Unfortunately this forum does not have much information on stereos and upgrades. Maybe it's do do with tourers not being overly popular here in comparison to the USA where 'baggers' and bagger stereo upgrades are very popular.
This post may assist with sharing information and ideas.
I'm looking at upgrading the stereo on my 2013 Road Glide Custom - the factory stereo is crap. Sound quality is crap, speakers are crap, head unit is crap - the whole thing is crap. Using the aux port is also crap in terms of sound quality and you can't use the handlebar controls when using the aux. I'm not going to spend more money on the Ipod module as whilst it'll improve ipod sound quality over the aux port and enable use of the handlebar controls for ipod control, it's a lot of money for what it is and the rest of the stereo is still crap anyway.
I've reasearched some of the yank forums as there are some forums and some users there whose lives appear to be focused on harley stereos!
I have the following planned:
- Arc Audio 602 moto 6.5 inch speakers and adaptor rings for the fairing, buying via the Australian distributor for Arc Audio. Supposedly one of the best, bass sounding 6.5 speakers available but require a bit of power to make them work well. Not cheap, almost $600 AUD delivered to me. Other speakers I considered were Biketronics' speakers, Hertz speakers and Focal speakers - all of which have been tried and tested on Harleys.
- JVC KD-R97MBS head unit which has bluetooth, USB, 4 volt pre-outs, all sorts of other stuff I probably won't use. Of importance to me is that it's marine standard and whilst it's not waterproof, it has some resistance to moisture and has a display that's black text on white background which will be key for seeing the display on a road glide in conditions involving sun and glare. Buying online for about $150 AUD delivered.
- Biketronics amp, either their 4 channel or 2 channel amp - both put out 180 watts RMS per channel and are designed specifically to fit neatly inside of harley fairings. Interestingly they don't have any gain and other settings to fiddle with as they're pre-tuned to work for most people's applications and the manfacturers sell other audio gear with lifetime warranty which without gain settings cannot be easily blown up on account of people not tuning amps correctly. Also looking at Biketronics' matching amp mount, head unit splash cover and their multi-brand radio install kit which includes everything required to mount an aftermarket head unit, which includes most importantly a plug and play control module to allow you to maintain your oem handlebar radio controls and AVC for JVC, Sony, Kenwood, Alpine and Clarion head units. Lifetime warranty on all of Biketronics' stuff, which is made in the USA. They recommend and sell the JVC head unit among a couple of Sony and Kenwood units but I'll buy the JVC one elsewhere cheaper which will enable me to keep the Biketronics' transaction under $1,000 AUD to avoid Australian customs import duty. Will cost under $1,000 AUD delivered to me or maybe a bit more if I buy Biketronics' four channel amp for more speaker options down the track in the fairing lowers or pannier lids.
All this gear is supposedly very easy to install with plug and play looms and wiring etc. The lifetime warranty on the Biketronics stuff is appealing, all the more given they've been around for years and make/sell their items.
I considered a class d Soundstream Amp (pn4.1000d) which is cheaper and puts out similar power to the amp above but it's not sold in Australia and I could have warranty issues with it buying in the USA. It's a cheaper amp made in Asia, has settings that have to be tuned which I'm a little opposed to as I don't want to be having to take my fairing on and off to fine tune amp settings, and apparently many people using this amp have had issues with losing their FM radio signal.
To anyone with a recent CVO or Rushmore bike with the latest boom upgraded gear, I hear they're very good and luckily for you there is probably no need for you to consider upgrades...
Interested to see some feedback on the the newer Rushmore Tourers. My 16 Streety sounds pretty good most of the time and it all works a treat with my Ipod. Only need it at about 3/4 volume at highway speeds. I think the speakers could do with a bit of an upgrade as they do get a bit average with some music.
I have considered the Hogtunes setup just for a bit more grunt. Pretty good value at around $600+ for amp and speakers on Griffens who have now gone. Anyone know if there is another aussie supplier?
I have a hog tunes amp on my 2012 street glide, good amp but overpowers the std speakers
I,ve got all HD Boom gear on mine . Very expensive , but plug and play , and it works . That said , I use an ipod , and some songs are louder than others , but not the stereos problem . Can hear music at high speed no worries . Amp is 300w 4 channel .
Yeah I've heard your stereo tim and it sounds a treat! Is your 300 watt amp 300 x 4, or 75 x 4?
Re the volume levels on diff music, you can download free software off the web to normalise volume on all of your mp3 files so that they play or peak at the same volume. It's quick and easy to do and very flexible
Fatbat I bought it all here in Australia the sound is very rich and full I now have Bass and much better treble the tweeters are also liquid cooled so ill never have issues with them Crossovers are adjustable also the Amp is Auto turn on Hertz do make Brilliant speakers the HSKs have lots of punch I went with Hertz gear after doing Hours and Hours of research I looked at Focal speakers but after listening to them I thought they fell short in bass if I had to do it all again id go with the same Amp and speakers The Amp was easy to set up easy to install and fitted in the same spot as the Harley Boom Audio amp Install was easy as I ran a power wire from Battery and a ground to the frame made up a set of spade connections so I didn't need to cut Factory wiring and that was it Hardest job was pulling the speaker pods out to fit the 6.5 inch speakers
The Boom H-D speakers are 2 ohm .
I got the biketronics 4180 amp and biketronics 2014 BT7P14 PRO speakers for front, (Alpine SPR60s in back) as a package from biketronics USA for my 2014 FLHTK. Everything was plug and play and it sounds awesome! The great advantage is the amp fits neatly under your fairing - it doesn't take up extra tour-pak space like the BOOM II amp does...Recommend it highly. They packaged everything real nice and sent it all the way from USA no problems! Price wasn't excessive either - give their web page a look: Biketronics.com
If ordering online quote "HDFORUM" in the section that asks for the coupon code and you'll get a 10% discount off quoted prices. This also works if ordering directly via email like I did - just mention you are a HDFORUM (USA) member and you'll get the discount.
