quality replacement ones), just don't produce good base response. When it tries, the quality is muddy and over-driven. The "base-blockers" remove the poor base sounds and allow the clean flow of the higher-end sounds. I just had to accept the fact that I can't have the kind of base that I would expect to hear in a car. Now, I suppose that if I were willing to give-up my trunk or saddlebag space, that I could probably install some woofers in there. But, I am very happy with how things sound now. With my improved sound system, I can now listen to music pretty clearly at 80 MPH directly through the the systems speakers.

 

I also gutted-out the cassette deck and now have a great, speaker-cloth-lined storage compartment. There's a lot of space in there!

 

I did not do this project myself. I helped a little though. I would not recommend attempting this unless you are pretty comfortable with messing around with your bike's electrical system. There's a lot of potential for problems and frustrations here if it's not done correctly.

 

I had a trained, audio system installer (who also rides bikes) do the work for me. He knew what he was doing and appreciated how important it was to me that he was very careful. It's so nice to deal with professionals who understand customer service and take pride in their work.

 

I'm a happy listener now.

Good luck!

Pete.