Bluetooth stereo

[jsandidge]

It seems many members here prefer earbuds or helmet speakers for their music. I get that. I occasionally use earbuds too. My wife rides with me sometimes and we think we would enjoy listening to our music on external speakers. I see 300 watt to 1200 watt systems available. What size amplifier will a GS electrical system support?

[Steve]

Keep in mind that those 300 and 1200 watt stereos are not drawing that much power all the time. Most of the time, they are likely running about 10 watts. On the other hand, if you had a 15 watt amplifier and constantly ran it at 10 watts, it wouldn't sound nearly as good. Personally, I would probably go for something in the line of 50 watts.

Will the bike support it?
How good is your stator?
Do you have an SH775 regulator?
Have you done any power-saving mods, like LED headlight or other lights?
Do you have a voltmeter on the bike?

Yeah, the bike will probably handle it, but you would want to keep an eye on the voltage when riding in town at lower engine speeds.

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[jsandidge]

Stator is good. I installed one of your re-winds at the same time as a new SH775. No LED's at this time, but a voltmeter is on the agenda .

[posplayr]

Stator is good. I installed one of your re-winds at the same time as a new SH775. No LED's at this time, but a voltmeter is on the agenda .

Adding a 50 watt stereo is like a second headlamp.

[Steve]

Only if it's actually drawing 50 watts all the time, which I doubt it will.

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[jsandidge]

If I switch to an LED headlamp, would a 100 watt system be a good choice?

[Steve]

LED headlight only saves about 30 watts, if you leave it on low beam.

I'll check with my son to see what he had on his bike for a while. He had an amp in the Vetter fairing and had no problems, other than the space it took up. He has since gotten a new helmet with intercom speakers built in, so he has ditched the amp.

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[jsandidge]

Thanks Steve.

[GS1150Pilot]

Does that mean you would have music blaring like the crowd on Harleys?

[jsandidge]

Does that mean you would have music blaring like the crowd on Harleys?

I guess they blare their music to overcome the incredibly loud exhaust. My stock GS exhaust is pretty quiet by comparison. My music will be too.

[Nessism]

I suspect you will be fine. GS bikes tend to generate excessive electrical power, that's why they burn up stators so often, so there should be enough reserve to drive a radio.

[jsandidge]

LED headlight only saves about 30 watts, if you leave it on low beam.

I'll check with my son to see what he had on his bike for a while. He had an amp in the Vetter fairing and had no problems, other than the space it took up. He has since gotten a new helmet with intercom speakers built in, so he has ditched the amp.

.

Did you find out the wattage of his old unit?

[fixmybrokecomputer]

It seems many members here prefer earbuds or helmet speakers for their music. I get that. I occasionally use earbuds too. My wife rides with me sometimes and we think we would enjoy listening to our music on external speakers. I see 300 watt to 1200 watt systems available. What size amplifier will a GS electrical system support?

It probably doesn't matter to you, but I'm gonna throw this out there for informational purposes. Many manufacturers of the amps you've been looking at are blowing smoke up your ____ in regards to how much output power they have. 300 to 1200 watts, if it happens at all would be for a tiny fraction of a second and the distortion spec wouldn't be so good. There are many auto amps out there that may put out that kind of power, but they would be too big for your bike and would probably suck more juice than the bike could produce. Go talk to someone that really knows audio systems and they will tell you the same thing. Just as an example, if you go look at a nice Marshall guitar amp, you'll find that they have a 50 watt amp and a 100 watt amp in their lineup. A 50 watt would drive you out of the house. A 100 watt Marshall needs a lot of room to be able to turn it up. Think large music hall. 15 minutes exposure to a 100 watt Marshall turned up and you will have hearing damage. The whole reason for this post is to expose the deceptive advertising practices of cheap audio equipment companies. I have an issue with people and companies that are deceptive. Hoping to make people aware of the BS that companies use to sell something. I started with a cyclesound decades ago and all things considered, I'll stick to my bluetooth equipped helmet. Just my .02.

[jsandidge]

It probably doesn't matter to you, but I'm gonna throw this out there for informational purposes. Many manufacturers of the amps you've been looking at are blowing smoke up your ____ in regards to how much output power they have. 300 to 1200 watts, if it happens at all would be for a tiny fraction of a second and the distortion spec wouldn't be so good. There are many auto amps out there that may put out that kind of power, but they would be too big for your bike and would probably suck more juice than the bike could produce. Go talk to someone that really knows audio systems and they will tell you the same thing. Just as an example, if you go look at a nice Marshall guitar amp, you'll find that they have a 50 watt amp and a 100 watt amp in their lineup. A 50 watt would drive you out of the house. A 100 watt Marshall needs a lot of room to be able to turn it up. Think large music hall. 15 minutes exposure to a 100 watt Marshall turned up and you will have hearing damage. The whole reason for this post is to expose the deceptive advertising practices of cheap audio equipment companies. I have an issue with people and companies that are deceptive. Hoping to make people aware of the BS that companies use to sell something. I started with a cyclesound decades ago and all things considered, I'll stick to my bluetooth equipped helmet. Just my .02.

Actually, it does matter to me. I don't know my butt from a hole in the ground where it comes to audio systems. That's why I asked the question. I don't want to get into a debate about external or helmet equipped systems though. I know I want a system with external speakers.

[fixmybrokecomputer]

You might start looking here. https://www.crutchfield.com/S-KGjrYc...cle-Audio.html The rockford fosgate comes with a cert in regards to specs. I still kinda have doubts about 200 watts, but they have a reasonable reputation in the car audio world. Cheap prices tend to mean cheap amps. Someone smarter than myself would have to sign off on the ability of the bike to provide adequate power to run it.

This may help with understanding specs.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/guide-understanding-audio-specifications-and-hardware.64921/