Intro
There’s nothing like hitting the open road on you Harley Davidson for the long haul. Cross country trips are one of the most rewarding things you can do on your motorcycle. For the touring bikes you get all of the amenities you’d want on those long days including navigation, cruise control, traction control, and one of our favorites, audio to jam your favorite tunes as you ride through the wind. Can you hear the freedom yet?
For the long haul enthusiasts or the light to light hot rod riders Harley Davidson has an audio system to accomplish what you need at any speed. Loud pipes save lives, so you need loud speakers! Harley’s solution for the past few years is the Boom! Audio system. Boom! Audio has tons of different options and configurations from replacement speakers to full blown audio systems to push your Harley Davidson motorcycle’s audio to new levels.
In this article I will highlight everything there is to know about the Boom! Audio options available for your Harley Davidson motorcycle. All of the items in Harley’s Boom! Audio kits are available separately. For the sake of this article we will be talking about the kits as a single item.
If you choose to go a custom route you can buy the pieces individually. Like Harley Davidson perfectly puts it in their accessories catalog, “From a single pair of fairing-mounted speakers and a 300w amp to a full bore 8-speaker, 4-amp, 1200w system, we’ve got you covered.” Visit your local Harley Davidson dealership to learn more and to help you configure your setup. There’s a lot of configurations so let’s dive in and go through it all.
Amplifier
Both kits come with the same 4-channel 300W Boom! Audio amplifier. Harley Davidson offers a fairing mounted amp or a tour pack mounted amp. The tour pack amp is of course used only if you have a tour pack and rear speakers. This amp bypasses and replaces the radio’s internal amp unlike most after market amps. This is done to create a cleaner sound. It is also a marine grade amp to keep your stereo safe in the event of bad weather.
Both Stage I and II Boom! Audio kits discussed below do include this same amp, or you can purchase the amp separately to upgrade the sound on your stock Harley Davidson speakers. If you are adding more than two additional speakers you can add an additional amp to the tour pack of any Electra Glide or Ultra models.
Boom! Audio Stage I Motorcycle Audio System
For a stepped up kit above and beyond what a stock configuration gets you, check out the stage I Boom! Audio kit. The Boom! Audio stage I speakers are upgraded 6.5” speakers with built in 1” tweeters. They include larger woofers for more base and the tweeter built in for a balanced and high quality sound. The kit includes either one or two sets of speakers depending on your Harley Davidson model. The Electra Glides and Road Glide Ultras with rear speaker pods come with all four speakers where as the Road Glides and Street Glides only come with fairing speakers.
In addition to the amp and stock speaker upgrade, you can also add additional speakers to your bike. You can add up to 4 additional speakers for a total of eight if you have an Electra Glide or Ultra with a maximum of six if you don’t have a tour pack! The most common places are the saddlebag lid speakers or, if you have lower fairings, a set of speakers mounted upfront on your lower fairings.
The saddlebag lid speakers are waterproof 5x7s that fit seamlessly on the lid of the your saddlebags. You do have to get color matched lids when you purchase this kit. The fairing lowers are 6.5” waterproof speakers and also require color matched boxes that fit the lower fairings like a glove. An expansion kit specific to the stage I speakers is also needed to be able to run additional sets of speakers. Harley Davidson has done the research for you, all you have to do is configure it to your liking. Boom! Audio speakers also come with a 2 year factory warranty.
For configuration tips or tricks and to figure out exactly what you need to get you jamming up and down the highway visit your local Harley Davidson dealership for advice and installation.
Boom! Audio Stage II Motorcycle Audio System
The Boom! Audio Stage II system will deliver the very best motorcycle audio experience that Harley Davidson directly offers. The Stage II 150w speakers are bi-amplified two channel, 3-way speakers and are designed to increase volume, sound quality, and increase durability. This is to accommodate the fact that each speaker has a separate woofer, midrange, and tweeter element. You also get power from two separate channels. One channel powers the woofer and the other powers both the mid and tweeters. This results in a better base response and a clean mid to high sound. You can jam out even louder with less distortion than other motorcycle audio systems.
These speakers are built with metal grills and are of course weather and shock resistant. You can be sure that you’ll be rocking out for awhile after these are installed on your bike.
Just like the Stage I kit, you can add up to 4 additional speaker depending on the model bike you have. The only difference is you get the stage II speakers instead of the stage I for the best and most crisp sound quality possible. Visibly, you will notice the external tweeter pod on the grill of these speakers unlike the stage I kit. All Boom! Audio speakers come with a 2 year factory warranty.
If you want to add additional speakers the first location is of course the saddlebag lids. The Boom! Audio Stage II Speaker Kit specifically designed for the saddlebags is the way to go. The speakers are “directionally optimized” to point towards the rider to deliver the most sound that way. Similar to the speakers mentioned above, the Stage II saddlebag lid speakers were designed for higher volume, crisper sound, and added durability.
The second location where you can add two additional speakers is in the fairing lowers. The fairing lowers use the same speakers as the fairing speakers but come with a backing plate and molded tray so that installation is seamless and the look is factory. Harley Davidson has developed two kits depending on if you have a twin cooled model or a regular touring model. Keep in mind, you will need fairing lowers to mount these speakers inside of. See your local Harley Davidson dealer for more details on these speakers and on ordering a set of color matched fairing lowers if your bike doesn’t come with them.
Boom! Bluetooth
For communication with either passengers or other riders in your group look no further. You can now do this wirelessly with Boom! Audio’s bluetooth headset options available for 2014 and later touring models. With a Wireless Headset Interface Module (WHIM for short) you are now able to connect wirelessly to your infotainment system, which then allows you to communicate through the CB radio, turn by turn GPS navigation, and listen to your music.
The Boom!™ Audio 30K Bluetooth® Headset is Harley-Davidson®'s top wireless headset developed to simplify and extend wireless communication. The 30K Headset comes with 2 modules (1 Bluetooth® and 1 Mesh). When paired with the Harley Davidson WHIM module this setup offers an extraordinary consolidated experience. When paired with the WHIM, you can enjoy full stereo sound, use the bike's infotainment screen to configure your headset, and utilize the existing hand controls to navigate through the music, phone, GPS and push-to-talk intercom conversations and features safely. This headset will also enable the use of Apple CarPlay hen equipped with the Boom!™ Box GTS Radio. Without the WHIM, you can control your 30K through available hands-free voice commands or the glove friendly jog dial menu navigation. There is also an available earbud port in the base if you prefer to use earbuds.
The Boom!™ Audio 20S EVO headset is next up on the lineup from Harley Davidson. This headset is a state-of-the-art Bluetooth® 4.1 communication system. You will be able to call hands-free, listen to stereo music or voice instructions of GPS navigation by Bluetooth® wirelessly, and have intercom conversations with a passenger and/or other riders. The Boom! Audio 20S EVO headset features Audio Multitasking technology. Audio Multitasking enables simultaneous intercom conversation while listening to the built-in FM radio or Bluetooth®-sourced music or GPS navigation instructions. Think of Audio Multitasking as seamless integration of incoming and outgoing audio. It eliminates the interruption-based audio functions of many existing Bluetooth® communication devices.
Like the top of the line Boom!™ Audio 30K Bluetooth® Headset, the Boom!™ Audio 10S Bluetooth® Motorcycle Helmet Headset offers an extraordinary consolidated experience. When paired to your bike's Boom!™ Box infotainment system via the Wireless Headset Interface Module (WHIM), you can enjoy full stereo sound, use the bike's infotainment screen to configure your headset, and leverage the existing hand controls to ensure safe and controlled riding while navigating through the music, phone, GPS and push-to-talk intercom conversations and features. This headset will also enable the use of Apple CarPlay hen equipped with the Boom!™ Box GTS Radio. Without the WHIM, you can control your 10S through available hands-free voice commands or the glove friendly navigation menu. The 10S Headset comes with 1 Bluetooth® module. There is an available earbud port in the base if you prefer to use earbuds.
No full face? No problem. The Boom! Audio Expand Half-Helmet Headset, coupled the Boom! Box GTS Radio or with the Harley-Davidson Wireless Interface Module (WHIM) (both sold separately) provides the best hands-free experience. When coupled with the WHIM, you go completely wireless but still maintain long range bluetooth while keeping your music, gps navigation, and hand free available on your motorcycle.
For a charted breakdown of these headsets check out the chart above directly from Harley Davidson. For more application specific questions contact your local Harley Davidson dealership for more information on how to upgrade your motorcycle audio.