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danfor

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Hello! I have a 2015 Road Glide Special with the Boom Box infotainment system, just installed an Arc Audio Moto 600.4 amp and Focal 165 KRC speakers. I have been playing music with an IPOD attached with of course MP3 music from I Tunes but I feel like the quality of the music isn't very good, so my question is......................
What is the highest resolution music that can be played through my factory head unit and where can you purchase it? I think that WAV file will play but I'm not sure of the resolution???

thanks for your help!!
 
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Neano62

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#4 ·
I'd agree w/the other comments, but the only other thing I'd compare the digital mp3 format too would be to go buy some digitally Re-Mastered cd's. Download them into ur itunes acct. on different formats. mp3 acc-or whatever format u can. forget the formats that they offer, but just sayin. Try that! Its really - really difficult to reproduce 'Clarity' w/the stock head unit.
b4 we know it here, someone will make a signal radio processor , like the one rockford makes for a car stock radio, that , when hooked up takes ur radio signals (Equalization) out of the radio and produces a , more or less , raw signal to amplify. Switching ur stock radio processing to a very 'Flat' signal. Therefore u can Amplify the Crab out of it and get the clarity of a aftermarket unit.
Just buy ya a aftermarket radio and install it. U be Plenty happy ya did! jmho
 
TLKurtz

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#5 ·
There is a piece of software called Easy CD-DA extractor that will let you "rip" your CD's into MP3's and also set the bit rate. Starting with quality made MP3's is your best bet.

I'm currently in the middle of building playlists for the 27GB of MP3's I put on a little memory stick for my new RGS. Program called Playlist Creator does a nice job at this. Just takes some effort on your part.
 
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Txm8de

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#6 ·
danfor said:
Hello! I have a 2015 Road Glide Special with the Boom Box infotainment system, just installed an Arc Audio Moto 600.4 amp and Focal 165 KRC speakers. I have been playing music with an IPOD attached with of course MP3 music from I Tunes but I feel like the quality of the music isn't very good, so my question is......................
What is the highest resolution music that can be played through my factory head unit and where can you purchase it? I think that WAV file will play but I'm not sure of the resolution???

thanks for your help!!
Click to expand...
I would check your amp settings. I currently run the boom stage 1 series and they sound great. The Arc Moto amp is a good amp, you just need to toggle with the settings for the amount of speakers you are trying to push.
 
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hometoast

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#7 ·
Amp settings, radio EQ... make sure volumne on ipod isn't at 100% (run it at 70% and increase radio volume).

Other than that, the difference between mp3 (even "low quality") and a lossless format are *not* going to be noticed while the bike is started, let alone moving.
 
JMJOHN

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#9 ·
the best music source input on that bike is a USB thumbdrive with wav, wma or mp3 files loaded ,,,,,,,

we have done about 7 of the 2015 RoadGlides so far here in Daytona, with the Arc 600.4 amplifier and J&M ROKKER XX 6.65' speakers (((see http://www.jmcorp.com/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=HRRK-6652TW-RXX ,,,,,,,

I would say that if your system sounds a little RATTY, you need to have your Harley radio flashed as ((4-spkrs Amp1 ON, Amp2 ON)) then re-adjust both of your amplifier input gains and crossover networks for the best sound ,,,,,,,

proper Harley radio flash and amp adjustments are far more important on that system than which type of music input file that you use ,,,,,
 
09Sharknose

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#10 ·
JMJOHN said:
the best music source input on that bike is a USB thumbdrive with wav, wma or mp3 files loaded ,,,,,,,



we have done about 7 of the 2015 RoadGlides so far here in Daytona, with the Arc 600.4 amplifier and J&M ROKKER XX 6.65' speakers (((see http://www.jmcorp.com/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=HRRK-6652TW-RXX ,,,,,,,



I would say that if your system sounds a little RATTY, you need to have your Harley radio flashed as ((4-spkrs Amp1 ON, Amp2 ON)) then re-adjust both of your amplifier input gains and crossover networks for the best sound ,,,,,,,



proper Harley radio flash and amp adjustments are far more important on that system than which type of music input file that you use ,,,,,
Click to expand...

Probably more technical than necessary, but unless you choose high rate MP3 or WMA Lossless, those are NOT high quality sound sources. Of the three mentioned in the above post, only .wav files will maintain the quality of the original source. The other two(MP3 and WMA) will lose up to 90% of the original source file.

Also mentioned in the above posts, if your music sounds that bad with that setup, it's probably something other than your music source that is to blame.


Sent from Motorcycle.com Free App
 
JMJOHN

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#11 ·
sharknose,,,,,,,

don't mean to spar with you ,,,, but I can take the exact same soundtrack, convert to all three wav, wma & Mp3 ,,,, plug them into a good RoadGlide system and at even 30 mph you will be hard pressed to tell the difference between the files ,,,,

most cannot tell the difference with the bike sitting still ,,,,,,,,
 
09Sharknose

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#12 ·
JMJOHN said:
sharknose,,,,,,,



don't mean to spar with you ,,,, but I can take the exact same soundtrack, convert to all three wav, wma & Mp3 ,,,, plug them into a good RoadGlide system and at even 30 mph you will be hard pressed to tell the difference between the files ,,,,



most cannot tell the difference with the bike sitting still ,,,,,,,,
Click to expand...

No sparring. I totally agree. That^^^, I think is the point. Although digitally, normal WMA, MP3, and WAV are not even close, I doubt that anyone could tell the difference under regular conditions without special equipment. I think his problem is something other than the quality of his input source unless he's using a cassette tape.


Sent from Motorcycle.com Free App
 
danfor

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Discussion Starter · #15 ·
music

Thank you all for your input!!
I was able to download the same songs on a thumb drive, one mp3, one in WAV and kept switching back and forth, I'll be honest that even sitting in my garage I really couldn't really tell any difference??
I have been looking into what it takes to tune the amp, gain, crossover and will tackle that in the next day or so, I have a feeling like several of you mentioned that this is where my problem lies.
Thanks again!!
 
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danfor

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Discussion Starter · #16 ·
tuning my setup

JMJOHN said:
the best music source input on that bike is a USB thumbdrive with wav, wma or mp3 files loaded ,,,,,,,

we have done about 7 of the 2015 RoadGlides so far here in Daytona, with the Arc 600.4 amplifier and J&M ROKKER XX 6.65' speakers (((see http://www.jmcorp.com/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=HRRK-6652TW-RXX ,,,,,,,

I would say that if your system sounds a little RATTY, you need to have your Harley radio flashed as ((4-spkrs Amp1 ON, Amp2 ON)) then re-adjust both of your amplifier input gains and crossover networks for the best sound ,,,,,,,

proper Harley radio flash and amp adjustments are far more important on that system than which type of music input file that you use ,,,,,
Click to expand...

Hello! Yes I did have my bike flashed by my local dealer...... amp 1 & 2 off, 8 speakers. At least they sadi they did it, is there a way that I can be sure?

With my setup I'm a little disappointed with the sound. I've adjusted the crossover from factory amp setting of 110 and set it to 60 for my KRC's. Also played with the gain, lowered from a 4-5 o'clock setting to about 3. It does sound better with the new settings, do you have any other suggestions????
One of my big concerns is that the factory head unit does not have pre-outs for the amp connection, using speaker level inputs seem pretty lame?? Also the fact that the factory head unit is sending a "powered" signal to my new amp, any way to eliminate this???
thanks,
Dan
 
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hometoast

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#18 ·
danfor

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Discussion Starter · #20 ·
JMJOHN said:
danfor ,,,,,,

you are correct ,,,, your most significant improvements will come from section three on this page ((( http://www.jmcorp.com/PDF/HarleyRadioFlashUpdate03-19-2015.pdf ,,, NOT from exactly which type of file extension that you use to load your USB thumbdrive music with ,,,,
Click to expand...
Thank you again for your input!! I took my bike in yesterday and had the flash done according to the info you gave me, 4 speakers, amp 1 & 2 ON. I actually took a printout of the info you gave me for them to use, good thing because they don't know anything about all of this?? I can definitely tell that there is less distortion but I have no bass at all?? I also found that I have no tone controls but I do have fader, opposite of what I used to have. Is there something that they missed??
Any additional help would be greatly appreciated!!!
thanks again!
 
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