[BoomieMCT]

Here is an odd-ball question that I thought y'all would have some fun helping me on. I have a buddy who is both a DJ and a hardcore motorcyclist. He wants to upgrade the stereo system on his Harley Roadking to include more sound and (the main point of this post) subs. He's adding a fairing as well which will provide the space to mount these speakers. He intends to have an active crossover and seperate amp to power the subs.

Right now he has two Uniq Cycle speaker pods. I believe each pod is basically a headlight case with a 5" Pioneer coaxial drivers in it. Right now the intent is to keep these as the mains and to create some sort of arrangement to add the bass. The two fairings he's looking at are a Kevin Evans fairing (with spots for two 6"x9" drivers) or a Wide Open Custom fairing with four holes for 5" speakers or two holes for 6.5" speakers. Alternatively two 6" drivers could be mounted in a 7" headlight housing and attached to the freeway bars (bars by the legs). He told me tourpack and saddlebag mounts are off the table as he still needs space for his stuff.

Driver selection is tough as these are relatively small sizes, small enclosures and they will be open to the elements. I assume anything with a rubber surround, PPM cone and no phase cone should work okay. I've been looking at the Tang Band W69-1436 (which I can't get to model well) and the Mpyre 65X (which doesn't seem to be available in this country).

Does anyone have thoughts / experience on these drivers? Does anyone have ideas that I haven't thought of?

 

[BoomieMCT]

As an FYI, the 4" - 6" T-B sub drivers I looked at (on the PE site) all have paper cones, as does the 6.5" Mach5 audio M-series driver (which isn't a sub per se but would have done well in every other way).

 

[Mike P.]

Interesting project Boomer! Another 6 x 9 option would be the Tang Band W69-1042J which should have better low end then the W69-1436.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=264-837

Is it possible the cones can be treated for protection against the elements? In 6.5 size there is the SDX7 from Creative Sounds with the woven carbon fiber cone and rubber surround, low Fs and 11 mm Xmax.

http://creativesound.ca/pdf/CSS-SDX7-data-261207.pdf

Any idea of the amount of cabinet space these fairing have for modeling purposes?

 

[BoomieMCT]

Yeah, I don't know if paper cones can be treated to be waterproof. I assumed they couldnt', but who knows? I posted the T-B 6" x 9" I did because it had a PPM cone, not superior performance.

I also looked at the SDX7 but I was afraid that since it had a phase cone instead of a dust cap that road grime and what-not would be able to get into the works. Otherwise that would be a good pick.

As far as cabinet space, speakers mounted in fairings (either 5"ers or 6"x9"ers) would have about 0.4 cubic feet each. If we used 6"ers in a headlight nacelle I'd guesstimate 0.25 cubic feet each.

 

[Mike P.]

What is a "PPM" cone?

 

[BoomieMCT]

What is a "PPM" cone?

PolyPropeline Mesh i.e. a plastic cone.

 

[Mike P.]

Thanks for that, learnt something today. I asked Bob to join in here on the use of the SDX7 in this application. We'll see what he says.

 

[Pancakes]

There's no reason why waterproofing couldn't be added and the additional benefit would be lower Fs. In my early teens and before I had any clue about TS parameters etc I added weight to cones and lowered thespeaker tone by chance.

 

[looneybomber]

So your friend wants to add bass to an open air vehicle with an engine that's known to be the loudest in the world. Somehow I'm just not seeing this as being possible. Also, has he upgraded the alternator on that bike to power the amp?

 

[BoomieMCT]

So your friend wants to add bass to an open air vehicle with an engine that's known to be the loudest in the world. Somehow I'm just not seeing this as being possible. Also, has he upgraded the alternator on that bike to power the amp?

Actually the Road King with stock pipes isn't too loud - quieter then most sport bikes. Not sure about the alternator but the stock one is made to power all sorts of extra junk.

 

[looneybomber]

Driving around yesterday evening with the top down, it got me thinking more about this motorcycle bass build. My car is FAR quieter than the quietest big V-twin (which are bassy) and up over 30mph, that wind really starts drowning out the system. On the highway, I have to turn the bass way down and crank up the volume or else I can't turn it up high enough to hear it.

I'm affraid you may be fighting a losing battle.

 

[brandonnash]

You could get him a pair of LLT's to use for saddle bags!!!

 

[Jodean]

We went out to sturgis this year agian and i didnt notice these the last two years...

there were 4 or 5 bikes with very loud and bassy (actually playing rap) stereos....i should have looked into it more but the half naked gal with duck tape on the nipples was distracting and the wife was with.

Nice bikes, cute girl. Alot of bass somehow......

 

[slkepple1]

You have the capability of generating 45 watts on the upgraded charging sysems for that style bike. Thats a pretty good amount of power. Police issue bikes running the high power radios, extra lights, and whatever other fun toys they get (low jack etc...) upgrade to the 35 Watt systems. As far as the bass and hearing it? Who trys to show off loud bass at 70Mph. The sound is for profiling and cruising. You want it that loud at 70, get a car. I am looking at doing something simualr to my bike (FLHTC, grandpa bike). My challenge is setting it up for quick disconnect so that I can swap out the extra equipment for extra storage space. I go evrywhere on my bike, so I don't always want to rock the place. Another option is the frame mounted trailer hitch. I use them out west, carry the Kegerator :whistling:and extra supplies. I don't see why you couldn't use the extra space for not only DJ equipment. Running an extra harness into the trailer would leave you tons of space to 12"+ subs and possibly have the cabinet space behind it. My 2c. Looking forward to see how it turns out. Let us know what you decide to do.

 

[BoomieMCT]

You have the capability of generating 45 watts on the upgraded charging sysems for that style bike. Thats a pretty good amount of power. Police issue bikes running the high power radios, extra lights, and whatever other fun toys they get (low jack etc...) upgrade to the 35 Watt systems. As far as the bass and hearing it? Who trys to show off loud bass at 70Mph. The sound is for profiling and cruising. You want it that loud at 70, get a car. I am looking at doing something simualr to my bike (FLHTC, grandpa bike). My challenge is setting it up for quick disconnect so that I can swap out the extra equipment for extra storage space. I go evrywhere on my bike, so I don't always want to rock the place. Another option is the frame mounted trailer hitch. I use them out west, carry the Kegerator :whistling:and extra supplies. I don't see why you couldn't use the extra space for not only DJ equipment. Running an extra harness into the trailer would leave you tons of space to 12"+ subs and possibly have the cabinet space behind it. My 2c. Looking forward to see how it turns out. Let us know what you decide to do.

You, sir, definately get it.

The friend I'm helping doesn't want anything in his trunk and definately doesn't want a trailer. Right now I have a vision of two 7" headlight housings mounted backwards to the engine guard, each one housing an eD 7K.v2. They model well in small enclosures and have a PPM cone and rubber surround, which will work well for environmental concerns. The tough part will be making a "faceplate" to attach them to the housing - I'll probably have to have a metal collar made cutom and weld it to the housing. Devil Dawgs up the street has a mill and CNC machine and can do that easy, I just have no idea what it would cost. There is enough empty space in a Roadking (even sans fairing) to hide a second amp and an active x-over. The nice thing about this setup is that a detachable batwing style fairing could be added and taken off without compromising the stereo.

Sadly this project has to be put on hold for a month or so. Ah well, more time to plan.

 

[slkepple1]

hey boom, where in fairfax? I'm by 66 and 123. Would love to see what your planning and maybe through an idea or two your way. My first bike I did alot of fabrication on. Came out pretty nice considering I had the resources and facilities. (didn't look like a frankenbike) This one is virgin, just picked it up in July. too busy riding to modify at this point. It's coming though.:spend: My son loves that tokyo drift opening song so I am forever playing it and thinking in the back of my mind how fun it would be to rattle the license plate of the vehicle next to me next time one of the rattle and buzz cars pulls up Just love that shock and awe affect. It's even more fun to see thier date's laughing at them because a bike just put them to shame.:demon:

I could use some education on the stereo side of things. I spent more time of the cosmetic build out and let others focus on the power plant.

 

[slkepple1]

I do have the parts catalog at the house, they list the 35 and 45 amp systems. And the police I was talking about are none other than our Fairfax finest....They get thier bikes issued to 'em, I don't want to say what I had to pay for mine :unbelievable:and I still have to do all the engine and electrical upgrades.:gah:

 

[BoomieMCT]

hey boom, where in fairfax? I'm by 66 and 123. Would love to see what your planning and maybe through an idea or two your way.

City of Fairfax, not County. If you are at 66/123 (Vienna?) then we are basically neighbors.

My first bike I did alot of fabrication on. Came out pretty nice considering I had the resources and facilities. (didn't look like a frankenbike) This one is virgin, just picked it up in July. too busy riding to modify at this point.

Hats off to you, most people don't work on their bikes anymore much less fabricate.

I could use some education on the stereo side of things. I spent more time of the cosmetic build out and let others focus on the power plant.

We should swap info as I haven't done metal fabrication in over a decade. I'm kinda approaching this the same way I'd approach a MDF enclosure - there may be easier ways I haven't thought of. Maybe we should get a beer at Patriot Cafe' next week? We can PM to arrange.

 

[slkepple1]

It has been a bit since I did metal fab, but it is kind of in my DNA I guess. I just do well with a tool in my hand. (get your minds out of the gutter, I was here first) The best I have now is helping a buddy restore/over-do a '70 camaro. Wish he would spend a little more time on the stereo, but I guess it really isn't needed when your first priority is to be the fastest one down the track. We hang at EB3 round the corner from devil dawg and NOVA customs. So did devil grab up Cycle shacks dyno tuners or what happened there? do you know?

 

[looneybomber]

I am forever playing it and thinking in the back of my mind how fun it would be to rattle the license plate of the vehicle next to me next time one of the rattle and buzz cars pulls up

I used to just rev up my bike to 6-7k (sport bike) if their music was loud. Plus it's real hard to hear someone else's stereo over your own. An engine whining (or popping in your case once you get strait pipes) is real hard to drown out.

Try it next time you're in traffic:bigsmile: