Stereo Update

Classic Goldwings

Help Support Classic Goldwings:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

wedoo2

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 18, 2015
Messages
726
Reaction score
0
Location
Terre Haute, IN
I decided to upgrade the stereo system on the Gold Witch. I am going with all Kenwood equipment. This first post has top deal with the new speakers. They are marine grade Kenwood KFC-1653MRB units. Around $80 a set. Not a terribly expensive set but I think that they will be fine once everything else is in place.

You can see from the picture here that they are a good bit bigger than the old (well 2 mos old) speakers.

IMG_0543_1.jpg


There was a problem though. Putting them in all they way they interfered with the turn signals. I had to make the holes much larger.

IMG_0545_1.jpg


I then riveted a couiple of rings together to act as spacers.

IMG_0547_1.jpg


They now fit with very little clearance from the instrument pod, clear they do.

IMG_0549_1.jpg


New radio and amp will be here on Friday and I will update this.
 
Two more things; one I have never installed an amp so that should be fun. And I need some long skinny bolts to secure the speakers. Didn't have time to go by the big box store to find them today. May go to Fastenal anyways.
 
I'm still trying to figure out the antenna. I had a thread over on the Saunders site but that was really inconclusive. You can see the rubber one I have on there now. Have to secure it with a rubber band to keep it from blowing over.
 
I am coming along with my stereo upgrade. Was delayed a bit because the ebay vendor shipped out the wrong amp. They were great to work with and responded fast and got the correct amp to me in less than a week. It is a refurbished unit and was around $100. Saved me about $40. Their store is car toys on ebay.

I got the Kenwood KAC-M3004 amp with 600 wattts of power and it is a really small unit. Will fit most anywhere in the fairing. Here's a pic.

IMG_0553.jpg


You can see here where I located the radio. It is not the ideal spot but the radio is fantastic. It is also a refurb and cost me $110. I have seen them for $159 so I bought the refurbished unit and there is a warranty. It is a KDC-BT768HD and has everything. HD radio, bluetooth, plenty of USB, mic and accessory ports. Will be able to sync my phone with my itunes account. I can access my Pandora account and my Sirius XM account also. Has a CD player as well. What more do you want?

In this picture you can also see the big ass 6" speakers. They take up a lot of real estate but they sound great. Will be a lot cleaner sound once I get the amp installed. You can see that I installed a RAM phone mount and it is solid. Phone couldn't fall off it you smacked it. Busy cockpit.

IMG_0556_1.jpg


I put the OEM Clarion speaker mounts on the rear trunk. They can get washed out pretty easily so I ordered a set of JBL Club 4020 4" speakers to replace them. $40. I'm gonna blast out the tunes.

IMG_0555.jpg


You can see that the pin stripes on the saddlebag lid is washed out. I want to replace that, and the other side and the top of the trunk. I think I can find the pin stripes but I wonder if I can just lay them over the old ones???

This whole project has cost me less than $300 and I think it is worth it. Would I get my money back on it? I doubt it. Trying to resell these bikes with what you have in them is pretty much impossible; but I intend to keep the bike unless I see a really good deal on a 1500. It is beautiful and is running great.
 
I have put quite a bit of money into the Gold Witch the past couple of months. Investment-wise it may not make sense, but I love the motorcycle. It has taken me quite a lot of time, money and labor to get it running good. I was lucky that the finishes on the bike were excellent when I got it. Everything just shines and is all functional.

Here's a list:

New tires both ends
Progressive springs on the front.
LED headlight. Works great. I will be seen now!
New Kuryakin type footpegs.
LED volt meter
RAM mount for phone.
Blue LED lights in the gauge cluster. Very cool
Stereo system with new radio, speakers, amp and antenna.
Night light clock.
New driver backrest on order.
LED running, brake and turn signal to get installed.

It is great to do the work too. Learning stuff I've never done before, like the stereo system. Even though the riding season is closing fast there will still be some days I can ride, and things will be all set for the Spring. Not much else to do until something breaks. And it will.
 
Bike runs well, you like it, does exactly what you want it to do, and it is a good looker. Putting a few dollars into it would only be spent on the next one as well, maybe more.

My Father had a theory that I subscribe to. If the vehicle, bike or car, is in good shape and with no payments, and you were to spend a $1,000.00 a year on it (have to go some to do this every year), you're still further ahead.

Enjoy your new stereo. Great thread and install.

Cheers
 
I've made a lot of big dollar repairs to my vehicles. I'm happy to have them and all the money spent is less than payments on just one new vehicle. Resale isn't a consideration for me.
 
I'm with everyone else here... if the asset is paid for, and all you're doing is improving it's serviceability, then you're gaining, not losing.

It's better to have something, and be not afraid to take it all apart, work on it, make it the way YOU need it, than to just buy something new and be smitten with it as-is, while paying interest on something that could be gone the next time a minivan turns in front of you. Or in the short form, like my Dad says: "If you can't afford to lose it... you can't afford it".

One of the reasons it took me so long to buy a Wing... was because my CX500D is STILL running strong, and the list of improvements on it, won't fit on three pages of single-spaced fine print.

My 1200 Aspy is in line for her share of mods... I've already changed out half the lamps for LED, but not the headlamp YET. It's gonna get LED driving lights up front, because the high beam pattern reaches out, but leaves the lower and near rather dark... and LOW beam doesn't reach out far enough to prevent over-driving my sight distance at anything over 35ish mph.

I DID replace my stereo and speakers... not as fancy as your setup, as the '84 Aspy fairing doesn't take to larger speakers that well. I yanked the factory amp and volume management system (none of it worked anyway)... the new speakers are likely better in performance than the OEMs were when new, but certainly better than the OEMs were when (all the pieces) came out... so it sounds better, but it ain't great, simply because it takes speaker surface to move air... there's no replacement for displacement.

I'm curious about the Kenwood amp's actual output, and how well it's performing under motorcycling conditions.

The airflow around a motorcycle fairing is unlike a stage performance environment, and our expectations of sound quality are substantially different, but generally, the idea of sound is pretty simple- it's air movement. A 5" speaker's surface area is just under 20 square inches. For my stage sound system, we use very simple math to assure that we get good results... it's all about the power-per-square-inch of speaker surface... too little, and the speaker isn't able to displace air efficiently, and too much, the peak air pressure in front of the driver results in loss, not dispersion. I target our systems to run 1 watt RMS per square inch of speaker surface... so an 18" subwoofer will be at 250w, a 15 runs 176. The four inch drivers in my Aspy's fairing, under those circumstances, good for 12w each... and while my AM/FM/MP3 player was 'identified' in it's paperwork as being 20w/channel, my test measurements (load resistor and indicated about 11 watts when I started hearing clipping on the AF monitor). I've had guys bring me auto amps to repair that were painted all pretty and labeled 1000w, driving a subwoofer labeled as 4000w, and I'm certain that in those cases, whoever did the artwork on both, didn't have the slightest clue what a watt actually was.

Kenwood, in my opinion, has always been very truthful in all their 2-way radio (business band, HAM, marine VHF) ratings, and in all the professional and home audio electronics very respectable as well. They held true in the automotive market, but the the auto-sound industry in general has gotten terrible about overstating product capacity, it wouldn't surprise me if that 200w rating was a bit 'adulterated' in order to stay visible in the market, but I'm certain that it is more than sufficient for the speakers you have there. The key question is: How does it sound at highway speed?

Aside from speaker size and ambient airflow, the other aspect of motorcycle environment, is the amount of volume available BEHIND the speaker. My CX500D wears a Pacifico Aero II fairing, which has a surprisingly GOOD mounting space- 5-1/4" car speakers were INTENDED with that fairing, and there's a large volume of space to allow the speaker to breathe... and it's not enclosed in such a way that frontal air pressure 'loads' the back side of the speaker when underway. I know my '84 Aspy doesn't have much airspace to offer speakers... so I've been contemplating how to compensate.
 
I'm very interested in this thread as I'm installing a better system on my '82 Aspencade. I have a Harley type Batwing fairing on it, so I have room to customize myself.
 
Top