ewiltgen

I have an 08 ultra with the stock 80 watt Harmon Kardon stereo. I don't want to add an amp but would like to upgrade my speakers. Any suggestions would be helpful.

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aces82

I just installed the J&M 7.25 speakers today and they sound amazing. My friend has the boom and they sound good as well. The J&M speakers are alot louder and clearer. Very easy install. DR V-TWIN has great prices on the J&M.

The Tank

I have Hogtunes speakers and the Hog Pod Tweeters with no amp. They work great without an amp. I have a friend that has J&M speakers and they also sound great. I have not heard the new Boom speakers. I would suspect the Boom should be comparable to J&M and Hogtunes who probably are considered the leaders in after-market speakers for motorcycles.

The best way to determine is listening to each brand. In order to do that you might need to get out to a rally and ask people rolling into the parking area what they have and whether they mind cranking them up for a minute while they park.

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Scrounger

Having heard all three (J&M, Hogtune, and Boom) on the same bike and put a few miles with each configuration. I would rate the J&M and Hogtune above the Boom Audio. With the addition of the Hogtune amp, I would rate them above the J&M. I'm not a big fan of all the other speaker options since they are not specifically designed for motorcycle use.

Just my opinion of course.

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Matthew
PGR - HOG - NRA - USAF Vet

ChristoHD

I just installed the Hogtunes speakers in my 09's front fairing - wow what a diff.

I spent the last coupla months reading through this ENTIRE forum, trying to decide WHICH speaker set and how much should I spend. Then I went to the various HD dealers in my area and listened.

1st You have to understand what I have been used to listening to the last 10 years. Tiny small tinny speakers on my 1999 Yamaha RSV. Now for me, that was my first touring bike with a sound system, so it did not take much to please me. I had tunes, the bike was quiet, and I could hear them just fine. Not much bass and really no real volume, but they worked, I could hear music, and it was better then nothing. And I have been listening to an iPod for the better part of those years, so good digital source - not the cassette deck that comes in those bikes. I was in heaven, for the most part.

So when I got my 1st HD last July - the stock sound system in my Ultra Classic was like I had just bought a Bose system - to me-IMO... but wait before ya'll start saying something... I really enjoyed the louder sound, better bass, better mid range and highs. I was happy. THEN, Of course I do what EVERY HD owner does - ya start tinkering - this SITE IS THE WORST - making me want to spend all my hard earned money an all... anyway I got the stage 1 from FM. Pipes have a tad more volume than stock, but they are not "loud" by any means - but you can hear me better now when I am coming and going. Now that changes some of the listening dynamics of what was a stock sound system - and what used to sound good... I realized that in order to hear my tunes, I had to crank it up a tad more (especially at HWY speeds) - and of course the sound started to distort, I just could NOT have that, no way. I knew that over this winter as I make my various mods - new speakers were also in my future.

So we come back to this last month - again reading through this entire forum, asking questions, hearing about the J&M's, Hogtunes, Boom, Hertz, and every speaker in between....

So like I said earlier, over the last two weeks I went into my local dealers and just listed to some of the bikes that had the Hogtunes and the Boom!s, and the J&M's...

J&M's with an AMP, sound nice, but the price. Not gonna do it.

So I wanted to stay in a budget and I really liked BOTH the Hogtunes and the Boom! and I felt both these were priced appropriately. I also spoke with the parts guys and the SM's at the various shops, they said they install more Hogtunes than anything else, and in 2nd place was the Boom!s for installs.

Since to me - they both sound equally well - comparatively speaking and listening - I went with the Hogtunes, for two reasons - one was I wanted those cool HD speaker chrome doo-dads inserts AND the HT's were a tad cheaper.

But to be honest, I could have gone either way.

So anyone reading these threads like I did, and still in that "I can't decide" mode - you will not go wrong with either the HT's or the Boom!'s - direct replacements, no AMPS, and hands down they sound 100% better than the stock.

HTH

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