I had been looking and shopping the internet and some local car audio places. I was pretty much set on the amp you used BF or an Alpine 445. There was also a Kicker amp. The main drawing point and popularity of these amps are their sizes. They offer good performance for their size. Friday, I ended up having off,so I rode my bike up to Louisville. I had called around to various places asking about certain brands of audio and marine audio. My main intent had been to put speakers in the bags first. I talked to a guy at Discount Stereo in Louisville who does a lot of motorcycle stereo installs and rides himself. Turns out he is also long time friends with a guy here in E-town that owns a different car audio place. The guy here in E-town has a very nice VTX 1800 with a similar fairing to the Woody's ie ... a batwing with 4) 5.25" speakers. That's where I got the idea to paint the grilles.
Anyways, the guy in Louisville intrigued me and it was a nice day for a ride
I'm also a longtime audio fan who has a hard time buying speakers without having heard them. I didn't expect to see the guy I talked to on the phone. He told me that he was going to "The Oaks " at Churchill Downs. Kentucky Derby week here. So I get there, and the guy was just getting on his Road King to leave. I told him I hadn't expected him to be there and go ahead with his plans, he ended up staying for like two or three hours to assist me. He even had me pull around back where we took apart my fairing to see what room I had for an amplifier choice. All this without me having bought anything. This was great service. Thanks Steve at Discount Audio.
During our talk , I told him about my ideas and what info I had gleaned about various options. He showed me a template he had made to fit speakers in my exact saddlebags and said he'd sell me a set mounting plates for $25. I'm not sure if that's the way I'll go or not, but it's a nice option. We looked at my speakers in the fairing. I had discussed that these were also on my mind to improve. It turns out that two of my speakers had rattled the tweeters loose from their center mounting post. So the tweeters moved when driving the speakers loud. I had noticed this before,and would hear the buzzing from time to time. So I decided to take care of these speakers first. In choosing a speaker and amp combo, he was all about the Kenwood amp I bought. He stressed again and again that I should buy what I wanted ,but he's installed them all and has been very impressed with difference. It was a little more money, but he was convinced that I'd be pleased with the results. The amp lists for $300 ,he sold it to me for $200.
The only concern on my part for choosing this amp was it's size. It is thin, but the length and width measurements were substantially more than the other options. I preferred to mount the amp in the fairing. This because mounting it in the saddlebag, meant that I would need to come up with a suitable quick disconnect for all the wiring involved. With just speakers in the bags, the quick disconnect can be accomplished easily with like trailer plugs/connects. He has mounted the amp in the Harley batwing fairings, on top of the radio. We found out this wouldn't be an option for my Woody's. I went home, after debating the issue with myself, with the Kenwood. I was under the assumption that I'd be mounting the amp in the saddlebag. Much to my delight, I realized I would be able to fit it where I did in the fairing.
I will only have to run speaker wiring to the saddlebags when I do put speakers in them. I tell you though, the improvement is so good with what I've done already,that may wait, nah...lol
