Speaker upgrade... WOW!
buddahead
Posted 2009-08-20 1:56 AM (#42033)
Subject: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Cruiser

Posts: 238
SF Bay Area
I made a HUGE improvement to the Vision audio. First I installed a set of J&M speakers in the front of my Street, they were nice, but lacked tonal quality. I then added a set of Infinity Kappa 10.9t tweeters (2 ohm), on the dash, reflecting off the windshield. The location is protected from the rain. The sound is super clear, adds a ton of presence and makes the stereo super clear on the freeway... and the stereo system can now be played painfully loud! The important feature is that these are 2 ohm, and match the 2 ohm J&M speakers. I installed the crossovers to the aluminum bracket under the front aluminum cover. These came with shiny silver covers, which I painted flat black to reduce the reflection in the windshield. These came with many mounting options, but had to be installed as surface mounts due to the shallow clearance between the dash and panel underneath. I used super high strength automotive trim adhesive tape, and customized the bezels to allow them to slip down onto the tweeter, hiding the wires.

The sound difference is huge!

If you choose another brand of tweeters, make sure they can be flush mounted, and have the matching 2 ohm impedance if you have the 2 ohm J&M speakers.



Edited by buddahead 2009-08-20 1:58 AM




(dash1.jpg)



(dash2.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments dash1.jpg (42KB - 5 downloads)
Attachments dash2.jpg (39KB - 5 downloads)
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Prostreet1
Posted 2009-08-20 6:18 AM (#42036 - in reply to #42033)
Subject: RE: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Cruiser

Posts: 184
Allen Park, MI
Nice job....clean application. Step by step photo's would have been awesome...but nice job!
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Jedi Jeff
Posted 2009-08-20 7:54 AM (#42040 - in reply to #42033)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Fountain Inn, SC United States
Mike, great job! Now we just need a subwoofer enclosure installation to complete the effect! Location ideas anyone?
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Miles
Posted 2009-08-20 10:50 AM (#42053 - in reply to #42033)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Tourer

Posts: 548
Mount Vernon, WA United States
I'm guessing one of these solutions could fit inside the frame someplace... but structural integrity would need to be considered.

http://digg.com/u3B58q
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Webhair
Posted 2009-08-20 8:09 PM (#42082 - in reply to #42033)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Iron Butt

Posts: 669
Peachtree City, GA
Great install!
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buddahead
Posted 2009-08-21 1:46 AM (#42096 - in reply to #42033)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Cruiser

Posts: 238
SF Bay Area
Here is the info on these tweeters...

http://www.infinitysystems.com/car/products/product_detail.aspx?pro...
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atvtinker
Posted 2009-08-21 1:51 AM (#42097 - in reply to #42033)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Tourer

Posts: 466
Grand Cane, LA
Buddahead, Infinity makes a set of reference speakers that are 2 ohm 5.25" that I just put on my bike. Got them from Amazon and they are a lot cheaper than the J&M's. The model number is 5022i. They have a seperate tweeter mounted in the middle that has a crossover built in of 0hz or +3hz. I know you probably didn't want to hear that now.
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buddahead
Posted 2009-08-21 2:34 AM (#42098 - in reply to #42097)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Cruiser

Posts: 238
SF Bay Area
atvtinker - 2009-08-20 10:51 PM

Buddahead, Infinity makes a set of reference speakers that are 2 ohm 5.25" that I just put on my bike. Got them from Amazon and they are a lot cheaper than the J&M's. The model number is 5022i. They have a seperate tweeter mounted in the middle that has a crossover built in of 0hz or +3hz. I know you probably didn't want to hear that now.


No problem! befoore I went with the J&M's, I thought about doing co-axials, but was not willing to take the risk with the rain. My main concern for your speakers are that, being where they are, will be exposed to the rain. The J&M's are designed for the rain... whereas I bet the Infinity co-axials are not. My tweeters, however, are mounted well out of the elements, shielded by the windshield from the rain.

Also, I get tons of comments about the tweeters, many ask about the very obvious high-end component performance, once they see the tweeters & my iphone RAM mount. I do a lot of demos!

Edited by buddahead 2009-08-21 2:35 AM
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ElroyJ
Posted 2009-08-21 3:36 PM (#42137 - in reply to #42033)
Subject: RE: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Tourer

Posts: 460
Centennial, CO
Budda,

I am trying to figure out how you did this with a cross-over...etc.

The steps I would tend to gather would be to splice in the cross over from each speaker (left and right...UNDER the dash) and then run the wiring up to the top of the dash for connectivity to the tweets.

A. Where did you mount the cross over (I can't imagine it being very big)?
B. What was used to splice into the leads for the cross-over? I have seen coffin clips used as well as others...but I am not a huge fan. So, I was thinking that you may have even just pulled the connector off of the speaker and put your wire their along with the stereo lead.

Here is my MAIN concern. I HATE working on wiring on bikes. One little vibration can take years off of a wire casing causing a short that can go undetected for a LOOOOOOONG time. The coffin clips work to a point but can vibrate apart if not 100% when placing them. To be honest, I am not thrilled at mod'ing my Vision because after all of the mods I have done in the past with other bikes, I see tons of issues unless VERY careful.

Your help in making this a seamless install would be awesome as I am planning to order front/rear J&M soon and with your idea of the tweets I will be adding this as well.

I liked the idea of a thumper too. Just figuring out how to install that with a cross-over (these can be bulky if I remember correctly) somewhere hidden will be the challenge.

Ha ha...my Vision will sound better than my car...BUT...my GF will be pissed that I spent the money on it and not on her car to make IT sound better.
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atvtinker
Posted 2009-08-21 5:31 PM (#42152 - in reply to #42098)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Tourer

Posts: 466
Grand Cane, LA
buddahead - 2009-08-21 2:34 AM

No problem! befoore I went with the J&M's, I thought about doing co-axials, but was not willing to take the risk with the rain. My main concern for your speakers are that, being where they are, will be exposed to the rain. The J&M's are designed for the rain... whereas I bet the Infinity co-axials are not. My tweeters, however, are mounted well out of the elements, shielded by the windshield from the rain.

Also, I get tons of comments about the tweeters, many ask about the very obvious high-end component performance, once they see the tweeters & my iphone RAM mount. I do a lot of demos!



Just ran through the rain with no problems. They have all the same components of other speakers that are supposedly made for wet conditions that is why I chose them. They also weren't but $50 a pair!
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buddahead
Posted 2009-08-21 7:05 PM (#42153 - in reply to #42152)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Cruiser

Posts: 238
SF Bay Area
Elroy,

I mounted the 2 crossovers (each approx 1" x 1.75" x 3" ) to the aluminum brace at the front of the bike, under the removable silver front panel, using super aggressive automotive trim adhesive tape. I did use inline clips to pierce the factory speaker wires for the tweeters, all is held in place with small wireties to keep everything closed and tidy. I ran the leads out of the back of each bike speaker housing, and installed the tweeters with in-line spade connectors, make/female, female/male to keep the polarities correct.

The J&M's are good, but lack the sizzle of seperate component tweeters. With this set-up the tweeters reflect directly at yo' face level, clearly above the other speakers, giving excellent results in actual use. The distance of separation may make the difference. Obviously I cannot explain the quality of the sound in words... but I would be hard pressed to improve the results. The best explaination I can give is that you are in front of a stage with the singer directly in front of you and the drummer is on a 3 ft pedestal, above the singer.

Subs... being non-directional, I think they would get lost as background noise on the freeway.

Someone needs to make a lightweight subwoofer that mounts and resonates into your helmet...



Edited by buddahead 2009-08-21 7:05 PM
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david.terry
Posted 2009-08-21 8:45 PM (#42161 - in reply to #42033)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Cruiser

Posts: 102
Madison, AL
Ah, crap something else I will now have to go out and buy. Thanks for the information and I'll make this mod later this fall.
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ElroyJ
Posted 2009-08-24 3:49 PM (#42288 - in reply to #42153)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Tourer

Posts: 460
Centennial, CO
ah....I like the idea of a sub in your head...LOL
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victoryvisiontour
Posted 2009-08-27 3:02 PM (#42582 - in reply to #42033)
Subject: Re: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Iron Butt

Posts: 763
Anderson, IN (48mi NE of downtown Indianapolis)
I tried a sub. I used a JBL 10" 250watt self-powered sealed marine sub.
http://www.jbl.com/car/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=MPS1000&La...
Doesn't work too good at 70 mph. It sounded great in the garage and good at slow speed, but all the low frequency dissapated on the highway. I didn't think giving up the cargo space was worth it since a lot of riding time is spent on interstates. I took the sub out.

If you are interested in a sub and spend more time at slower speeds, I recommend the setup I had. Since the MPS1000 is sealed, I mounted it face down in the trunk. I removed that flimsy plastic access panel in the bottom of the trunk and let the sub fire down into the "port" underneath it. This port is open to atmosphere. I sealed the sub to the "port" to force all the sound waves out of the trunk. The amp I used had a sub-out line. The whole system had 4 coax spkrs, 3 amps, and 4 crossovers...all weatherproof. Like I said, it sounded great in the garage. I removed the sub as mentioned above, but the system still sounds way better than stock. The volume will hurt your ears too.

Remaining components
AMP: Hawg-wired.com PSC 3004 75Wx4
Spkrs: Hawg-wired.com CX504-70 5.25.", 70W (2 sets) (I think these have been replaced by DX series)
The decorative rubber ring had to be removed from the magnet to get the spkrs to fit in the front. I had to form the trunk slightly with a hair dryer to get them to fit in the rear. Hawg Wired provides mounting hardware for the Vision, but only when you purchase the Vision spkrs. You have to ask for it separately. Hawg Wired makes amps and spkrs for the Vision, but they are smaller. I wanted the best. After the install was complete, nothing is visible. It all looks entirely stock. But, sound is far from stock (with or without the sub).
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Side Car
Posted 2009-08-27 3:20 PM (#42585 - in reply to #42033)
Subject: RE: Speaker upgrade... WOW!


Puddle Jumper

Posts: 44
Salt lake city Ut.
We have used these speakers with some exellent results. Polk Audio db521

and the Sony XM-4S 4 channel amp (not a plug and play be not hard either)
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