My adventures in F6B Audio Upgrade
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  1. #1
    Senior Member Jimmytee's Avatar
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    My adventures in F6B Audio Upgrade

    Here is more detail. I spent a fair amount of time deciding on which components to upgrade my stereo system on the F6B. My Valkyrie rocks and I wanted as good or better on the F6B. The sound system on the F6B is not actually all that bad stock. After 2006, Honda upgraded the audio in the Gold Wing line with more power and larger component speakers. Getting on my F6B after riding my Valkyrie though, it was pretty obvious where some upgrades were going to come. My reasons for upgrading the audio have as much to do with pure fun as it does with necessity .

    The speaker in the F6B and Gold Wing line are an odd size. I wanted to put 6.5" speaker in, but didn't think they would fit so I chose a set of 5.25" component speakers. Since then, others have been successful in installing 6.5" speakers by trimming down the frame on the speakers to make them fit. I may or may not upgrade to 6.5" in the future, but I'm pretty content at the moment. Well, my wallet is pretty content. After reading reviews, and scanning many specifications , I chose the Polk Audio MM series 5.25" components. http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...io-MM5251.html
    We got them for $189 on Amazon. Birthday present. There is a theme here. Wait for it.

    Here are the speakers.
    I chose these speakers for their low frequency extension. They are rated down to 50 hz. I also chose them because of their reviews and their 2.7 ohm impedance.
    Attachment 10644Attachment 10645

    Here is a comparison of the woofers.
    Stock speaker on the right.

    Attachment 10643
    The 5.25" speakers are not a bolt on fit. They required some adaptation. I accomplished this with the use of some flat pieces of ABS plastic that I cut into shape as adapter plates.

    Here is one of the speakers mounted.

    Attachment 10646

    I have to split this up as there is a limit on photos per post.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Jimmytee's Avatar
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    These speakers have sizable crossovers with them that required deciding where to put them. The stock speakers have small capacitor on the tweeter as a way to roll off the low frequencies and the woofer is just run full range. I chose to tuck the crossovers behind the windscreen in the fairing.
    Attachment 10647

    Attachment 10648



    The next decision was to how to mount the tweeters. I've been corresponding with another guy who is doing a similar upgrade. That's how I know that the 6.5" speakers can be made to fit. cooldude He has mounted the tweeters where the stock tweeters are located. He uncased the tweeters as they come, and they fit. This had not even occurred to me when I mounted mine as the tweeters are too large to fit as they come. The tweeters come with two options for mounting. Flush mounting and surface mounting. To flush mount them using the items as they come from Polk Audio, would have required some irreversible modifications to the dash/grill area. I wasn't too keen on that, so I chose to surface mount the tweeters. I had to drill two small holes in each speaker grill screen. This was to accommodate the speaker wire and the mounting screw/bolt. They come out fine IMHO, but I may choose to mount them the way this other guy did. I'm planning on ordering some custom painted screens with the CVMA logo painted on them, and may choose to change the mounting at that time.
    The advantage to the surface mounting is that the tweeters can be pivoted for aiming. Not a big deal, but it is a consideration that once they are mounted in the stock location, they are fixed.

    Attachment 10649


    This brings us to the amplifier and it's hook up. This was the most challenging part of the install. I did not think or plan on the difficulties experienced, but my learning process may help others.

    I chose a fairly new / unknown amplifier company named NVX. Their products seem to be mainly available through Sonic Electronix online. This is the amp I chose. I got it for Christmas. Remember theme?

    http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...NVX-MVPA4.html

    It has great reviews and has been bench tested to outperform the manufacturer's specifications. It is also very small/compact. The amplifier was not what made the install difficult. The difficulty came in getting an audio signal for the amplifier to amplify. On the onset , it seemed it should be a pretty straight forward deal. The amplifier has both RCA inputs and speaker level inputs for when RCAs are not present. Sooooo, I initially hooked up the amplifier using the speaker wires from the factory system. I ran them to the speaker level inputs and then ran speaker wire from the amp to the crossovers of each speaker channel. Voila right? NO. It sounded like crap. However, I could hook my phone directly into the amp and it's RCA inputs and it sounded great. So the sound through the factory system was awful. I would put it all back to stock before living with that. It sounded like the input of the new amp was being over driven. So I bought some Low to High impedance adapter ( Speaker level to RCA adapter). The one I chose is supposed to be rated to 50 watts. Same situation. Now I'm beginning to wonder or suspect that the OEM electronics just suck that much. I had too options or thoughts. One, I could purchase another adapter rated to an even higher wattage input. Or two , I could tap into the OEM wiring harness and hijack the pre out signals before they go to the factory amp. Let me digress for a moment.

    There was a third option. That involved using the headset signal as a pre-amp signal to the amplifier. There is an adapter that will adapt the 5 pin din plug to an 1/8" stereo plug. The one could use another adapter to then adapt the 1/8" stereo plug to a couple of RCAs. I tried this out. Not with buying any adapters, but I tapped into the harness for the headset and soldered op a couple of RCAs. It worked great, and if someone didn't want to do the soldering, they could use the mentioned adapters. I didn't have the patience to wait for ordering the 5 pin din adapter. There are a couple of caveats to going this route that might be obvious. One, the headset button has to be engaged for the stereo to then work. Two, if someone wants to have their headset fuction normally without the speakers playing too, this won't work. Plus, I use the fading feature of the stereo with my final set up. There is no fading with the headset option. Here is the harness after I tapped into it.
    Headset harness.jpg


    What I did end up doing.

    I chose to tap into the pre out signals. Now, at the time of doing this, I did not have the Honda Shop manual yet. I now have that. Got it from my dealer for $69. Pretty good deal considering the best I've seen the net was $10 more. The mechanic let me take some pictures of his manual and the wiring diagrams needed. He had to unwrap his manual as it was brand new. They are a very new dealer that opened up about 2 years ago I think . It's where I bought my F6B and they're just 2 miles or so down the road. cooldude I tried to get him to just give me his in exchange for the one I ordered, but he said he'd be in trouble if for some reason Honda were to find him without one on hand..
    I removed the tail end body work and removed the OEM amplifier. The amplifier resides in an enclosure by itself behind the rear wheel. I didn't have to remove the amplifier to tap into the signals, but my intention was to put the new amplifier in it's place. The audio signals that feed the amplifier come from the "Audio Unit" located under the passenger seat in a black enclosure. This would be equivalent to what would be called the head unit in car audio terms. The controls on the fairing left side are just that. Controls. I pulled out the amplifier and made the decision to cut the wiring harness in half. The amplifier has three bundles coming from the amp to a plug that plugs into the factory wiring harness. I cut the three bundles mid way and now I had the factory plug with the wires needed. If I ,for some reason, wanted to return the bike to stock, I will have to splice and solder all those wires back together. In those wires are the speaker wires for four speakers ( the bike is wired for all four speakers even though it only has the front speakers) , the wires for the pre out signals for all 4 channels and positive power and ground. I made up a harness, thinking I'd try to use all the factory wiring. This proved unsatisfactory and I ended up only using the pre out signals. Both the factory power leads and the factory speaker wiring degrade the sound substantially. Here is a pic of the harness i first made up.
    Attachment 10651



    Ultimately, the idea of putting the amp back where the OEM resided , was not going to work. Had I not just lost my patience, I may have been able to figure out a way to make it work, but I was back and forth whether that was where I really wanted it. The enclosure there has a drain for a reason, and I just was not sure how the new amp would survive. Did I mention it's behind the rear wheel underneath the rear fender? The issue was that the wiring harness I built was too long and required too much space and that the new amp had to sit vertically where the RCA jacks protruded above the plane of the enclosure leaving a hump that there was no room for. I could have got some right angle adapters for the RCAs and maybe resolved the issue by modifying my harness, but foooey.

    Here is a pic of the amp in the enclosure.
    Attachment 10652
    Have to split this up again.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Jimmytee's Avatar
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    So all in all cutting to the chase. Sorry, for being long and drawn out but these experiences may help someone else. I have gone through the learning curve. There really is not much out there on audio upgrades to GLs except some J&M speakers.

    I chose to put the amp in the left saddlebag. The amp is small in size and does not take up any usable space. I think I am going to make a cover for it to hide the wires, but this is what I have right now. Please excuse the mess underneath as this photo was taken before I had cleaned up.

    Attachment 10653

    The location in the saddle bag allows me to tinker if I choose. Another guy has mounted the same amplifier in the fairing. So that is another option. This is how I did it. The amplifier comes with two ways to mount it. I chose to mount is with the supplied Velcro. It works and you have to really pry on the amp to remove it. I ran 10 awg stranded wire for the positive and negative wiring directly from the battery with a 30 amp inline fuse. As mentioned earlier, I ran speaker wires in protected split loom
    up to the front. The sound is much improved over the factory system. Everything works as intended.

    Now for the closing act:

    From the beginning, I panned to add a subwoofer or two to the saddlebags. I had different ideas of what and or how I wanted to do this. One plan was to add two 8" drivers inside each bag, with the drivers firing towards the rear wheel. This , I'm sure, would be very effective. It would've required some fiberglass work, which I don't have any real experience with, but was willing to try. Sat and watched many a tutorial on the subject. Another option was to decrease the size of the driver to use a 6.5" subwoofer. There are some really surprising speakers in this size range. In this size, I could have simply cut out a reinforcing baffle to secure in the proposed mounting locations. The idea is the same as with the 8" subs , but the 6.5 " size would allow them to be mounted without the fiberglass work.

    Then I thought of this.
    http://www.jlaudio.com/cp106lg-w3v3-...-systems-93300

    The idea of putting speaker in the inward side of the bags and essentially using the saddlebags as an enclosure would work, but ultimately would probably have required an additional amplifier . Using an enclosure designed for the specific characteristics of a particular driver, generally yields a more efficient use of power.
    So I ordered the micro sub. The thing is really small. It does take up a substantial amount of space in the left saddlebag because of the mentioned enclosure. There's maybe room left for a set of rain gear and set of gloves etc.... However, the sub is removed in about the same time it takes you to open up the saddlebag. With Banana plug speaker connections, you really simply just unplug the two speaker leads (pos and neg) and pull the box out. If I need the space for luggage, I can just leave it at home.

    Attachment 10654Attachment 10655



    As of right now, I put a strip of Velcro that sticks to the carpet of the sub. This keeps the sub in place when cornering and such. A road trip yesterday confirmed this works. I may change that.

    The other part to the sub install was that those saddle bags are sealed for the most part. There has to be a way ,obviously to vent the bags for the bass to get out. cooldude After all, It's all about that bass, 'bout that bass right? 2funny
    I chose to drill in two places. I drilled many small holes in basically a circle pattern. I put one area facing the rear wheel and the other area is towards the front of the bags near where the battery sits.
    I used a product called Frogzskins to cover the holes. These come in many shapes and sizes and are designed for air intakes on snowmobiles and personal watercraft. The product is also used for speaker covers on some after market speaker options for Harley Saddle bags. That's how I first learned of the product when I was researching options for my Valkyrie.


    IMG_20150116_185406_086.jpgIMG_20150116_185418_733.jpg

    Continued again.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Jimmytee's Avatar
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    Attachment 10658IMG_20150116_200905_420.jpg


    The end result is
    Very happy and that little sub really kicks out some tremendous amount of bass. Hard to believe it's only a 6.5 " sub driver.
    I powered it with the rear channels of the new amp bridged for over 175 watts RMS to the sub.
    Very happy. I hope if anyone is interested in accomplishing similar results, that this experience will be helpful.

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    nuff said

    All of it above requires time , dedication , determination , some knowledge and additional investment . It's fine , if brings satisfaction , or even pride to it . Apparently that's the result of personal choice , but due to complicated process might not see to many , who wants to copy such a idea ( or maybe so ? ).

    For close interaction with sound , long time ago I decided to empower my helmets with much easier to install headphones , which gives me few other options , like switching radio to the phone , or initiate connection to passenger behind me . It allowes me to feel "private", without annoying bystanders , adjust the volume to ever changing surroundings or traffic disturbance .

    At present and to each of my helmets , I installed quality brand Sena SMH5 system , simple device able to connect me with : radio , mobil phone , GPS Navigation , MP3 player , iPod , USB Flash Drive and intercom . It doesn't take any space in my saddlebags , no needs to bastardize integrity of motorcycle and first of all - it provides not deformed on the way , crispy and premium sound .

    In final courtesy to many , I can avoid rude comments of those who do not speak other ( than English ) languages , those who do not understand sophisticated lyrics in the music , or even hate up-heard tunes. That's my understanding of "respect", which we always expect from others.

  6. #6
    Senior Member Jimmytee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Limoles View Post
    All of it above requires time , dedication , determination , some knowledge and additional investment . It's fine , if brings satisfaction , or even pride to it . Apparently that's the result of personal choice , but due to complicated process might not see to many , who wants to copy such a idea ( or maybe so ? ).

    For close interaction with sound , long time ago I decided to empower my helmets with much easier to install headphones , which gives me few other options , like switching radio to the phone , or initiate connection to passenger behind me . It allowes me to feel "private", without annoying bystanders , adjust the volume to ever changing surroundings or traffic disturbance .

    At present and to each of my helmets , I installed quality brand Sena SMH5 system , simple device able to connect me with : radio , mobil phone , GPS Navigation , MP3 player , iPod , USB Flash Drive and intercom . It doesn't take any space in my saddlebags , no needs to bastardize integrity of motorcycle and first of all - it provides not deformed on the way , crispy and premium sound .

    In final courtesy to many , I can avoid rude comments of those who do not speak other ( than English ) languages , those who do not understand sophisticated lyrics in the music , or even hate up-heard tunes. That's my understanding of "respect", which we always expect from others.
    Uh, OK
    To each their own
    Everyone has their opinion.
    I have helmet speakers/ intercom bluetooth . My wife and I both have G9 headsets. Headset/helmet speakers do not not sound near as good. Maybe a good set of ear buds. I mean a good set will sound pretty nice, but I hate having that wire hooking me up. But even a good set of ear buds will not give the aural sensations that accompany the sound waves from kick drums and snare hits on a good system.
    The space in the bags. Well, that might be a real concern for some. It's in only one bag. Unless I am traveling somewhere for a couple days or more, I've got plenty of storage. That's why I went with the micro sub that is removed as quickly as it takes me to open the saddlebag.
    As far as bystanders, I have a volume control. And these bikes do have an auto volume control.
    As far as bastardizing? That was your word right? I sure hope you have not added or changed anything on your bike.
    Was it necessary to do any of the above? No It could be argued very well that these bikes are not necessary. Everything on this forum is superfluous.
    With all respect, everyone has their own opinion, but yours comes across a little condescending. The post was shared because I have answered many PMs and have also been in correspondence through e-mails regarding interests. This post endeavored to chronicle some of the paths I went through in accomplishing the goal. Is it for everyone? I'm sure it is not.

  7. #7
    Senior Member jkelley's Avatar
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    Hey Jimmy,

    Thanks for the post! I am sure others with similar interests will find the information useful.
    Regardless of what others may think keep it up.

    Jim

  8. #8
    Senior Member Jimmytee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jkelley View Post
    Hey Jimmy,

    Thanks for the post! I am sure others with similar interests will find the information useful.
    Regardless of what others may think keep it up.

    Jim
    Thanks. That was my intention. If someone wants to look at similar upgrades, maybe this info can help in that pursuit. I really don't need anyone to list why they wouldn't do it. Constructive criticism or ideas sure.

  9. #9
    Moderator Hornblower's Avatar
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    Jimmytee--I wanted to add my thanks and appreciation for the info you've provided so far. I find it very interesting. At any rate, it's obvious how much time you've spent exploring this and attempting to share it so again, thanks !
    Ken (Hornblower)

  10. #10
    Senior Member Jimmytee's Avatar
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    Thanks. Yeah it takes a bit to post all that.

    Having done it now. It would take me a morning or a afternoon to repeat it. It really is not that bad, once all the discovery and decision processes have been accomplished.

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