Bike audio??

Can anybody give me advise on setting up music on a bike?
I'm thinking of a MP3 player or minidisk player through helmet speakers for
the ride to Philip Isl from Brisbane. - I'd imagine the the speakers are the
critical bit.
I tried earbuds & they were uncomfortable & I couldn't really hear the
music/radio at over 60kph.
Any advise or leads greatfully accepted.

Bummers
GSX1100 - The ultimate tourer, racer, wobbler

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 31 Aug 2003 22:42:07 GMT

I've had reasonable success with a set of small speakers from jaycar,
which I then attached to a volume control from a cheapish set of
headphones designed to use with a TV. (from Dick Smith - I paid about
20 bucks on special). The volume control is useful if you need to slow
down and don't want to be deafened....

Soldered wire to the speakers, soldered other end to a 3.5mm stereo jack,
added velcro hook to the speakers, that assembly then sits in the helmet
with the jack tucked up in the padding.

I cut off the speakers from the TV headset leaving the wire to the
volume control, and soldered a 3.5mm stereo plug to that. The other
end of the volume control has the original 3.5mm plug that goes into
the TV, that now plugs into the sound source.

Works fairly well, although I do need a fair amount of power from the
sound source to hear it at highway speeds.

I have a set of earplugs - Alpine brand, bought from a mob at the Bike
Expo, probably available in Oz somewhere, try safety shops - which
pass on speech type noise fairly well, while blocking the wind rush.
Using these I can hear the music much better.

The speakers I bought were fairly cheap, better speakers may need less
oomph from the sound source.

My ideal would be to use the innards of noise cancelling headphones as a
permanent helmet installation, but I'm not willing to spend the $80-90
to buy a set to play with, as I bet fitting the mikes properly would be
tricky.

Zebee

 

Zebee

what happens if you come off the bike and hit your head? (This is just a
general question). I was thinking that having something hard in your
ear (ear phones) or next to your ear (speakers) may have real bad
consequences even if you just fall off the bike while standing still.
The thought of the full impact of any fall being taken by my ear (or
even worse...inside my ear, or the bone around my ear) fills me with fear.

Any thoughts? Or am I being paranoid?

Mike

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 01 Sep 2003 12:01:00 +1000

I don't know. doesn't fill me with fear, as I figure if I hit my head
hard enough for that to matter, I've got worse things to worry about.

If it scares you, then clearly music while you ride is not as important
to you as that fear is. You get to make the choice.

Up to you to decide
- how likely you are to hit your head in the spot where the speakers
are
- how hard you have to hit before the speakers contact your head hard
enough to do damage
- what sort of damage will be done.

My thoughts on that are:
- not very, based on many getoffs and how often the head has been hit
and where. (twice, both times above ear level, in a hell of a lot of
getoffs at various speeds)
- Would have to be bloody hard, considering that my helmet fits
properly, and the speakers aren't touching any part of my head
- I might get a bruised ear, the head is a very tough thing and there's
not too much damageable by a bang right there that won't heal quickly
enough.

My philosophy is that if I am going to let something influence how I
act, I should think about it, not just kneejerk. If after thinking
about it I am still scared of it, I won't do it. If the advantages of
doing it are greater than the fear, I will do it, minimising the risks
I see till the balance is right. Whether that's music on long trips,
or riding in a t-shirt.

Up to you to decide where *your* balance is.

Zebee

 

Ok I have a car stereo in my box on the back.

1. Can you ride with sound running in ya helmet? It's something that can be
quite off putting to start off with.

2. Don't use a CD player. They jump all the time and it's just shithouse.

What I did was mount the car cd player somewhere where it can't be taken and
won't get wet, ie in the top box for the trip to PI. then I ran (or will
cause I'm lazy) run a wire from the taillight to use as the 'remote', that
switches it on and off, ran a heavy wire from the battery for earth and
positive terminals, and then a stereo wire from the front to the back of the
bike. I bought a 'microphone' wire from dick smiths, it has a coil in it,
the 2m one is perfect. Then soldered a couple of connectors for the
handlebar connection. The 6.5 mm jacks work fantastic and are easier and
more sturdy.

The helmet connection is a lot harder. The headphones I bought ($6 at
jaycar) have a fine wire that is found in most headphones and must be
supported or else they continously break. The headphones I bought had the
vol thing right near the ear piece in the perfect possie to mount them in my
helmet. I took off the strap across the head of the headphones and ground
down the back (opp the speaker) side to stop the earpieces giving me a head
ache then velcroed them into place upside down to the way they normally go
on ya head, as in my helmet there is a perfect gap to slide the long part of
the head phones into place.

If I was to do it again, and I might change mine before PI is to use a box
on the handlebars with a trimpot inside to adjust the volume, it'd be easier
to use. I also used only one outlet channel from the CD player, and this is
enough to distort the sound and deafen me at 160kph. More than that I don't
hear the music...

Any more q's yell out

Nath
CX500, wired for sound...

 

fair 'nuff.

I think my "vision" of the set up was slightly (very) wrong. I was
thinking the earphones/speakers being resting (or almost resting) on the
ear, being protruding from the helmet foam. If that was the case, any
knock on the helmet (even a little one...), from almost any direction
(no straight front on or back on) means that the full impact will be
taken by the speaker hitting your ear, instead of being spread around
the head. Even a friendly clip on the back of the helmet by a friend
may cause enough pressure on the ear piece to do damage.

Of course, if the speaker was embedded in the foam, then the foam would
hit first, no probs.

Mike

 

ah ha! With the dropping of a penny, enlightenment is reached

yep.

Mike

 

Why?

You could have a home stereo in your box ....


tony

 

Koss!
~

 

I'm sorry, I have a cold.

-----sharks

 

hehe - i've often thought that is exactly why all the servo's out in the
middle of nowhere sell such absolute shit music. I figure it is for
those poor people who forgot to bring tapes on the trip - and they are
so desperate they will buy *anything*

Mark
Malvern-Star

 

240 Volt Power my friend. I'm currently prepping the sub for the sound off
competition!

Nathan

 

I have the Sony MZ-N10 and Sony MDREX71SL, they are both superb.

If you have extra dough, you can get the Etymotic ER-6 Isolator
earbuds, which is very impressive and used by musician.

http://www.etymotic.com/images/PDF/er6info.pdf

 

Ick! I hope they cleaned them, some of those musicians are
pretty gooey.

-----sharks

 

Autocom product is available in Australia - they have 10mm thick speakers
that can be velcroed in place - but ain't cheap,
I checked them out at Olbis in Brisbane & the whole Autocom setup looks like
the bees knees! - but ain't cheap!

See - http://www.bluerim.com.au/index.htm for details & dealers.


Bummers
GSX1100 - The ultimate tourer, racer, wobbler