Ok, I am far enough in it I can start blabbing about it now. Truth is, i am frustrated and I am stopping for the night but I can tell you what I have done so far.
I asked a question on the other forum about schematic for the 06' and up audio systems. I thought there was a crossover somewhere but I was wrong.
Between a helpful gentleman over there and the fact that I went out and tore the whole front end off the bike to chase the wires down. I found that Honda saw to it to give us a component front speaker system but they decided to feed it with the same signal split to both the tweeter and woofer.
This kind of defeats the whole purpose of a component system. Unless like mention by someone else that the speakers them self have the crossovers built in! Ok, that makes sense.
Ok so now I know that the speakers up front have one input that is split and the same signal is ran to both the tweeter and woofer on each side.
I also found that the entire speaker box up front seems to be connected, there is free space connecting the right and left side, they share the same box. this box also appears to be pretty sealed with the exception of the molded holes that the speaker leads run thru, it is about the size of a finger.
I tested the old and new speakers, one new and one stock both connected and hanging loose out of the boxes. The stock speaker seems to be louder that the polk while just hanging there and the polk is much less distorted and clear.
I push them in the speaker holes to test them as if they are sealed and mounted. there is a major difference in clarity between the two. But they are fighting each other because they share the same space. This is all the testing I can do for now till I can get the other side in.
Now for the fun part. What I had to do to get the mm651 to fit. due to the extra depth of these speakers, you will need to use the extra mounting ring that comes with them. You will have to trim all the tabs off the ring and also cut some of the edges to square it up some where it hits the meter panel and the metal braces around it.
The speaker also needs to be "Squared up" to fit. The mm651 has a some kind of brittle composite basket, there is no metal. I used a pair of wire cutters to trim both the ring and speaker it really is not that difficult, just nibble at it and try to fit it till it clears everything.
Once I had it trimmed, i had to drill 4 holes to mount the rind to the metal housing that holds the shelter and all it surrounding parts. Once that is mounted, I fit the speaker in the ring and lined it up, drill 4 more holes to mount the speaker to the ring and that part is done.
Before you mount the speaker though there is the task of finding where to mount the crossovers that come with the mm651. Each speaker comes with a small crossover. Since the 2 speaker leads are actually the same input, cut off the leads that went to the tweeter, tape them up and push them back in the dash. Next, take some string, tie it to the speaker leads that go to the woofer and pull them down thru the hole in the bottom of the speaker box. Use the string and tie it to the 2 new sets of speaker leads that come from the output side of the new crossover. Now gently pull the 2 sets of wires up thru the hole and in to the speaker box with enough slack to connect the speaker before installing it. Where to mount the crossover is up to you. I used velcro and attached it to the top of whatever the hell that thing is under the right side panel. This is the airbag model and it does not have a console on that side. On mine, there is some kind of control module there and just enough room to set the crossover on top of it and get the panel back on.
Now keep in mind I have only got the one side done. And remember I told you I tore apart the front of the bike? Well I am not sure how well you will fit the speakers without doing the same as I am able to lift the dash up a little to get the speaker past the tabs. You may be able to just unbolt some of the front and lift it enough to get it part the tabs.
Right now, i have the front panel, windshield, nose pieces and right front cowl off or hanging off the bike. This was only because I needed to know where the speaker leads went to and if there was a crossover somewhere.
Had I know what I know now about the split speaker leads, I would not have done this and I don't know if I would have needed to lift the dash up to clear the speaker.
I can tell you that you CAN get these speakers to fit but it is a PITA !! I did not have to modify or cut the bike at all to get them in. All the trimming was done to the speakers and if I had to, i could put it all back to stock with no problems.
The speakers are the same size as the stock speakers and fit snugly in the stock holes. And I do mean snug. You pretty much have to line them up straight and push them in, there is no room to wiggle them in at an angle to clear obstacles.
I know I said I would do a write up and this is the best I can do right now. I have a few pictures I'll get up when I have time to get the other side together and I will try to clean this up a little. But for now you can count on some cutting, drilling and prying to get these installed but it is doable!
I asked a question on the other forum about schematic for the 06' and up audio systems. I thought there was a crossover somewhere but I was wrong.
Between a helpful gentleman over there and the fact that I went out and tore the whole front end off the bike to chase the wires down. I found that Honda saw to it to give us a component front speaker system but they decided to feed it with the same signal split to both the tweeter and woofer.
This kind of defeats the whole purpose of a component system. Unless like mention by someone else that the speakers them self have the crossovers built in! Ok, that makes sense.
Ok so now I know that the speakers up front have one input that is split and the same signal is ran to both the tweeter and woofer on each side.
I also found that the entire speaker box up front seems to be connected, there is free space connecting the right and left side, they share the same box. this box also appears to be pretty sealed with the exception of the molded holes that the speaker leads run thru, it is about the size of a finger.
I tested the old and new speakers, one new and one stock both connected and hanging loose out of the boxes. The stock speaker seems to be louder that the polk while just hanging there and the polk is much less distorted and clear.
I push them in the speaker holes to test them as if they are sealed and mounted. there is a major difference in clarity between the two. But they are fighting each other because they share the same space. This is all the testing I can do for now till I can get the other side in.
Now for the fun part. What I had to do to get the mm651 to fit. due to the extra depth of these speakers, you will need to use the extra mounting ring that comes with them. You will have to trim all the tabs off the ring and also cut some of the edges to square it up some where it hits the meter panel and the metal braces around it.
The speaker also needs to be "Squared up" to fit. The mm651 has a some kind of brittle composite basket, there is no metal. I used a pair of wire cutters to trim both the ring and speaker it really is not that difficult, just nibble at it and try to fit it till it clears everything.
Once I had it trimmed, i had to drill 4 holes to mount the rind to the metal housing that holds the shelter and all it surrounding parts. Once that is mounted, I fit the speaker in the ring and lined it up, drill 4 more holes to mount the speaker to the ring and that part is done.
Before you mount the speaker though there is the task of finding where to mount the crossovers that come with the mm651. Each speaker comes with a small crossover. Since the 2 speaker leads are actually the same input, cut off the leads that went to the tweeter, tape them up and push them back in the dash. Next, take some string, tie it to the speaker leads that go to the woofer and pull them down thru the hole in the bottom of the speaker box. Use the string and tie it to the 2 new sets of speaker leads that come from the output side of the new crossover. Now gently pull the 2 sets of wires up thru the hole and in to the speaker box with enough slack to connect the speaker before installing it. Where to mount the crossover is up to you. I used velcro and attached it to the top of whatever the hell that thing is under the right side panel. This is the airbag model and it does not have a console on that side. On mine, there is some kind of control module there and just enough room to set the crossover on top of it and get the panel back on.
Now keep in mind I have only got the one side done. And remember I told you I tore apart the front of the bike? Well I am not sure how well you will fit the speakers without doing the same as I am able to lift the dash up a little to get the speaker past the tabs. You may be able to just unbolt some of the front and lift it enough to get it part the tabs.
Right now, i have the front panel, windshield, nose pieces and right front cowl off or hanging off the bike. This was only because I needed to know where the speaker leads went to and if there was a crossover somewhere.
Had I know what I know now about the split speaker leads, I would not have done this and I don't know if I would have needed to lift the dash up to clear the speaker.
I can tell you that you CAN get these speakers to fit but it is a PITA !! I did not have to modify or cut the bike at all to get them in. All the trimming was done to the speakers and if I had to, i could put it all back to stock with no problems.
The speakers are the same size as the stock speakers and fit snugly in the stock holes. And I do mean snug. You pretty much have to line them up straight and push them in, there is no room to wiggle them in at an angle to clear obstacles.
I know I said I would do a write up and this is the best I can do right now. I have a few pictures I'll get up when I have time to get the other side together and I will try to clean this up a little. But for now you can count on some cutting, drilling and prying to get these installed but it is doable!
