DickB
Active member
I started my Spyder installation by duplicating the system that I had on my Ryker: Polk Audio DB402 4” 4 Ohm marine speakers in Rockville MAC-40B aluminum pods on the handlebars. Distance from speaker to ear has a dramatic effect on power requirements, sound diminishes by about 6dB for every doubling in distance. So a handlebar mount is about as efficient as you can get. I fabricated some custom mounts for the pods to the handlebar. Rykers have frunks the size of a glove box, so putting an amp in there (as virtually everyone does) takes up all the room. Plus, the frunk is right over the engine and gets hot. Instead, I elected to use a TPA3118 Class D Mono Amplifier Module in each speaker pod. To get the full 60W each channel (120W total) out of these amplifiers, they need to run on 24V, so I tucked a 12V to 24V converter behind the fuel recovery canister. An NVX Bluetooth Audio Receiver Controller completed the installation.
This setup provided OK bass on the Ryker, but bass was notably lacking on the Spyder. I think it might be related to the difference in yheir windshields, as the Ryker windshield wrapped around the pods more. If I cranked up volume on the Spyder, I got distortion from the bass notes.
Someone on one of the forums – it may have been this one – suggested RS/RSS 6.5” speaker pods from eBay, so I ordered a pair. These were already painted in gray primer, with a thick coverage but a bit of an uneven surface. Some 220 grit sandpaper took care of that, followed by black textured rattle can paint, which complements the textured black console surround quite nicely. I got a pair of 6.5” Dayton Audio 4 Ohm woofers, two more mono amps, a higher-current 24V converter, and added a Timpano TPT-SP4BT - DSP digital signal processor. This is a fairly small unit that fits under the upper console using a fabricated aluminum mounting plate. All setup and controls are done via Bluetooth to an old Android phone, while I stream from my active phone. I was getting some hum in the system, so I added a couple of ground loop isolators from the DSP to the amps. I used high pass filters on the 4” speakers to cut bass to them to avoid distortion at high volume, and low pass filters on the woofers. I also adjusted the equalizer to preference.
The woofers seemed good on paper, with good specs and good reviews, but they were, well, awful. They distorted badly at any kind of volume at all. It sounded like I was overtaxing the amps and clipping, but an oscilloscope measurement confirmed that was not the case.
I decided to replace them with 6.5” Polk Audio 4 Ohm speakers. These work great. With the current setup, I get good sound quality and plenty of volume for highway listening.
I’m still playing with DSP settings, but finally got to the sound quality and volume for which I was searching.
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This setup provided OK bass on the Ryker, but bass was notably lacking on the Spyder. I think it might be related to the difference in yheir windshields, as the Ryker windshield wrapped around the pods more. If I cranked up volume on the Spyder, I got distortion from the bass notes.
Someone on one of the forums – it may have been this one – suggested RS/RSS 6.5” speaker pods from eBay, so I ordered a pair. These were already painted in gray primer, with a thick coverage but a bit of an uneven surface. Some 220 grit sandpaper took care of that, followed by black textured rattle can paint, which complements the textured black console surround quite nicely. I got a pair of 6.5” Dayton Audio 4 Ohm woofers, two more mono amps, a higher-current 24V converter, and added a Timpano TPT-SP4BT - DSP digital signal processor. This is a fairly small unit that fits under the upper console using a fabricated aluminum mounting plate. All setup and controls are done via Bluetooth to an old Android phone, while I stream from my active phone. I was getting some hum in the system, so I added a couple of ground loop isolators from the DSP to the amps. I used high pass filters on the 4” speakers to cut bass to them to avoid distortion at high volume, and low pass filters on the woofers. I also adjusted the equalizer to preference.
The woofers seemed good on paper, with good specs and good reviews, but they were, well, awful. They distorted badly at any kind of volume at all. It sounded like I was overtaxing the amps and clipping, but an oscilloscope measurement confirmed that was not the case.
I decided to replace them with 6.5” Polk Audio 4 Ohm speakers. These work great. With the current setup, I get good sound quality and plenty of volume for highway listening.
I’m still playing with DSP settings, but finally got to the sound quality and volume for which I was searching.
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