GStwin.com GS500 Message Forum

The winter here is going to be a long one as always, so I'm looking for an affordable but challenging, and of course rewarding winter project. The idea of a soundsystem in a bike has been brought forth before and I still think its one thats worth investigating. 2005-GS500-PDX had some really good ideas earlier on, and even though I'm not sure where he went with it, I'm looking to get started!

 After sizing the GS up I've decided the best spot for the speakers would likely be attached to the frame underneath the rear fairing on each side. Here they would atleast be hidden and somewhat protected from rain if a cover could be fitted to them. The biggest problems will be finding a powerful enough speaker that can fit in the space and a battery that can provide it with enough juice to run for a reasonable amount of time before needing recharging. Unfourtunately I'm not very knowlegable in either speakers or their power requirements. Luckily my father is quite a capable electrical hobbyist (working for a power company he probably should be) and my neighbour happens to be a professional electrician.

 What I need to know is what kind of speakers would be able to fit in behind the rear fairing, specifically subs (with fairing modification of course) and can I power them with a seperate power source other than my bike battery?[/b]

Old thread:

http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20542&highlight=sound+system

You might be able to mount an amp to the top of the rear wheel-well under the seat that could power the speakers, and a small sub that could be mounted where the tool-kit is.   YOur idea of mounting the speakers to the frame, but under the rear plastic sounds good, but I don't know how well you'll be able to hear the music (doppler effect).

I dumb and drunk, so whatever my two cents is worth.  With the exchange rate it is probably worth 2 cents canadian, which ain't much.

No offense, but that would be annoying as hell to everyone around you. its bad enought that car punks make everyone listen to their crap with excessive bass.

PLEASE don't add something else the public can hate motorcycles for.

No squid is going to be impressed with a bling bling GS500.

oppy00 - I was thinking about the wheel well too. With a stiffer rear spring and a cover I think I could probably house an amp and battery back there if I can't find the room elsewhere. I just need to learn a little bit more speaker systems. As for having the speakers behind the rear fairings I'm not sure what all my options are yet. I was thinking about body work, which would look great no doubt... but it would either be quite difficult and or expensive for me. So I think I'm just going to have the speakers projecting down and back towards the rear wheel. And because the bike will more than likely be turned off at any time the system is playing, I don't think anyone around will have a hard time hearing it. Of course I'm only buying shyte cheap little speakers so I'll hook them up to a wall powersource and stick the speakers in place to test a bit before I start doing any real work. And if it doesn't work out well, I'll just make some new speakers for my TV, the speaker in it is almost shot anyways...

JamesG - None taken... I can see where you're coming from though. I don't generally like the idea of a tuner but I thought the term suited the project best. This is NOT going to be a massive soundsystem that I'll have music blaring out of while I'm riding, I don't intend to have music playing from it at all while I'm riding. This is going to be a project for the sake of the project, not so I can impress all my squidly buddies haha. I think its atleast a semi-original idea and I think its worth trying out for the hell of it. Whats the point you might ask? Other than entertainment there isn't much, I think it'll be kinda cool and kinda funny. I might htink of it as a halarious gimmick at times and play something like "hampster dance" for a chuckle, or at a meet it might be kinda cool to have some decent music playing in the background.

I thought I heard my name, so here I am.

I was originally trying to get some speakers under the seat in the tool kit area. Those didn't quite fit and I hacked the fender up, so I didn't try anything else. My idea was to mount a pair of these with velcro or something behind the grab handle:

(http://www.cyberacoustics.com/go/images_products/img_m_camp30.gif)

Then just stick your MP3 player under the seat or in your jacket. I just sent a pair off to Dustin in America, Jr. (Canada) and he's going to fiddle with them.

Knowing what I do about car and home stereos, I must say that this project is a little far-fetched. You would need another battery just for the stereo, and I'm not sure how you'd keep it charged. And the GS isn't exactly known for it's stowing capacity. Not to piss all over your parade, but I'm not sure that an amp and a sub would work. On second thought, I am sure they wouldn't. The time and money needed to make it a reality could keep me drunk for days...possibly even weeks if I stayed loyal to Busch Light.

;)

I would think about a pair of those speakers I showed earlier. I have 2 sets at home and I can fuc...fudge with them tonight or tomorrow. I will let you know.

Either way, good luck!  :thumb:

Dave  :cheers:

Bring a spare battery wherever you go. You will drain them with just about anything. Or practice bump starting your bike. In another thread somone mentioned 225W running output, a big system isn't gonna happen. Or just fit a wall plug in the bike (cool!)

Nah didn't think something so big would work. But I don't really know a lot about supply and demand as far as power goes for audio systems. The speakers you're talking about might be quite capable of producing enough volume, how loud would you say they are? And how long would they last at a decent volume? I was thinking about using something like my two flat panel speakers for my computer here. They've got quite a good range and definately get loud enough. I dunno what kind of power would be required to run them though, or if its even feasible to have such a power source on the bike somewhere, or how long it could run them for at what volume.

If you're still open to suggestions on how to use your time this winter, I'm tossing in a fairing.  The aftermarket full-fairing offerings for GSs suck.

I don't know, but they're cheap. I'll try them tonight at home. I'll try to remember to hook them to my MP3 player and see how loud they go/how long the batteries last with constant usage. I think the biggest plus about them is their small size.

Heh my fairing is already on its way, only cost me $70 CDN + shipping  :mrgreen:  Although its gonna be a few weeks before it arrives no doubt...

Sounds good. Being battery powered and all contained within a single unit would be a plus no doubt. Although if they were mounted underneath the rear fairings it might be a task to replace the batteries lol. But I suppose you could just do a little dremel work on the body, and with some extra wire you could have the battery port somewhere much more accessable, well, depending on how simple the construction is I guess. What kind of batteries do they take BTW?

4 AAs. No, not my girlfriend's bra size; the batteries you need for those speakers.

Dave

:dunno:  why not use an IPOD or other MP3 player with the external speakers.  I'm sure you could disassemble the speakers and mount them where you want.  And most of the speakers that work with the Ipod are battery opperated.  And if you needed to charge your Ipod/ MP3 player you could do the cigarette lighter/charger mod.

Quote from: blue05twin:dunno:  why not use an IPOD or other MP3 player with the external speakers.  I'm sure you could disassemble the speakers and mount them where you want.  And most of the speakers that work with the Ipod are battery opperated.  And if you needed to charge your Ipod/ MP3 player you could do the cigarette lighter/charger mod.

This is what I was talking about.

Dave  :cheers:

Hey, what is that picture of, by the way?

Sorry my head is killing me and my eyes fell like they are about to fall out.  The picture is of Jesus doing a standup wheelie.

Damn, Jesus is sick with it.

You should buy a really cheepo boombox, maybe from a used place. (or like this one (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3636309&cat=4527&type=19&dept=3944&path=0%3A3944%3A133251%3A3983%3A4527), even plays mp3cds)  I figure if you want it to just work while the bike is off, that should work fine. Then tear it apart, get some wire and lengthen all the parts, and toss the case. Next, stick parts where ever they happen to fit.   :mrgreen:

o_O! Then you could even have a cd / tape / radio bike! Plus, most run on standard batteries, so you could go recharable, and they probably would last 10-20 hours.

Actually, if the thing only draws 6 volts (4 C or D battries), you might be able to figure out how to down step the 12 volt bike battery, and use that. It's a boom box, as long as you don't run it for 5 hours, I would think it shouldn't drain the battery too much.

Hahah, if you got a clock cd/radio box thing, you could have a clock and alarm too! Only problem is; their speakers are probably even weaker.


oh, and Dave. Wow. Your post's personality fit with your avatar exactly. I always read your posts thinking you look like your avatar. It cracks me up.

if you want the best sound quality/volume/battery life bang for your buck, my personal experience (from selling the stuff) is the philips shoqbox, a product I never sold, but my competition did, so I came to know it fairly well... it's got either 256 or 512mb of built in flash memory (flash = no skips), depending on the version you get, a built in rechargeable battery (approx 8-10 hours play time), and probably the loudest neodymium magnet speakers you can get for the size/price... the whole system goes for $105US on ebay, brand new in a box, it's got a line in for an external player (my iPod!), I've played with em a bit, and I'm thinking of getting one for hooking the ipod up to when I'm hanging out in the quad, and sizewise, it's about as big, if not smaller than those speakers that Dave(?) aka 2005-GS500-PDX suggested showed. (hard for me to tell, as there's no reference available). All told, it's a small, lightweight, and LOUD system to check out.. I think maybe you're in the UK, so not sure what your local electronics store would be, here I'd recommend a best buy or circuit city, they usually have a model out for you to try... but I'd say give it a look... just my $.02

Good Point, NICEGUYS... the dimensions of mine are about 7 inches wide, 3.25 tall, and 2.25 deep. Just for reference.

And NIGHTRYDER, that guy looks exactly like me, so don't be jaded.  ;)

Dave  :cheers:

Hahaha I betcha he does...

When you say the Shoqbox is LOUD, how loud do you mean? I'll hopefully be able to get to The Source (owned by curcuit city) to try and find one of these little beasts and test it out. With one of these I'll be able to pop it off the bike and carry it around with me too, pretty cool.

Quote from: 2005-GS500-PDXGood Point, NICEGUYS... the dimensions of mine are about 7 inches wide, 3.25 tall, and 2.25 deep. Just for reference.
Dave  :cheers:

Those are the specs for the speakers by the way, not my sausage. I'm not built like this:

Quote from: NarcissusHahaha I betcha he does...

When you say the Shoqbox is LOUD, how loud do you mean? I'll hopefully be able to get to The Source (owned by curcuit city) to try and find one of these little beasts and test it out. With one of these I'll be able to pop it off the bike and carry it around with me too, pretty cool.

Funny, I was just running sales numbers for The Source/ C.City. You should be able to find our speakers there and get a feel for the size and all of that, and then if you want we could set it up for me to send you some. Just an idea.

Dave  :cheers:

I mean almost as loud as the powered altec lansing speakers I use on my computer... ummm... best reference I can give is.... very close to the bose external speakers for the ipod.. not quite as clear (but hey, that's bose's trademark, clean, crisp sound out of a tiny package, look at their jewel cube speakers... you don't have anything similar to those, do you dave?).... all I can say is hopefull you can try em at the Source, cuz I think it's a sweet little invention... could easily be attached with velcro... I think... ehh.. maybe not, bikes vibrate a lot... but still, it's small enough to be easy to attach, and you're right, you could rip it right off the bike and take it anywhere... if you end up with one, keep us updated... or even if you don't, keep us updated!

I hate to keep pushing my product, but I sent one out for $16. And that is in US dollars, so like $1159 CAN.

Dave  :cheers:

uhh, actually Dave, at the current exchange rate, it's more like $1700 can... but close enough for government work..  :P  :P  Wow... $16 us though... what kinda power source do those need, cuz I'd be interested....?

Sorry, I always get the currency exchange wrong.  :oops:

They are powered by either 4 AAs or you can use the wall plug-in if you are near a power source.

Dave  :cheers:

wow... $16 and powered by a wall charger... SWEET... I may have to get at you about some of those, we need more speakers for our dorm room.... standard 1/8" line in plug, right?

Yup, standard-size headphone jack. But if you want some for the dorm room, I'd suggest something bigger. One of these possibly. PM me if you want to talk about this more.

(http://www.cyberacoustics.com/go/images_products/img_m_ca3550.gif)

(http://www.cyberacoustics.com/go/images_products/img_m_aa3780.gif)