Most of the time I ride with ear plugs but just sometimes when the mood takes me I'd like to ride with no plugs and a deafing cacophony of loud, bass-dominated heavy metal music accompanies by my own tone-deaf yodelling .

I'm not interested in ear phones, I need speakers - and the loudest, bassiest small ones that can be discretely hidden in the RS fairing without butchering it . I guess that plugging them in to an iPOD or similar would be ideal.

Any ideas or experience?

Dave

Reckon this'll do the trick. Might scare the deer away as well LOL

http://www.motorcyclespeakers.net/shop/150watt-loud-112-prd1.htm

wow good find dave

but "x " yish for me though ..

Yeah Charlie, I could get half a spares bike for that! I reckon taking a powersaw to my old hi-fi speakers gathering dust in the garage and then cramming them in to ice cream tubs padded with old foam is a more likely outcome!

There are actually loads of ipod/iphone speakers out there that plug in but they won't be loud enough. I think an amp is needed between iphone and speakers.

Cheers
Dave

Any Ideas where you'd mount them Dave ?

Hi 88,

Yeah I reckon they'd go in the cavity beneath circle 1. Circle 2 a possibility but I would like them out of sight.

Plenty of room in the cavity, just not sure how much sound would escape!

For fixing, I don't want to drill the fairing and am a big fan of heavy duty velcro (the black stuff on a roll) - no holes and it holds things fast and they don't rattle.

Having a bit of an electrical thought process - also want to get the Eastern Beaver relays and driving lights on at the same time.



Cheers
Dave

On the latest bike I have speakers on the dash and inside the sidecar. However, I hate blasting the neighborhood with loud music. I am installing a jack to plug my helmet speakers on the radio. Riding with ear buds is not an option as I found them totally unsafe. (You can hardly hear if a car is passing you or if somebody uses his horn.)
For years, I adopted the solution of using helmet speakers. You get a decent sound quality, they don't need an amplifier if hooked on an Ipod and best of all, you can still hear your engine and the traffic around you when enjoying your favorite tunes.

Before investing in a set of expensive speakers, I would advise you to check
these (Only £15.47)



CF

Hi Bert I hear you, no pun intended LOL.
I agree your solution is good but I have occasions when nothing but extreme loudness will do. Fortunately I live in an area with almost on people so I can indulge this. Cheers
Dave

are these worth a look ,they are small enough, with ipod input, the only concern is do they have enough output?2x 6w....
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-FM-MOTORCYCLE-RADIO-WATERPROOF-SPEAKER-MP3-INPUT-/390333284964?

I run portable outdoor amplifiers at work 20 and 80w, the 80 is great and 20 is usually sufficient for outdoors in a 10-20m radius, with other background interruptions.
I have the original bmw radio/cassette mounted in the LT , works great, can be used with adaptor for ipod etc ( 3.5mm pin)

pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5ae1ad4264&_uhb=1#ht_4435wt_1163http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Car-Cassette-Tape-Audio-Adapter-For-iPhone-4-iPod-CD-MD-Player-/170892027888?pt=AU_Electronics_Portable_Audio_Accessories&hash=item27c9f567f0&_uhb=1#ht_1630wt_1163

I am not sure what the power output for the bmw unit is though, can anyone telll us?

Bert , might look into a set of those flatties myself, unfortunately , I suffered a sinus infection in 2004, blew both my ear drums out , and now have very sensitive hearing, am able to even hear conversations from a mobile phone in someone elses ear , feedback from other peoples hearing aids and i can hear mobile phones ringing in passing traffic whilst on the bike, so keeping an ear on things is a bit easier for me, it does come with some downsides though , such as splitting headaches from high pitch noises, especially when the dog barks..

Good luck with it all MT.

groverK wrote:I am not sure what the power output for the bmw unit is though, can anyone telll us?

2 x 20W (no info about which standard that is used).

Inge K. wrote:

groverK wrote:I am not sure what the power output for the bmw unit is though, can anyone telll us?

2 x 20W (no info about which standard that is used).

Thanks Inge, this helps to understand the ouput required , do you think the 2x6w would be a suitable option, they may be a bit weak.
MT , at least with the upward facing option in the vent you may get better sound.

groverK wrote: Thanks Inge, this helps to understand the ouput required , do you think the 2x6w would be a suitable option, they may be a bit weak.

They might get a rather short lifetime, when turning up the volume.....
as long they're rated to cope with 6 watts.

Thanks Guys - and Grover in particular.
I think some form of amplification is required but my knowledge is limited so I need to do some research. Not sure 6W will be up to the job.

These are a lot of watts for your money!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/500W-Car-Motorcycle-Motorbike-2CH-2-Channel-Audio-AMP-Amplifier-USB-MP3-FM-Silve-/190760639694?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item2c6a385cce


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/T1-Audio-T1-100-100-Watts-2-Channel-Motorcycle-Scooter-Moped-Car-Mini-Amplifier-/181081639573?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item2a294e8a95

Cheers
Dave

well done with your search, hope you are able to source out some decent speakers to match.

Hey Dave,
how did you go with the speakers?

Just as an fyi I went to Soundwave with my daughter and some of her friends.
When I say 'went with' what I mean is I drove them there and then drove them home again.
I did stay and enjoyed a day of
Slayer
Anthrax
Bullet for my Valentine
Linkin Park
A Perfect Circle
Tomahawk
Stone Sour
Kyuss
The Blackout
Crossfaith
and Metallica.

Absolutely brilliant day. I missed last years and was disappointed when I picked up my daughter to hear System of Down playing so I wasn't going to miss this years.
I understand your need for speakers.

rossco

System of a Down.

Get it right you, you, you old hippy you.

No intention of changing anyone's mind about the choices between speakers, helmet speakers and in-ear sources, just my experiences in the last 25 or so years of trying different solutions.

Back in '88 I fitted my K100RT with the BMW radio cassette player. I didn't fit the speakers because I didn't fancy sharing (or inflicting some might say) my musical taste on the world.

Instead, I had a redundant Sony Walkman headset that I realised the earpieces almost matched the recesses in the BMW System II helmet. I got one of our radio workshops blokes to make me a curly lead and NATO socket the same as we used at work.

It wasn't entirely successful as the position of the earpieces in the helmet wasn't quite right but I still remember sitting at some traffic lights bobbing along to the music, glancing left and seeing a bus driver alongside looking at me in a very puzzled way.

My next attempt years later was to use an Autocom connected to a Sony Discman and earpieces again. I would keep the Sony in the clear pocket of a tank-bag so that I could press the controls when I needed to.

Then came an iPod through the Autocom, again with helmet speakers. This was nearly the best solution but still a compromise between earplug protection, wind noise and music volume. The biggest issue was not having control over the content or volume of the music.

Finally I decided on some in-ear monitors and ditched the Autocom. The monitors have excellent sound reproduction and noise cancelling. I now just plug straight into the iPod and I have a little gadget that allows me to start, stop, mute, raise and lower the volume or skip tracks. Basically it's an adaptor with a controller I mount on the handlebars:



The buttons are not really designed for use with gloves but a well aimed thumb can just about do the job.

Probably the best things are that the monitors are designed as ear plugs to give protection and being able to mute the sound without rummaging for the iPod first. A bonus is that as the monitors are connected by the wires I seem less prone to dropping one or both when I take my lid off.

System of a Down.
Thank you Mr Blake.
Too much acid mannnn.

Mike, while I appreciate your input, I could never take seriously a person who has a 30 year old motorcycle with switches and controls as clean and clear as yours.
1. That just isn't right and
2. not sure how it is possible.

3. if you want to send them to Australia I may start to take your comment a little more seriously.




4. what is this walkman you speak of? Is that the Edison walkman or the Robert Louis Stevenson walkman?

Thirty years old?

How very dare you Sir? I'll have you know that it's a mere stripling at just twenty-one this year and the switches are very much cleaner now than in that photo (taken when I'd just got the bike).

Damned colonials - you'll be after independence next.

MikeP wrote: I now just plug straight into the iPod and have a little gadget that allows me to start, stop, mute, raise and lower the volume or skip tracks. Basically it's an adaptor with a controller I mount on the handlebars:

The buttons are not really designed for use with gloves but a well aimed thumb can just about do the job.

So, where does one find this "little gadget"?

AJ.Valente wrote:
So, where does one find this "little gadget"?

This is the one:

http://www.scosche.com/car-accessories/remote-for-ipod-controlfreq-wireless-car-sport-rf-remote

Meant for a car, the mount is shaped for a steering wheel but it works fine on handlebars. I doubt that it's water-proof either but I've left mine in place when washing the bike and it still functions perfectly.

rossco wrote:Hey Dave,
how did you go with the speakers?

Just as an fyi I went to Soundwave with my daughter and some of her friends.
When I say 'went with' what I mean is I drove them there and then drove them home again.
I did stay and enjoyed a day of
Slayer
Anthrax
Bullet for my Valentine
Linkin Park
A Perfect Circle
Tomahawk
Stone Sour
Kyuss
The Blackout
Crossfaith
and Metallica.

Absolutely brilliant day. I missed last years and was disappointed when I picked up my daughter to hear System of Down playing so I wasn't going to miss this years.
I understand your need for speakers.

rossco

Sounds a good gig mate. I knew there must be someone who understands the need LOL.

I haven't made any progress yet - dustracted by fitting LEDs and now saving for a RAM shock. After that....

Cheers
Dave