Installed on 09 Ultra in about 1.5 hours taking my time with a couple of short breaks to attend to young son as needed.

OVERALL

Received the amp and front speaker kit and 2 rear speakers from HOGTUNES last week. Got a hefty price break because of shipping costs and paid USD $430 which meant the shipping was virtually free as $430 is the cost of the kit in the USA. Fast shipping and owner PEZ quick to respond.

Quality of components very good and with a 20 year warranty how can you go wrong.

INSTALLATION

Straightforward and easy to follow instruction manual. If you have any nouse with simple tools and have ever installed a car stereo the install can be done quickly. Just be sure to test the system before putting the front fairing back on and don't forget to match the front and rear speakers Db gain control screw on the amp before as well. What your looking for is to have equal sound from the front and rear speakers while sitting on the seat in a normal riding position.

The wires only go on one way throughout the speakers and amp so you can't screw up the impedence.

SOUND QUALITY

Overall I was expecting a bit more both in power and sound quality. I thought I had a real winner when I listened to the system in the shed -- very loud and clear--but unfortunately on the road was a slightly different story.

The sound is clear with no distortion, but like the OEM speakers there isn't enough volume available when maxxed out to get beyond the wind/exhaust noise much past 100kph. I've got SE Touring slip ons with the "Active Exhaust" butterfly functional so the pipes are not what I would call noisy/loud at all. It did help to turn the bass down to just above mid point and the trable a notch or two past the bass but still not as good as expected.

The positives are the sound is clear, just need more volume which is surprising since the added amp looks after the front speakers while the HK built in amp looks after the rear speakers with full fade functionality working between the two. The tweeters built into the speaker cones are just ok for sound.

WRAP UP

If I had it to do over again I probably wouldn't bother but for the price point the system is OK if you really need to upgrade. The next price point upwards that I am aware of increases considerably in cost by several hundred dollars (J&M system) so as sound systems go you probably get what you pay for.

If I were going to rate the system overall it gets a 6.5 out of 10. Comparing it to the OEM HK system I probably wouldn't bother as the gains are just not that great for the price over the OEM system.

Keep in mind this comparison is based on a 4 speaker swap out for existing speakers and an added amp-- if you were going to add the amp and speakers to a bike that had no sound system you would probably be very happy.

 

Thats just my take and I would be happy to hear from others who have done a Hogtunes install.

 

Great summary of the process, have just retained the std HK system in my 08 Ultra and by your account seems that it's not worth upgrade to Hawgtunes, did you do a review of the more expensive (next step up brand) and if so was it the $ value do go with Hawg or what?

I have an issue with my in helmet speakers, due to V&H twin syst with ovals have to have volume up to where it distorts helmet speakers but suspect they are low end qlty and just can't cope, do you use them or maybe have looked at something else?

Any advise appreciated 

 

Pokey,

The jury is still out on whether it was worth it or not. I queried PEZ the HOGTUNES guy about the volume problem and has has sent me a few ideas-- basically re-set the DB gain to +3 on the amp (from -3 where I have it set now), and use the HK fader towards the rear speakers a bit to even up the balance if the front speakers are too loud after the new Db setting, and to set the HK AVC to 3 bars.

Gotta say that PEZ is an upstanding guy-- HOGTUNES are coming out with a 4 speaker amp to remove the OEM HK amp so that the HOGTUNES amp will power the whole system without relying on the HK amp, and he told me if I was still not happy after his ideas, he would do me a special price on an amp changeover if I wanted to.

Now about your helmet speakers-- Google J&M speakers and read on other boards the review of their in-helmet speaker replacement for the OEM ones. By most accounts they are considerably better quality and by replacemnt would probably give you much better than what you now have. They state (by their own account) that their complete headset is a fair cut above the OEM headset, and that their microphone has a much better VOX capability which will not "open" mic like the OEM. Not sure--have never used my headsets!

I looked at their complete sound system for the Ultra and they are very pricey-- somewhere around $725+ USD so I figured the HOGTUNES were the way to go-- and still do, if I can get this issue fixed.

The problems I see with J&M are that their top of the line speakers are 7 1/2 inch, quite heavy, and require an adapter for the front fairing that in my opinion would hang too much weight off the fairing brackets for my liking.

Will let you know the result of the tweak PEZ provided. Funny though that the am/fm radio is considerably louder at speed thant the HK CD component is...possible fault in the OEM HK radio ????

V2Evo96 thanks for the detailed reply, I'll check our your suggestions and see if that helps.

Much appreciated and hope you get sorted with the Hawgtunes set up

Pokey  

HOGTUNES UPDATE:

I have implemented the tweaks that PEZ of HOGTUNES provided with good results. By setting the AVC on the HK radio to setting "3" and switching the dB gain on the HOGTUNES amp to "0dB" I now have more volume that I need. At highway speeds I can hear the system quite well at about 2/3 volume setting across the CD/AM/FM HK system.

Don't know why the AVC setting at "3" is important but it did the trick along with the dB setting change. I'm a happy camper and now rate the system as a whole as 8/10 and the service as a 10/10.

AWESOME Reviews

I put hoghtunes in the streetglide when I had it. Bugger all difference on the road, ended up having to have it that loud to hear anything and was conscious of everybody looking at the "dickhead with the loud music". Would not go through the exercise again. Probably cause I'm old and deaf....

I ended up installing the new slip speakers in the top fairing of the 08 cvo ultra and the hogtunes kit with the amp for the bottom boxes. I also upgrade dthe rear speakers with the Hogtunes Speakers at the rear. Noticably differance is that the sound is clearer at all speeds but more importantly is that it is very clear over 110. The volume is louder lower speeds but not loader over 80klms at same volume levels. I turned all the levels up on teh back of the head unit as well as the amp fromHogtunes. I have a better amp coming which is a 4 way which will be twice the RMS output whcih will replace the hogtunes amp and the factory inbuilt amp. Will let yoiu know the differance.

Hey Music, When you talk about turning the levels up on the head unit, are you talking about the Karmon Kardon HD unit? Sorry to ask but what are "slip" speakers?

I now run the Hogtunes amp at the +3dB setting --works great.

I had an email chat with PEZ of HOGTUNES the other day as I am thinking about adding the fairing lower speaker kit and the tweeter pod. he suggested I hang back to see the new HOGTUNES 160 watt amp that is coming out soon--he said end of March so I'm hanging back to see what it's all about.. I'll post a link when it's out since I'm more or less waiting for it....

Mate you obviously know your way around sound systems so maybe you can provide some guidance to me about another matter. I set up the HD provided boom mic/speaker combo in my helmet for the first time the other day and it sounds like crap.

What I hear is distortion in the speakers at relatively low volume levels which I don't think should be there. Ive tried the following to try to get rid of it:

turned the bass way down-no change;
plugged the kit into the passenger input so the HK amp would drive the sound, not the Hogtunes amp, and still got the distortion;
adjusted the AVC control on the HK head-- no change;
wiggled all available connections on all plugs.

It sounds just like blown speakers sound, but I have never plugged the kit in with high volume levels set--I always plug in with the volume way down.

The next thing to try is to put the second (pillion) headset into play and test that against the first headset kit. I suppose an option is to replace the distorting headset speakers with some better ones if available from another supplier by cut and shut.

Would you have any ideas regarding the above?

Cheers, V2Evo96

Not so sure but sound slike faulty sender unit if you have checke dthe spare headphone and leads. I have some spares if you need to test others.

Kool. Good Luck