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[Twolanerider]

For those interested in kicking up the front channel audio on a touring bike here is your  guinea pigging the installation of a HawgWired amplifier system.  Due to the level of detail in the installation it’ll be a lengthy thread.  So if you’re not interested here is 15 minutes of your life that can be saved for better things.  If you’re interested in a surprising gain in audio performance, however, read on.

This is a kit actually designed for our bikes.  Physically small parts that will (if you’re careful) all fit inside the fairing without any problem.  It’s a 150 watt amp (75 per side) as opposed to the 60 watt unit that is part of radios in the 04 and 05 SEEGs or the 40 watt unit in the  06 “Advanced Audio” radios from Harmon Kardon.

A few pros and cons.  Most important is that the system works great.  Really really surprising difference.  Just got back from about an hour’s ride with the system on the bike.  This is the first time I’ve ever “felt” the bass on this bike.  And this is with the radio only at about half volume.  It sounds better than any bike I’ve run across even with an aftermarket head unit (though I’ve not seen that many of those).

In the garage I tried the unit with both the HogTunes speakers and the 2 ohm Harmon Kardon speakers.  The HogTunes were a noticably better choice.  The amp will be “bigger” with the 2 ohm speakers.  Up to probably 250 watts RMS total or so.  The unit isn’t stable, however, beyond about what you’re able to do with the 4 ohm speakers.  Lots of distortion when you’re pushing past what I’d guess is 90 amps or so.  Below that it is perfect though.  The published system spec for distortion at 70 amps (on each channel) is .005%.  I hear no reason to doubt that.  That is, basically, no distortion at all.  

One word of warning here.  If you consider this kit  and you haven’t jumped to HogTunes or some other speaker that is more robust than the speakers we had stock prior to 06 either upgrade your speakers at the same time or don’t waste your money.  The original stock speakers not only wouldn’t keep up with the amp in a performance sense.  The amp would simply kill them.  Not kidding.

The system is built around a Class T digital amp.  So the heat issues of analog amps are not present.  This also menas low power consumption.  There should be no issues with an amp failing because it’s tucked inside the fairing away from any available cooling and the stator and voltage regulator won’t mind having the new neighbors on board.  

Since the radio itself is now unloaded its internal amp won’t be stressed either.  That’s another heat source dissipated.  That should be good for that expensive stock radio too.

So the system works great.  Stunning difference actually.  But it’s not perfect.  The problems aren’t dramatic.  And fortunately they’re not system related.  But for what the manufacturer sees fit to charge for this system they should be better; because they could be better.

First off is that the installation, while not especially difficult, is certainly tedious.  It is made more so because the installation instructions aren’t especially good.  Not bad; just not outstanding.  It’s a case where the guy that wrote the directions was already familiar with the system and installation.  This comes in to play in areas where assistance with positioning or mounting of some pieces could be better.  It would have made things quicker.  The photo on their website of an installed unit is more help than is the direction booklet they send and the single poor photo within it.

The only other complaint is that (at least in my kit) I didn’t have everything I’d need for the installation.  Granted, the only things missing were a few wire terminals and some speaker wire.  All little stuff.  Stuff I had here in the garage.  But, again, for the $600.00 they charge for this kit it ought to all be there.

For anyone still considering the unit here is the installation itself.  This will hopefully help when someone else tackles their own.

[Twolanerider]

Here is an inventory of what you'll receive.  Various wire and cable bits, mounting brackets, one large power control unit and two isolated 75 watt amps.  The outboard amps are part of what allows it all to fit inside the fairing.  The kit is intended to work on bikes with either a stock radio or an aftermarket radio.  So included in the wire bits are a few pieces you might or might not need.

[Twolanerider]

The amps themselves.

[Twolanerider]

And the power and control unit.  On the reverse side is two more connectors that accept control cables that go down to each of the amps.

[Twolanerider]

With the 06 radio already installed this is what was started with.  Already a busy place.

[Twolanerider]

This bracket (a $25 accessory) is what helped me trust their engineering and that they'd been there and done that.  It is made specifically and accurately to fill the gap on top of an 06 radio that is created if you've only the XM or the CB module installed.  Both modules on top of the radio allow for a flat mounting surface.  Neither module (and the intent to never have them) would do the same.  One module, however, makes it lopsided.  They covered that base here.

If you're working on an 05 or prior unit this won't come in to play.  Nothing else is on top of your radio anyway.

[Twolanerider]

Notice the two rubber grommets on the top of the installed 06 radio.  The XM module to the left fits another pair of identical grommets.  The brackets fills the mounting area.

[Twolanerider]

Here is the bracket mounted next to the XM unit.  It allows for some up/down adjustment.  Make sure the two surfaces are flush to each other.

[Twolanerider]

Power control unit mounted (via heavy duty velcro) on top of the radio and bracket.  With the large main harness already above the radio and the control cables that come out of the back of the power unit to the amps already behind it is can seem difficult to get this as far back as you need to.  

This is an area where a better illustration or description in the manual would have helped.  This installation was not good enough.  With everything in place and the various harnesses draped around and over the fairing wouldn't go back on.  Notice in a later picture the extra depth gained for the final install.  As much depth as you can get proved necessary.

[Twolanerider]

The installation manual instructs that this speaker support bracket be removed and that the amp's individual mounting brackets (on each side) be mounted to the bolt you see to the right end of the support bracket.  Not being completely comfortable with any structural dampening that might be lost without the bracket I tried it otherwise.

Notice the hole in the middle of the bracket.  It is already threaded. It accepts a #10 x 24 machine screw.  Assuming your brackets have this whole also you can mount the amp's brackets to this screw hole and the fairing still installs with room to spare.  This just seemed a better option than losing the stock bracket if losing that bracket was not necessary.

[Twolanerider]

One of the small outboard amp units in it's bracket and mounted via the screw hole described previously.  The harness connector on the right side is the control cable from the power control unit.  This installation is mirrored on the other side of the bike.  The two screws on the left side of the amp are the new speaker outputs.

[Twolanerider]

Before cabling and harness are laid in here is what the system hardware looks like.  The amp units do have hd velcro holding them to their brackets along with the zip ties.  Can't be too careful after all.

[Twolanerider]

One the hardware is in place the various cabling and harnesses need to be installed.  There are two separate power connections.  One is a large gauge primary unswitched feed that comes directly from the battery.  The other is a switched feed that turns the unit on when you turn the ignition switch on.  This comes from the back of the cigarette lighter.  They include a harness for this purpose that has a pigtail allowing you not to lose any connections back there.

This is the large gauge primary wire coming along the frame under the fairing.  It's that bright red "Monster" cable type cable.  Very flexible and easy to work with.  But bright red.  Though well insulated on its own I covered it in shrink wrap just so it would blend in better laying along the frame and the other harness.  

[Twolanerider]

To the right here you can see the red heavy gauge wire coming out of the shrink wrap back by the batter tray.  Follow the shrink wrap forward and you can see the path the cabling needs to take under the tank.

[Twolanerider]

The heavy cable of course is not a simple crimp termination.  They send it to you cut to an appropriate lenght and properly terminated though.