Skratch, I see your point, but I've thrown some money into the bike with new seat, windshield and now handlebars. My better half will not like the extra money going to fix something that was perfectly good BEFORE I decided to do the new bars, which she didn't want me to do.
I have the front speakers with J&M 7.25" now and their 2-channel amp. It sounds quite good for just the fairing speakers. To utilize the RCA outputs, I would need to add more speakers and another amp. I doubt that I would ever do that.
J&M uses line level as their inputs and converts inside their amp. I was leery of this process, versus pre-amp outputs, but it does sound really good with their system.
It's a darn shame that it all worked a month ago before it swapped out the bars. The only thing I've done is pull the MAX fuse and pull wires etc. I've double checked all of my wiring, pin outs, and they are all good. I feel like I just threw away $250. My $250 handlebars now cost me $500.
Having a warranty is nice, but again, I can't figure out what I did. If I shorted a wire and saw sparks, I would feel quite so bad, my bad. But in this case it "should" just work, period.
I'll go over my manual again tonight and see what I can find.
You're right, '08 to '14 will give me a good base to draw from. I'm sure that someone has popped out a HK head unit for replacement with an aftermarket. I just need to find the right guy at the right price.
Thanks again for you insight and suggestions.