A client from Chandler was riding by Handcrafted Car Audio on his 2016 Harley Road Glide and saw our banner featuring motorcycle audio. He turned around and stepped into our shop, intrigued about what he might find. Our team spent time on getting to know him better, looking over his bike and providing a tour of our facility. He was glad he stopped by since we worked up a proposal to do a complete audio upgrade, as well as powder-coating several pieces of his bike. After reviewing it, he knew we were the type of company he was searching for, and he made an appointment to begin work on the motorcycle.
Powder Coating Is the First Step
The team began the transformation by removing several pieces of the Road Glide so we could have them powder-coated black, including the crash bar, primary cover, turn signals and mirrors, rear brake assembly, brake and clutch lever, exhaust heat shield, air cleaner, and transmission cover. As you see in the finished pictures, this provided a dramatic change in the cosmetics of the bike, making it stand out from the crowd.
Next on the List Comes Incredible Audio
Now it was time to turn our attention to the audio system on this Harley. If you have ever tried to listen to music on a motorcycle at speed, you already know it needs much more volume than in a car. When you couple that with the anemic sound the factory sound system produces, it needs an overhaul. The factory-equipped radio in the fairing works fine, but has a nasty-sounding EQ that Harley adds to the music. If you want a bike like this to sound great, that has to be eliminated. Fortunately, Handcrafted Car Audio has a solution for all of these issues.
Audison Prima AP4.9Bit to the Rescue
One of the most popular solutions we offer includes an Audison AP4.9Bit amplifier. Inside this minuscule footprint is a full-featured Bit DSP that Audison is famous for. It allows us to take the musical signal from the Harley radio and strip out that nasty equalization curve, leaving us with a great signal for building a system. We can also use the built-in digital signal processing to create a custom EQ curve designed around the acoustics of the motorcycle.
The final touch is the infinitely adjustable crossover that gives us active crossovers for each speaker, meaning each one gets its own dedicated amplifier channel. When you add in all of these functions, the final sound can be extraordinary. The amp sends 70 watts per channel to the front speakers and the rear tweeters, as well as a signal to the second amplifier in the system.
Rockford Fosgate T400x2AD Powers the Rear Woofers
The second amplifier in the system is a Rockford Fosgate T400x2AD, which powers the Wet Sounds woofers in the rear bag lids, sending them more than 400 watts of clean power. It is mounted in the right rear bag and connects to the audio system with one of our custom loomed, weather resistant wiring harnesses.
Audiofrog Front Speakers Set the Stage
In the front fairing, we chose Audiofrog GS62, 6.5” coaxial speakers that we mounted in the factory speaker enclosures. We love these speakers for their combination of great sound quality and efficiency. To improve the sound quality, we added Soundskins damping material to the enclosure to eliminate the possibility of rattling or vibration.
Hertz and Wetsounds Round Out the Back
In the rear of the bike, we used custom bag lids to hold a pair of component speakers. We chose the Wetsounds SW808 8” woofers and the Hertz ST25 tweeters from of their SPL line. This combination, when coupled with the Rockford amplifier on the subs and the Audison amp on the tweeters, gives the client incredible output with a dramatically improved bass response. We added Soundskins to the bags and the lids just as we did for the front enclosures.
Final Tuning Makes the Difference
Once the equipment was installed, our team got out the laptop and began the final tuning process. In the hands of a skilled person, the difference in results is night and day. One thing you can know for sure is that no vehicle will ever leave our shop until we give it the Handcrafted stamp of approval.
Client Loved His Road Glide Audio Upgrades
When the client came to pick up his bike, he was thrilled.
If you would like to upgrade the audio and cosmetics on your bike, we invite you to ride on over and get to know us better. Let us show you why year after year, more people choose Handcrafted Car Audio in Chandler.
You can also click HERE to contact us about any of our products and services.
Leave a Reply