Good open air bass for my bike?

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Problem 1.
Sound insulation from your helmet will render bass notes ineffective.

Problem 2.
Destruction of the bass wave by the moving air around the open air nature of any bike makes this a futile exercise.

Problem 3.
Overcoming the stupidly high amounts of annoying low frequency noise from your exhaust is pointless.

Solution.
Installing a proper exhaust will reduce the hideous background noise you'd need to overcome.
Wearing headphones / iem's will direct the bass you want by direct transmission to your ear bypassing outside issues and should solve all your problems.
 
So, you want it to be both wheely loud and wheely low! :)

This scenario is new to me! You've now introduced me to the burgeoning market for handlebar mount speakers, in-helmet speakers and speakers mounted in fairings & saddlebags.

Where are your proposed 8" drivers going to be fitted? Full range or woofers?

Possibly you should look at Pro Audio drivers. No point in a very low resonant frequency I would have thought, rather a pronounced peak higher up to give the impression of powerful bass, but one that doesn't have to compete with the deep, throaty roar of the exhaust!

Or perhaps the system is mainly intended for use while the bike is stationary at biker gatherings?
 
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There are low profile drivers in case you can find a space under your seat or beside your headlights if you have a fairing. I don't like the idea of giving up a side case or half a top case because I like to carry a spare helmet and have somewhere for my jacket, but you will need somewhere to put an amp.
 

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Motorcycle sound systems can be very loud but they always lack bottom end in a big way. There seems to be nothing, which is why I don't have one. Not a lot of space for speakers so I understand the limitations of conventional design. I was wondering if there's something out there I could implement outside of mounting a pair of JBL SUB18s on either side of my rear fender:)


I remember a siding crew on a construction site years ago who had a Panasonic ghetto blaster they used to put on the ground about 30 feet away from the house they were working on. The bass coming from that little thing was amazing. And I was hearing this from across the way from inside another house from an open window, maybe 3 houses away. Some kind of bass boost?
 
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Isn’t your Harley obnoxious enough... now you want to make it even Louder???

A dude on a Harley pulled up last week, and his soundsystem was so loud, my wife and I couldn't hold a conversation, in our car, WITH THE WINDOWS UP.

I'll bet the motorcycle and P.A. was about 110dB, at least.

You see the same thing with boats, they discovered horns a long time ago.
 
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Wow, such hostility! And from so far away.
Sheesh:D. Actually, I don't really want this for me. There's a guy who regularly shows up at the Tim Hortons the bikers in town congregate at. My bikes(I have 2)don't have wind shields of any kind. This guy is an ex-machinist savant who used to travel the world troubleshooting all kinds of sophisticated CNC and conventional equipment for large corporations until his eyes developed macular degeneration. He can still see but not to that required standard. Odd he doesn't continue in his vocation as he says he's able to do this line of work blind-folded. All he needs is descriptions. Anyway, he rides a little Vespa with two 12X8X6 wooden cabs mounted behind him as he rides. You can tell he's coming long before he gets there. When he does, there's no bass.:cool:
 
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It's hard to make an impression on people that way


As for me, I don't try to, or feel the need to "make an impression" on people.
I just be myself, and do what I do.
Besides, you can't please everyone, and living your life around trying to impress others is a sign of weakness.

Most like me as I am, others can stick it....:eek:


Being as strict as I usually am with things, I apparently have gained a good reputation through the decades from my customers and friends.
That, in itself, is fine with me.
 
Isn’t your Harley obnoxious enough... now you want to make it even Louder???

It cracks me up that some Harley riders want to be mistaken for teenagers in beat up Honda Civics as they pull up with music blaring.

I saw an interview with Jesse James where he said he one regret with taking the custom bike thing mainstream was that people went from being annoyed and a bit frightened when he pulled up next to them to being friendly and smiling and waving. My guess is the overly loud music is an attempt to go back to annoying people but it is such a juvenile method.

Wow, such hostility!

Some people might actually consider blasting music at other people hostile behavior.

Sheesh:D. Actually, I don't really want this for me.

Well, that changes everything, as long as it is for someone else then it won't annoy everyone around them.
 
Reproducing low bass tones outside is a lot more difficult than reproducing them in a car. The amount of acoustical power to produce a low bass note changes based on whether it's playing into a sphere, half sphere, quarter sphere, etc. Outside is a spherical environment, or half a sphere if the speaker is close enough to the ground.

When you look at outdoor music venues, they almost always have a large wall behind the stage. This makes sound reinforcement so much easier; the music is playing into a quarter sphere.

It's going to take an array of subwoofers to make any kind of real bass for your bike. Have you considered pulling a trailer with stacks of huge cabinets housing 18" woofers, driven by megawatt amplifiers that will need their own generator? That's what you see at parades.
 
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