Motorcycle Audio Amplifier

My kids bought me a Sirius radio for the bike this Christmas. But to use it, I need some type of amplifier as it just doesn't have enough volume to power my Koss Earbuds, and it has no easily accessable volume control. A search turned up many mini amplifiers, but none of them are specific to motorcycle use.

After not finding exactly what I think the motorcycle community needs I've entered into negotiations with one of the mini amp producers to design and manufacture a motorcycle specific amp/mixer. The unit will have three inputs, two mono and one stereo, all on the rear. The output (headphone jack), on/off switch and volume knob will be front mounted. The unit will operate off of 12V directly from the bike. It will be "water resistant" and retail for under $100......

I'm assured this is all doable...........Stay tuned for more info. If anyone wants to be kept in the loop on this, please email me and I'll keep you updated as we progress........

RVB100@comcast.net

RoyB

Rumble to some tunes

There is an amplifier called Rumble Road that is specifically made for bikes. I have no experience with it so I don't know how it works. These guys advertise in our ON magazine try www.mhinstruments.com .
There is also a product called a boosteroo, it is for earbuds, and may be found at www.cyclegadgets.com
Hope this helps!!

The Rumble Road puts out 40Watts per channel. This is WAY more than you need , or want for anytype of earbud speakers. It would be fine for loudspeakers mounted on a Wing or LT. Plus the current draw must be somewhere north of 50watts. Lots of bikes don't have this much cyrrent available after driving aux lights, grips and heated clothing...
The "Boostero" does not have a volume control and it only runs on batteries which only last a few hours. Sound quality is also lacking.
Both of these units only have one input. You would need another unit to hook up your GPS and radar detector.
But thanks for bringing them up,

It already exists: www.mixitproducts.com

You can also use the xma3 from Tesseract Mobile Electronics. It's a powered amplifier with mulitiple inputs designed for motorcycle use but you would need to add your own inline volume control.

Michael

Oh well I tried.

I totally forgot about the xma3, I briefly had one and didn't know about the mixit.

Yes, I've researched the Mix-It...Almost there!

But, It doesn't mute the audio when the GPS wants you to hear something, costs $150, is rather large, isn't truely water-resistant, has 9V internal which isn't necessary, and the inputs run down the side which will make a nasty looking installation............Plus by using all stereo inputs, there are all kinds of issues with mono units causing ground loops (see MixIt's FAQ on their web site)

The Tesseract is $190 and still needs a volume control along with all the issues of the Mix-It

Ours will be "evolution" not "revolution"..............

I have built one out of Radio Design Lab stick on modules, and then purchased the Mixit. There are always options.

Also ground loops have nothing to do with stereo or monaural signal. In fact it is pretty difficult to get a ground loop on a motorcycle cause there is only one ground plane for power. It is very easy to get noise caused by DC ripple.

Also since I am curious, what is your definition of water resititant? Cause I know almost every solid state DC item can handle brief stints in water.

If you think you can make it go, good luck but just remember what might be perfect for you ain't perfect for everyone.

Thanks Brad, I appreciate the input!

In my previous business we called designing something just for yourself, "mirror marketing".......You're correct about that, but in my research I think I've hit upon a combination of price, features and function that will appeal to the majority of sport/adventure/tourers.

In less than an hour I have over 40 emails from folks requesting to be put on a notification list........The internet is simply amazing for immediacy!

Water resistance simply means the unit can be rained upon and still function. But giving it a dunk might cause problems.......I'm not planning on having it meet any spec, just designed to be "tolerant" of a little H2O

Thanks again.........

RoyB

How I listen to my Sirius

I went to radio shack and bought a spool of headphone wire. Its one "wire" that acutally has three seperate wires inside, L, R and a common ground. I also bought a small stereo volume knob and some stereo headphone miniplugs and jacks.
I soldered these all together so that I plug my bootaroo into the Sirius reciever on my handlebars and one of the miniplugs I soldered into the boostaroo. This wire goes to the volume knob that I have mounted in an unused switch housing on my crash pad of my K75.
Then the wire that leaves the knob goes to my autocom so that I have volume control.

I made a similar set up for my dad who doesn't have an autocom. The wire that leaves the volume knob has a mini plug jack soldered onto it. I ran the wire under the tank so that the jack is located between the seat and tank. This way he can plug his helmet speakers right into that.

Related Audio Question

I'm hoping someone here with more audio knowledge than I do can help me. I ride with an iPod and speakers in my helmet and I also just purchased the BMW Navigator II which has an audio output. Is it possible to simply get a Y connector and plug the stereo iPod into one connector of the Y and the mono GPS into the other and then connect the output to my headphones? Will I be damaging any of the devices or ?

Thanks,
Scott

CHPBike said:

I'm hoping someone here with more audio knowledge than I do can help me. I ride with an iPod and speakers in my helmet and I also just purchased the BMW Navigator II which has an audio output. Is it possible to simply get a Y connector and plug the stereo iPod into one connector of the Y and the mono GPS into the other and then connect the output to my headphones? Will I be damaging any of the devices or ?

Thanks,
Scott

Click to expand...

Yes, you can possibly damage your devices. The output of one device will follow the path of least resistance to ground, which might be the output of the other device. Most output devices in portable electronics don't have good grounding so it can get dicey. However Radio Shack should sell a Summing Cable that would do this for you and make it work.

I just received this device

http://www.accessoryworkshop.com/

Works absolutly perfectly. Just be prepared for a long wait. I ordered it in October....Received it last week!

That accessoryworkshop one looks great and at a good price!

What do y'all audio/electrical experts think of this simple circuit to combine 2 inputs:

Simple Audio Mixer Circuit

Will it suitably protect the input devices?

R100RS said:

That accessoryworkshop one looks great and at a good price!

What do y'all audio/electrical experts think of this simple circuit to combine 2 inputs:

Simple Audio Mixer Circuit

Will it suitably protect the input devices?

Click to expand...

It should work.

CHPBike said:

I'm hoping someone here with more audio knowledge than I do can help me. I ride with an iPod and speakers in my helmet and I also just purchased the BMW Navigator II which has an audio output. Is it possible to simply get a Y connector and plug the stereo iPod into one connector of the Y and the mono GPS into the other and then connect the output to my headphones? Will I be damaging any of the devices or ?

Thanks,
Scott

Click to expand...

I too use a xma3 and this is specifically what it was designed to do. It has the added "auto-ducking" feature that mutes the stereo input when you have a GPS or Radar audio warning present. I use an inline volume control that was about $5 from Radio Shack IIRC. I actually prefer that to having a volume control on the unit as I have the unit in the tank bag and hang the R-S control outside. Which means not only can I adjust volume on the go, I can plug/unplug my in-ears without opening the tankbag.