Electrical Wire for Speaker Wire?

[HwyRider]

Your stereo without an amp will be putting out 17 watts per channel. You will need to boost that up. Since you are only using 2 speakers you can go with a good 2 channel amp that will put out at least 60 watts rms with a peak of 135 watts per channel. That will give you the full capacity of your stereo and speakers.

Do your research until you find an amp that meets the specs. Stop in to a Best Buy and talk to them about amps. Because it's in a fairing you can use a car amp instead of a marine amp.

[HwyRider]

Here are the specs on your speakers.

http://www.polkaudio.com/products/db651

[SC50]

Originally Posted by HwyRider

Your stereo without an amp will be putting out 17 watts per channel. You will need to boost that up. Since you are only using 2 speakers you can go with a good 2 channel amp that will put out at least 60 watts rms with a peak of 135 watts per channel. That will give you the full capacity of your stereo and speakers.

Do your research until you find an amp that meets the specs. Stop in to a Best Buy and talk to them about amps. Because it's in a fairing you can use a car amp instead of a marine amp.

The Alpine I'm looking (KTP-445U) at is 45x4 RMS or 90x2 bridged at 4ohms. Its also small enough to fit neatly in the fairing. I haven't ordered it yet as I don't do a lot of interstate riding and I'm not sure if I'll need all that power quite yet. If the sound is fine on the normal back roads here (60 mph tops) then I'll save that $ for other stuff, prolly a light bar setup with Grotes.

[HwyRider]

At 17 watts you will start washing out at 55. I'm not sure if your pipes are stock or not. If they are aftermarket pipes you will definitely need an amp.

You'll have to do a little more reading on the Alpine. It says that if the head unit has a factory amp built in you would need to by pass it. I'm also guessing that the 45 watts is peak not RMS as they don't give their RMS in the specs.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-A2ahlsW...ower-Pack.html

Take a look at the specs for this RF and you can see the RMS and Peak ratings.

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...tails/pbr300x2

When you're shopping for an amp make sure that you can see both ratings under the amp specs. The RMS is the important rating as that is the continuous power that the speakers will be getting at the max.

[SC50]

Originally Posted by HwyRider

At 17 watts you will start washing out at 55. I'm not sure if your pipes are stock or not. If they are aftermarket pipes you will definitely need an amp.

You'll have to do a little more reading on the Alpine. It says that if the head unit has a factory amp built in you would need to by pass it. I'm also guessing that the 45 watts is peak not RMS as they don't give their RMS in the specs.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-A2ahlsW...ower-Pack.html

Take a look at the specs for this RF and you can see the RMS and Peak ratings.

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...tails/pbr300x2

When you're shopping for an amp make sure that you can see both ratings under the amp specs. The RMS is the important rating as that is the continuous power that the speakers will be getting at the max.

I've never been a fan of RF, goes back to my old high school days and I've just never cared for their hype I guess. Read the specs tab on the Alpine link you posted, it shows the RMS info. My head unit doesn't have an amp already (JVC KDX200)

Even on my former bike with simply a windshield (no fairing) and a cheap shark amp/3" speaker/MP3 player, I never had an issue with volume at 55mph. There were times it was actually too loud for me under 60mph. I thought about trying to use that shark amp with my new audio setup, but I really don't believe its any more than 20watts RMS tops, if that.

[HwyRider]

I wasn't pushing you towards RF. I was just showing how they list the RMS output. Polk does the same thing.

You're probably right about the shark. You could just hook it up to your speakers before you install them and see if sounds louder than before.