Rear Speakers - helpful or a waste?

[Ponitail]

I'd like to donate my 2 cents. I have a 2013 Voyager bought new without the rear speakers. I was going to add them till I saw the $430 price tag. Instead I purchased a pair of marine grade speakers from Shark Audio for the measly sum of $40. After mounting them on, I adjusted the fade to -1 and the sound was perfectly balanced right at my ear, while parked. With the stereo at 15 I could hear fine as long as I was riding around town, about 30 - 40mph. Any faster than that I could not hear any sound from the rear speakers. Adjusted the fade to -4 to get more sound from the rear. At one point I had the volume maxed out at 30. I could hear great from the rear, but then didn't have as much sound from the front. Then I adjusted the fade to plus 7. Now I can hear great from the front speakers at 80mph with the volume at about 17.

If I had a passenger on a regular basis I would consider upgrading to the better speakers for the rear and add an amp to increase volume. However, my bike is a solo ride, I don't even have a rear seat. So I decided to remove the rear speakers. I purchased a Clarion amp, and Polk speakers to upgrade my system and I think I'll be quite happy with that setup.

If your interested in this type of an upgrade check out an article on this site by Fried Chicken Blowout. He performed this upgrade and posted it on here with detailed descriptions and pictures.

[Boscoe]

Great comments and information! Thanks.