Stereo System?

koolaid_kid wrote: I wear Ink'd ear buds by Skullkandy with my iPod when I rise. I keep it at a moderate volume and I have no problem hearing everything around me.
As a backup, my smartphone also has an MP3 library on it that I can also use.

I've used my skullcandy smokin' buds a couple of times and they seem to work pretty well. I could also hear ambient noise pretty well. I just don't like the cord hanging and they seem to fall out too often.

That means you're going too fast, 79mk11 :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

79MKII wrote:

koolaid_kid wrote: I wear Ink'd ear buds by Skullkandy with my iPod when I ride. I keep it at a moderate volume and I have no problem hearing everything around me.
As a backup, my smartphone also has an MP3 library on it that I can also use.

I've used my skullcandy smokin' buds a couple of times and they seem to work pretty well. I could also hear ambient noise pretty well. I just don't like the cord hanging and they seem to fall out too often.

The cord is an issue. I put the iPod in a pocket in my shirt or jacket and tuck the cord in the pocket, but give myself enough slack to turn my head.
It sometimes takes me 2-3 tries to get them to stay in when I put my helmet on, but it is worth it..

hell yes..lots of guys have tunes blasting....loving it too

Tri, Tri, Tri.....we can always count on you to post a great picture. This one from your personal collection, no doubt.

Check out the Sena SMH-10. It is a helmet intercom that has speakers mounted in the helmet. It will intercom with up to 3 of your buddies, plus bluetooth with your phone. You can run GPS, take phone calls, and listen to music. I bought one and love it. All my buddies bought them too and they work great.

fordtruck wrote: Check out the Sena SMH-10. It is a helmet intercom that has speakers mounted in the helmet. It will intercom with up to 3 of your buddies, plus bluetooth with your phone. You can run GPS, take phone calls, and listen to music. I bought one and love it. All my buddies bought them too and they work great.

That sounds really good. Is the cell phone function really usable? You can hear OK and they can hear you OK on the other end?

It works great for phone calls. I've had no trouble hearing the other person, or them hearing me. The only trouble that I've had is the intercom is voice activated. You press a button and then tell it to call somebody. It never recognizes the name I'm saying if I'm riding any faster than city speeds. I guess the wind noise confuses it. Other than that, we all joke about how we ever lived without it!

Sounds great...that might be the way to go. A big advantage of the helmet system over the stereo system is that I can use it on any motorcycle, not just the one. I wear my helmet almost always now too...didn't used to, but that's another story for another thread.

The BOSS MC400 system has great reviews, and is available through Walmart.com. Choose site to store pick-up and shipping is free. I bought a set, but decided I'd rather use a single earbud inside my helmet. The speakers are nice, but huge and chrome and I thought they wouldn't look right on my bike.

I've been toying with the idea of mounting them in something that I can strap to my sissy bar, like an Ammo can. I also bought a GO Groove Blugate, which is a Bluetooth receiver. You hook it into the amp and can stream from your phone without a physical connection.

Wow, those are big speakers. I don't think I would like those on my KZ. Leaning more toward the bluetooth thing.

One of my other bikes is a 1990 Honda GL1500 Goldwing that I ride two up with my wife. The goldwing has a built in stereo, and intercom for passenger / rider communication. When I go on multiple day rides I use a Zumo 550 navigator programmed with routes from Garmin's "Base Camp" PC app.. If you use a navigator in this way you need the audio or you frequently deviate from your planned route and "recalculate" puts you in never never land. I had to do a bit of surgery to my goldwing radio to wire in the Zumo audio but now it works great.

So since I had all the helmet gear for my goldwing I figured I would just make that work on my '88 KZ1000p. I bought my headsets from J&M [ www.jmcorp.com/index.htm ] and wired up my own cable from the Zumo to connect to my goldwing helmet. I ride with earplugs so I need the volume very loud, so I had to buy an amplifier which I purchased from this site [ electric-avenues.com/audio/amplirider/ ] I can store audio files in my Zumo so I just listen to my own reprogrammed music when I want tunes. The amplifier has three audio inputs so if I wanted to I could hook up any radio.

I'm very happy with the outcome.

Would I do it this way if I didn't own the goldwing and already had the headset equipped helmet? Likely I would have tried bluetooth headset path. The Zumo has bluetooth. I don't know if that would have worked however. Like I said I ride with earplugs so I need the volume very loud. Also, with the system I now have, everything is connected to the bike 12V DC power. That means I don't need to buy batteries.

Hope this provides you with some options.