speakers again. sorry!

[krasmu]

I've read on different forums here how several of you have successfully upgraded speakers on your 1200's. I blew a rear speaker so I took the plunge and purchased a set of Polk Audio speakers and installed the rears the other day. I know most of you have gone with the pioneers but it bothered me that they were not water proof. the Polks I chose were nearly identical as far as wattage, etc.. After installing the new speakers, they have horrible sound. they sound like a transistor radio.I understand 4" speakers will never give theater sound but these went backwards so far in sound quality compared to the OEM, its rediculous. after contacting Polk customer service, it was decided that the problem is that the OEM system just doesn't have the power to push these speakers. My question to everyone out there is; How did you guys get enough power to these new speakers? Is there an aftermarket amp that will plug and play in place of the OEM amp? please let me know what has been done successfully to push speakers that require minimum 20 amps.

[broksonic]

I found these online,, dont know anything about them other than what is mentioned here.. but it does say 50 Watt to each speaker (2) with 500 Watt peak and only a 2 amp power draw. 2nd one down on the page.

http://www.cruisingwithtunes.com/motorc ... fiers.html

Theres a few more listed on that page too.. but thats the only one that lists a power draw.

[krasmu]

Those are perfect. I'm working with Peter Francii. He seems to think it might be something wrong with my install. Will see where that takes me. If i need an amp after that. I'll definately look at these. Great find for others who may be looking as well.

[broksonic]

Those are perfect. I'm working with Peter Francii. He seems to think it might be something wrong with my install. Will see where that takes me. If i need an amp after that. I'll definately look at these. Great find for others who may be looking as well.

found these too...

http://www.uniqcyclesounds.com/collecti ... ifier-html

Says 4-6 amp..

And this one on E-Bay..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Stock-Car-Mo ... Sw7FRWaU~6

input 12v 2amp.. a couple of those listed at different prices.

Theres a lot of amps listed on ebay just have to watch the power draw.

[Tonyvdb]

These pioneer speakers are the best sounding ones I have found and are 3way
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-TS-A1072R ... 2+speakers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I have all 4 speakers changed out to these and have had no issues using the stock amp

[krasmu]

With my new knowledge of what to look for and talking to you guys. I've done another comparison of the two sets and agree that the pioneers are a better match. I will be returning the Polks and ordering the pioneers.
Thanks guys for the help

[krasmu]

Polks returned and the Pioneers are on the way.
Now does anyone know which wire is the positive and which is negative? I've looked at the electrical drawing and they just show the wire colors but nothing relates them to +/-. I want to make sure they are wired so that the speakers are pushing and not pulling on the beat. I can always hook them up and try to watch the speaker movement during a bass line but if someone knows off hand which is which, It would give me a better chance.

[broksonic]

Polks returned and the Pioneers are on the way.
Now does anyone know which wire is the positive and which is negative? I've looked at the electrical drawing and they just show the wire colors but nothing relates them to +/-. I want to make sure they are wired so that the speakers are pushing and not pulling on the beat. I can always hook them up and try to watch the speaker movement during a bass line but if someone knows off hand which is which, It would give me a better chance.

Wow, yea, the wire diagram kinda stinks on that part..

I have not looked at the speakers (in hand) but is there one connection smaller than the other? Used to be the smaller connection is the ground if there is.

if i had to guess, fronts grounds would be red/black and blue/black, rears red/white and blue/green.

[krasmu]

Didn't see a small tab on either oem or Polks. They are both labeled near the terminals. The wires as per the drawing are the same color just one has a tracer line and one is solid. I believe they will work either way. One way they push and the other they pull. As long as they are all wired the same it should be consistent sound. Pete said to makes sure they are pushing.

[ekap1200]

Didn't see a small tab on either oem or Polks. They are both labeled near the terminals. The wires as per the drawing are the same color just one has a tracer line and one is solid. I believe they will work either way. One way they push and the other they pull. As long as they are all wired the same it should be consistent sound. Pete said to makes sure they are pushing.

Well hello from cold NJ. If you left just enough wire on the old speakers to determine its color code you can find out which was + and - by using a 1.5 vdc battery. Momentarily connect the 1.5 battery to the old speaker terminals and watch or feel which way the cone moves. Now you can determine what color and polarity moves the cone outward. If the new speakers have no marked terminals , repeat that test , to determine which is -/+ .
Hope this helps. Gene

[krasmu]

Yeah, I knew that trick for determining the speaker terminals. unfortunately I didn't want to shorten the wires so I unsoldered them instead of cutting the wires. I figure I can see which is which on the front speakers once I have the fairing apart, otherwise I'll have to just hold the wires to the speakers and visually see which direction pushes the speakers and take notes.

[Bill O]

I know that polarity will determine whether the speaker pushes or pull to a positive alternation of the signal but the critical term for speakers is phasing. If the speakers are not phased correctly (both wired to the same polarity). If out of phase, one speaker will push while the other one pulls, which will create a dead zone between the two speakers. Most notable will be the loss of low frequency. This also will be crucial for phasing the front speakers to the rear speakers (if used).

I hope I didn't confuse anyone.

Bill O

[krasmu]

actually, that is a great explanation of something that Pete Francii said and I didn't really understand, and yes when I removed the Polks from the bike to return them, I did notice that the two rears were indeed out of phase with each other. I will most definately make sure all four speakers are wired the same. Thanks for clarifying this for me and anyone else who might be working on speakers as well.

[forestfarm]

I am preparing to install the pioneer speakers as recommended .I have a few observations that concern me.First thing i noticed about the pioneer speakers is their country of origin.Made in Vietnam.Second is their light weight as compared to the stock Japanese speakers.The gauge of the steel stamping is almost 1/2 the thickness of the stockers.The magnet is much lighter weight as well.Before i go ahead and unsolder the harnesses,could someone please convince me if it is actually worth doing it?My stock speakers are not damaged in any way.I was just hoping to improve the sound quality.I dont mind spending extra cash to get a higher quality speaker & better sound quality.Please advise.

[krasmu]

got my two rear pioneers mounted yesterday. As far as sound goes, the stock speakers have just a bit more mid range to them but the Pioneers are clearer and crisper, especially at higher volume. I'm waiting to mount the fronts because other winter maintenance I've got going on. I have the fairing off and sending the stereo out to Peter for upgrades. will mount the fronts when I put everything back together. A few things I noticed while doing these speakers. First of all, I couldn't figure out which wire is hot and which is ground. the wire diagrams don't clarify this. looking at the fronts which are still wired, they are each wired opposite of each other. that didn't help. I don't have a multi-meter so I tried to use a test light probe and it would not light up on either wire, I figure the voltage is too low for the light. I held the leads to the new speakers on the rear and listened to the sound quality and then swapped them to try to hear a difference. With the small 4 inch speakers, I couldn't hear one. I tried to actually watch the speaker to see if it was pushing or pulling with the beat of the music, but again with these small speakers, I couldn't see much difference either. So I decided to just make sure that I wired them all up the same way and go with it. In conclusion, they will not make much difference in the sound, but I feel that the old speakers and the old technology would be more prone to blowing another speaker so I'm sticking with the new set for peace of mind in durability.

[Thud300]

In my work as an auto dealer tech, when testing radio speakers for no sound, the speaker output is tested with a digital meter set to AC voltage. A test light won't do anything.

From zero volume, or zero sound (dead carrier) you would get zero volts, then the voltage would increase and fluctuate as the volume and sound signal (beats of the music or voice) increased. My Fluke 87 meter has a voltage bar graph that will pulse to the sound signal.

I think fairly cranked up music is peaking along at about 3 volts "ac", with typical 4 ohm car speakers and no amplifier besides the radio.

Would be interesting to know what kind of amperage the Voyager's amp can push, might help in speaker selection.

[forestfarm]

Im sending the pioneers back to amazon .

[chevyman1]

I believe the wire with the stripe on it is (-)

[krasmu]

that is what I figured but unfortunately, both wires have stripes of different colors. I wired both rears with the dark stripes on the negative terminals. the fronts are more straight forward and have only one stripe. I will put that on the negative as well.

I'd say over all, I would not pay big money to upgrade just the sake of getting better sound. I happened to have one that was buzzing bad enough to drive me nuts and wanted to do something about it. So I upgraded to eliminate that and also figure I am no longer running 25 year old dried out speakers. Maybe I won't have to replace them again later. Guess I'm buying peace of mind.