Upgrading Radio & installing rear Speakers?????????

[Opus]

Hi Gang!
Hope everyone has been doing well...

I'm looking for input of selecting a replacement/upgraded audio system and installing rear speakers on my K100lt.
I have been looking at the Marine Head Units and water proof speakers for the rear.
My ORG. BMW Radio kicked the bucket and I had a cheap JVC/Wally World Unit that I installed and got to working, but the CD player skips so bad that I can't play a disc on it.
It does have a AUX. Input that I have an old ZUNE Player hooked into so I can play my music but it is not the ideal solution to the problem.
I have replaced the front speakers with a pair of Rockfort/Fossgate 4in speakers and they sound great at low vol. but when I turn it up they blare and distort so bad that I can't stand them.
I pulled them out and connected them to a in-home amp and they sound great with it so I have to believe it is the JVC Head Unit that is causing the distortion.
I am looking for a set of rear speakers to mount on (or in) the trunk(it's the 22l Trunk).

For the Head Unit I was looking at:
Must be able to mount in the current mounting location on left faring.
Wired or Wireless remote. (Will a wireless even work with the cover on?)
No CD player. ( USB and SD card and Aux Inputs will work and less to go wrong)
40 watts RMS x4 output. (should be enough for expressway use)

Rear Speakers:
I have looks at boxed and surface mounts but have not seen any that I thought would work well in the space available.
The small 3way box speakers I have seen have poor reviews and low ratings. Mounting them would also pose and issues as to where to mount them. Side or top.
Surface mounts would have to be mounted in the trunk and depending on size facing out to the sides and not at the front of the bike.

So I guess that covers my thoughts on it.
What have others done to cover these problems and what was the resolve?
Any word for the wise?

Thanks
Opus!

[Grim]

You need to put caps on the speakers so as not to send them frequency's they cant handle.

Couple threads that might be of help.
Pin out on the handle bar controls
http://www.motobrick.com/index.php?topic=2325.0
Ducks radio install and wired remote to replace the BMW unit. Unfortunately something has happened to the pictures.
http://www.motobrick.com/index.php?topic=665.0

My radio is having issues as well and will be looking at options. I'm thinking about putting the remote to the cowl somehow to open up changing my LT bars to S or K1 bars.

You sound like you are ahead of me so post up what you end up doing.

[Grim]

I just got looking on Crutchfeild and found something interesting. The bummer is it would only be good in major citys it you are streaming.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_2061PXI502/Kicker-11PXI50-2.html

Also looks promising. Its 2.6in and hard wired.  Being hard wired I would think that you could easily tie in the BMW Vol control into it. If you are willing to relocate the switches off the center of the handle bars up to the fairing you could easily make a fill panel to mount the remote to the handle bar switch panel. 

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113RC35MR/Kenwood-KCA-RC35MR.html#details-tab

Or you could get fancy from there with other remotes.
http://www.crutchfield.com/g_338450/Marine-Remotes.html?tp=13308

[Opus]

Hi Grim,
I was looking at something like the Clarion CMS1 (http://www.amazon.com/Clarion-CMS1-Source-Commander-Port/dp/B001OQ6OA4/ref=wl_mb_wl_huc_clickstream_32_dp)
It has USB & Sat support that I would like to have and a nice wired remote w/display. (will have to confirm is it will play mp3 file from a thumb drive)
Sirius Sat is great for long rides also. (No hunting for radio stations.)
I have to check to see what the max cap. is for the USB to see if it will support 32 and/or 62 gig thumb drives.
Another concern is the RMS is only 14 watts x 4, and Peak Watts is 40 x 4. (160w. total) With that low of RMS Watts it could be hard to hear without adding an Amp to the setup.
Also need the OHMs Info. for the speakers. Not shown in the Ad.

The reason I'm looking at Marine Units is that they are waterproof and more shockproof than a regular car head units. No CD Player means less of a chance of Mech. problems.

Have my eye on a set of Pyle PLMR53 5.25 150watt 2 way speakers for the rear. But with a Freg. Response of 80Hz to 20k Hz. the bass my not be that good.
Also I would have to make mounts and paint them to match the bike. (They are white)
The other Speakers I'm looking at are the Bose 151 Evo. Spkrs. (Always liked Bose Speakers) They are full range spkrs but still lacking on the bass Freq.
Both sets are waterproof.

Will update with more information as I get more to offer.
Hoping that others that have been down this road will chime in.......

[Grim]

Found it on clarion's site. 4ohm
http://www.clarion.com/us/en/products/2012/marine/source_units/CMS1/us-en-product-pf_1259559425012.html

Wish they would have the measure to for the components. They do have the install and operation manual you can down load.

I'm to the point if I can use my iPhone 5 and memory sticks I really don't care about CD player. That unit you could put the receiver in the tail and get the glove box back. Put a pig tail into the glovebox for iPod and USB. 
I like it if the head unit is a reasonable size.

[Grim]

Here is another with more power. Simular set up as CMS1

The USB port will support more modern stuff including iPhone 5 with controls.

http://www.amazon.com/JENSEN-JMS2212-iPod-SIRIUS-Weatherband/dp/B004Y7K8TI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1376432442&sr=1-1&keywords=JMS2212

Manufacturers site for it

http://www.jensenmarinedirect.com/jensen-waterproof-am-fm-ipod-iphone-sirius-satellite-radio-ready-stereo-with-usb-input-noaa-weatherband.html
The control head dimensions are 5.12"W x 3.7"H x 1.21"D

[Opus]

@ Grim

Project on hold for now, but will keep checking and updating here.

[mystic red]

Here's what i use for tunes guys...you will find nothing that sounds better. If your stock radio is installed, yank it out and use that space as another glove box.
Then buy a nice blue tooth intercom, I use the Sena S10 with earphone accessory. There are others out there also, but good earphones are key to the best sound and double as earplugs to protect your hearing.
Then shop for some GOOD earbuds. Here's a good place to start shopping.

If you don't want to do the earphone thing they come with helmet mount speakers but then you have to use earplugs anyway to protect your hearing so the music quality  suffers.
Then blue tooth up your smart phone to your intercom and play your loaded music. IT SOUNDS AWESOME! With my phone and the Sena I can skip songs or repeat them and turn the volume up and down with one giant nob on the Sena.
IMHO, sound coming out of speakers on a motorcycle is even worse than a convertible car. Music sounds better in an enclosed space.

I put some kick ass Pioneer speakers in my LT years ago in the quest for decent sounding music and it was throwing money away. I would highly recommend not fricking around with radios and external speakers. Johnny and Micki use a different intercom system and the in the helmet speakers so you might pick his brain a little also.
O.K., my little rant is over now. :yes

[CRASH]

I know a guy has a radio set up out of a 2004 R1150RT that would probably work for you if you wanted to stick with BMW. He has the front speakers as well, they have a funky funnel thing to fit in the fairing, but that could be removed.

[Grim]

Went on a 300 mile ride with my coussin over the weekend. Ears still ringing. His wife has a Honda cruiser of some sort. Cuz found a interesting unit made by Pyle on eBay that was a tuner with USB input and a IPod 1/8 in jack. It came with a matched set of speaker. It actually sounds pretty good. $80 shipped. I'll have to find a link.

That said the earbud route that Mystic mentioned is looking inviting. I'm a bicycle rider as well and usually ear phones are frowned on in bicycle circles cause you can't hear what's coming up on you. But hearing loss sucks.

[Opus]

Just updating that this project is still in the works.
I'm still going to do this but have had to put it on hold for more pressing issues and repairs.

I have used Ear Buds and did not like the way it blocked out side sounds around me.
They do have better sound but if you get into a grove and have the sound way up you can bet that you will not hear anything coming at you until it is too late to act.
Also the fact that I have a wire that can be snagged and rip the buds from my ears from inside the helmet sounds very painful.

I have a BT Helmet and use it with my phone, but using it to play music will run the helmet battery down faster.
If on a long ride you can't always recharge the helmet when it needs it.
I use the BT Helmet for Phone & GPS Navi & Bike to Bike Com only. It can last 2+ days without recharging, but only about 1/2 a day when playing mp3 or IHeart radio through my phone.

Will keep working on it and update when I can.
Thanks for all the suggestions and support.   :2thumbup: