Hook me up. Motorcycle

[saintdruss]

Hi new guy here, I need some options from you guys who know what your doing because I don't. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I'm ordering a fairing for my bike, they offer a stereo and speaker set up with the fairing but I don't need a CD player or radio I need a amp with a USB port to charge and play an Ipod. The speakers they offer are 5 1/4" looking at the picture I don't know if I can go bigger so for now I'm looking for 5 1/4" speakers.

I'm looking to spend around $200 a little mores ok a little less even better. I understand with 4 5.25 speakers I'm limited but thats what I'm working with.

I need a amp with USB and four 5 1/4" speakers any advice would be greatly appreciated because I dont know anything about putting a little system together. Thank you.

Heres a pic of the fairing.

Click to read more...

 

[saintdruss]

Ok I've been doing some reading and if I understand correctly I need to match the RMS of the amp to the RMS of the speakers and the RMS of the amp should be slightly higher than the speakers. If that is correct, will a two channel amp be fine or do I need to go with a four channel amp?

I know this is just a small set up and not very interesting to you guys but I just want to get all I can out of a four 5.25" speaker system. Thanks for any advice.

 

[chillin 10+ year member]

A 2 ch will be fine if it is 2ohm stereo stable. Having the 2 sets of speakers run in parallel will actually give the amp more power.

 

[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

The RMS numbers do not have to match perfectly so don't get hung up on that when looking for an amp.

 

[saintdruss]

Thanks for the info, the amps I'm finding with a USB port and remote have really low RMS numbers. I'm finding a lot of speakers with higher RMS but the amps seem lower. What should I be looking for?

I'd like to be able to hear the music at hwy speeds. Do you think I'm asking for to much from 4, 5.25" speakers? Thanks for helping me out.

 

[sam_b03 10+ year member]

you could go with a car stereo with a USB. They already have an internal amp so powering your speakers would be simple as well. I high wattage amp is going to tax your electrical system. With the relatively weak charging system on motorcycles coupled with the small battery, find out what it is capable if handling.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

What you want is an iPod dock, not an amplifier with a USB port. Then you can run an RCA cable into the amplifier. I'm not sure what would work for you, but this is done all the time in side-by-sides. One company that might be worth consulting about this is Dunertunes.com. The owner doesn't do motorcycle kits but this is a similar project.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

Kicker makes a small amp for motorcycles and atv's:

Audio Savings | Kicker Powersports 12PX100.2 100 Watt 2-Channel Motorcycle Amplifier Amp PX100.2

They also make a speaker targeted towards motorcyclists, I'm not sure how they are, probably like a boat speaker or similar.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Any marine speaker is suitable for use in a motorcycle. You want something resistant to the elements. The same goes for amplifiers.

 

[Dirtrider4eva 10+ year member]

Alpine Power pack too.

 

[saintdruss]

Thanks for the tips, I wasn't even thinking about the strain on my battery, the reasons I was looking at amps instead of stereos were I don't need a CD player or radio and I was thinking I could trade off the price for the CD/radio for more power.

I'm not going to be limited to marine grade equipment, when I'm not on my bike it's in the garage I live in Lake Havasu City AZ so rains not an issue, the sun is but like I said it's not left out in the elements.

I'm still not sure what I need to be looking for as far as the RMS numbers. I'm not needing booming bass I need crystal clear volume, I need it loud and clear. Most stereos I'm looking at have low RMS wattage or maybe I just think it's low.

For example, I found a stereo with all the features I'm looking for but with 17 x 4 RMS, thats higher than the stereo they offer with the fairing but in my uneducated audio mind that seams low.

If you audio guys were putting together just a HU with out a amp to push four 5.25" speakers what would you be looking for as far as wattage from the HU and speakers? Are you just looking at RMS?

 

[saintdruss]

I've never put a audio system together the right way as far as matching the HU to the speakers goes. I think I'm going to go with a stereo instead of a amp because of the battery drain and the heat.

The most power I've found from a car stereo is 22 watts X 4, thats the RMS rating. If I understand correctly from what I've been reading on here the four speakers should have around a 22 watt RMS rating each to get the best sound quality from the stereo and speaker combo. Anyone know if thats correct?

That seems like real low wattage but like I said I really don't know that much about putting a system together as a matter of fact I just found out I know a lot less than I thought I did. Lol