If you’re a fan of a little “wind therapy,” then having some great music to listen to while you you’re riding your motorcycle starts with a great audio system. Sure, BMW, Harley-Davidson, Kawasaki and Honda include radios and speakers with their touring bikes, but so do Toyota and Hyundai cars and SUVs. All of them could use an upgrade or two to put a smile on your face when a great song comes on. Let’s take a look at five great upgrade options that will make your motorcycle audio system sound better.

Upgrade 1 – Upgrade Existing Speakers

If you’re a regular reader of BestCarAudio.com, then you know how important speakers are to the performance of any audio system. Imagine a high-end home audio system with an amplifier, preamp, CD transport and stand-alone digital-to-analog converter. It isn’t hard to spend $10,000 on this equipment, and you’d be surprised how easy it is to spend more than $500,000. When it comes time to choose speakers, you need something amazing to accurately convert those electrical signals into sound.

High-quality speakers transform electrical signals into sound more accurately than poorly designed solutions. Better speakers offer a smoother frequency response so your music will sound more realistic. Finally, great speakers can handle more power and play much more loudly than an inexpensive solution. All of these criteria are important for motorcycle audio upgrade.

Another important factor in choosing new speakers for your motorcycle is whether they’re designed to be specifically suitable for the application. Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun can damage some car audio speakers and cause the cones and surrounds to fail very quickly. Likewise, if there’s even the slimmest chance the speakers will get wet, choosing a solution with integrated weatherproofing and water-resistant materials is mandatory to ensure reliability.

Upgrade 2 – Add High-Power Amplifiers

When it comes to playing music loudly, your speakers will need lots of power. Upgrading your motorcycle with a high-power, high-efficiency amplifier is the only way to make your music loud enough to drown out wind and exhaust noise.

Size is a top priority when it comes to choosing an amplifier for your motorcycle. You want something that will fit inside the front fairing or not take up too much space in a saddlebag. Many companies make compact powersports amplifiers that will fit nicely above the factory radio in a Harley.

You also want an amplifier that is efficient. Efficiency refers to how much of the power that is drawn from the battery and alternator or stator is converted into energy to drive the speakers. More efficiency means the amp will run cooler and your audio system can play louder without overloading the bike’s electrical system. The best motorcycle and powersports amplifiers on the market are over 93% efficient. That’s about 10% better than the typical car audio amplifier.

Upgrade 3 – Add More Speakers

Aside from using great speakers and providing them with lots of clean power from an amplifier, another great upgrade you can make to your motorcycle audio system is to add more speakers. Sure, the task isn’t as easy as cutting a panel in a car door, but it can be done. Many companies offer handlebar speakers, motorcycle-specific speaker pods that attach to the lower front fairing, and saddlebag lids with options for 6.5-, 8- or 6×9-inch speakers.

Upgrade 4 – Source Unit Upgrades

Every great audio system starts with a great source unit. If there’s distortion in the original audio signal, no amount of processing or tuning can remove it. Companies like Rockford Fosgate and Aquatic AV have created motorcycle-specific source units for 1998 through 2013 Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Another option is the cool Sony XAV-AX7000 multimedia receiver. Several motorcycle enthusiasts have integrated this double-DIN radio into the fairing of their bikes. The radio has a weather-resistant front panel and buttons. It’s not water-proof, but it can handle the occasional light sprinkle. If you want Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on your bike, then this radio is a perfect choice.

Upgrade 5 – Proper System Configuration

The perfect speaker, if it were to exist, would offer flat frequency response across the entire audio spectrum. The reality is, no speaker can deliver that. Likewise, where we install speakers can have a huge effect on how they sound. To get the most out of your motorcycle audio system upgrade, it needs to be configured to optimize the output of each speaker for the environment. You aren’t going to hear a bass drum or synthesizer riff at 65 mph on the interstate, so crossovers and equalization will let your speakers focus on the frequency ranges where they work best.

Just as in a car audio system, a concert venue or a theater, using an equalizer to optimize the response of a motorcycle sound system is important. Compact digital signal processors include multiband equalizers that can be configured with a calibrated microphone to deliver smooth sound, so your music sounds realistic.

Upgrade Your Motorcycle Audio System Today

The options for making the stereo system on your motorcycle sound better are nearly endless. Drop by your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer today to find out about the audio upgrades that are available for your bike. As always, remember that proper installation and excellent craftsmanship are as important as the products you choose. Be sure to work with a retailer that has the skills to execute your upgrade reliably.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

If you own a 2014 or newer Harley-Davison touring bike, then there are a few things you need to know before you decide to upgrade your stereo system. We know that the Boom! Box radio has a reasonable set of features with navigation, an AM/FM tuner, a USB port for digital audio files, and support for phone calls with a compatible helmet headset. Where the system falls short is in the speakers they have chosen, the power of the amplifier in the radio, and the way the system is tuned. Luckily, many companies offer amazing upgrades. Let’s talk about upgrading the stereo on your Road Glide, Street Glide or Electra Glide.

Harley-Davidson Boom! Box Radio Tuning

For reasons that escape us, Harley has chosen some unique tuning parameters for the equalizer built into the radio on their cruisers. The specific tuning depends on the option level on the bike and varies depending on the number of speakers installed. While the tuning may sort of work with the factory-installed speakers and the limited power from the amplifier, once your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer starts to upgrade things, those equalization settings make your new speakers sound terrible.

If you’re going to upgrade the audio system on your Harley, your installer will need to deal with this tuning.

Add a DSP to Your Harley-Davidson

One of the best options for dealing with the tuning built into your Harley radio is to add a digital signal processor to the audio system. There are two reasons why this is the best choice if you want truly amazing sound on your bike. When used with a calibrated microphone, your installer can tune the audio system to sound great with any high-quality speaker solution. You aren’t left at the mercy of the radio and the response curve of the speakers. Second, the front and rear speakers can be tuned to deliver the same response. Ensuring that each speaker on the bike sounds the same will make your music sound more realistic.

A second and very important benefit of implementing a DSP on your bike is to enable the person tuning the system to accurately limit the bass information sent to your speakers. Face it; you aren’t going to hear the 40 Hz fundamental of a kick drum on any motorcycle audio system when you’re cruising down the freeway. Since it takes a lot of power to produce bass frequencies, a high-pass filter can go a long way toward making the rest of the system play much louder and last a lot longer.

Motorcycle Radio Reflashing

Another very common solution is to reflash the factory radio to a different, flatter equalization curve. Many shops have invested in hardware from companies like TechnoResearch to perform this task. Harley radio reflashing is a simple process that doesn’t take much time. While the output of the radio isn’t perfectly flat in terms of frequency response, it’s a lot better than leaving things untouched.

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Which Upgrade is Right for You?

If you want a simple radio upgrade that offers good performance, then having the radio on your Harley reflashed in combination with the installation of new speakers and an amplifier is a great starting point. Just as with a car audio upgrade, proper tuning is crucial to delivering smooth and natural performance. The only way to achieve this is with the use of a multi-band equalizer. Concert venues, night clubs, movie theatres and even something as simple as a smart speaker include powerful digital signal processing components that, when configured properly, ensure that your music sounds as good as it can. Your motorcycle audio system should, of course, be the same.

Drop by your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer to find out about the options available to upgrade the performance of the audio system on your motorcycle.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.