Installation Instructions for Plug & Play Radio, Amplifier, and Speakers.

When you unpack your kit you will find:

• Focal PC165 Speakers
• Pre-Mounted Alpine CDE-HD149BT Radio
• Arc Audio KS125.2 Amplifier
• Amplifier Power Kit
• Pre-wired Radio & Hand Control Power Module

The amplifier will mount directly to the top of your new radio. There are already four strips of high quality 3M Velcro added to the bottom of the amplifier. Simply install the radio and stick the amplifier down on top of it. Due to the large amount of surface area, the velcro will have a death grip on the amplifier. The amplifier will be both secure as well as easy to service for years to come. When sticking the amplifier down to the radio make sure that you locate the amplifier as close to your gauges as possible. There is plenty of room, but you don't want to have the amplifier rub against the outer fairing. 

 

Amplifier

When you pull the amplifier out of the box you will notice that the speaker, RCA, and remote turn-on connections have been pre-wired for you. The only connections not made are the power cables that run from the battery to the amplifier. Also all of the settings on the amplifier have been pre-set so that minimal adjustment will be required.

 

Radio

When you pull the radio out of the box you will notice that the radio has been pre-mounted into the billet aluminum kit. There are a few parts in the radio box that you will not be using. The radio comes with a Bluetooth microphone and microphone mount. These parts are not used when installing this radio into a Harley. You will also find a 6 ft. USB cable. You can route this cable to a number of different locations on the bike. Popular locations include: handlebar area, front of seat/behind gas tank, underside plastic below seat so that it can be connected to a second cable that is routed into one of your saddlebags.

 

What it looks like put together:

In this picture you can see how the amplifier should be mounted directly on top of the radio. The speaker connections have been made for you. The longer of the two is for the left side speaker(left sitting on the bike). 

The RCAs are dressed and tied. Simply plug the RCAs into the top two RCA ports on the radio (front). 

Connect the pre-wired remote turn-on wire. This wire runs from the radio to the amplifier and supplies a 12 volt signal that tells the amplifier to turn on when the radio is on.

You will notice that there are some wires that are insulated and tied off. These wires are not used for your type of installation. 

The Bluetooth microphone input for the radio is not used. Your radios bluetooth will still function to stream music to your radio from your phone. The microphone is used to make hands free phone calls. This is obviously not an option on a Harley. The microphone and microphone mount are in the radio box. Set these items aside and do not use them.

The power module has been pre-wired for you. Simply plug it into the radio and plug your factory Harley radio harness into the module. The wire harness that connects the power module to the new radio has been extended for you. The reason that we do this is because it is much easier to mount the power module off to the left of the radio (left as you are looking at the back of the radio with the fairing off, right if you are sitting on the bike). 

Here you can see the power module mounted to the left and below the radio on a Road Glide. Street Glides/Electra Glides have a similar open area inside the fairing. The module can be mounted with velcro or double sided foam tape.

There is a small 3.5mm headphone jack that is bundled with the radio's power harness. Make sure that this is pluged into the port labeled "REM" on the radio. This is the hand control wire. Without this wire plugged into the correct port, your hand controls will not work. 

Your new radio is equipped with a USB port and a 6 foot USB extension cable. This can be routed to a number of different areas on the bike and used to charge your phone and receive data from USB devices. Popular locations for the USB cable to be routed to include: under the seat, handle bars, and to the side plastic under the seat where it can be connected to a second cable that is routed into one of the saddlebags.

Removing Your Old Radio

Save yourself some grief and get yourself a long 3/16" allen with a ball end. This will make removing your old radio a snap. Once the four allen bolts are out, pull your radio out towards the front of the bike.

Mounting the New Radio

Use the 4 allen bolts that held the factory radio in place. Remove your ignition lock and slide the entire radio and kit assembly into the fairing over the ignition switch. Wet the rubber "o"ring slightly before inserting. 

When replacing your ignition lock, make sure that you seat it correctly. If the lock is pushed down too far when being put back in, it will appear to work fine but the bike will not power up. If this happens, simply remove and try again. 

Once the radio is in place 

Plug the radio in, plug the power module in, mount the power module.

Installing the Amplifier

Stick the amplifier down on top of the radio as far towards the front of the radio as possible with the power terminals facing the left of the bike (your right as pictured).

Remove the 30 amp fuse from the fuse holder included in your kit.

Remove your gas tank and run the red and black 10 gauge power cables inside the factory plastic wire channel. Mount the fuse holder on the left side of the bike under the side plastic next to the factory fuse box. 

Run the two power cables up to the front of the bike and connect to the amplifier. Be very careful not to mix up the positive and negative.

Adjusting the amplifier 

Every bike and listener is different. All of the adjustments are pre-set to typical values for the type of equipment that you have. Get to know what each adjustment does and dialing it in will be a snap.

The gain controls are separate for left and right. Both should always be set to the same value. The gain control is not a power control. The gain controls are simply there to match the level of input to output  on the amplifier. If the gains are turned up too high, the system will be noisy and hissy. If the gains are too low the speakers will not reach full volume before the radio volume is maxed out and can lead to distortion from the radio and low sound output. This is the first adjustment that you will make and will also be the last adjustment that you will remake after setting everything else. 

At this point your speakers should be in place, everything should be plugged in and the amplifier fuse should be back in the fuse holder. 

1. Power up the radio and make sure that you have sound. pick a good quality recording for setting up your system. You will ultimately want to use a few recordings after setting up the sound system to ensure that the stereo sounds good with a wide variety of recordings. Some recordings are louder than others and some recordings are actually recorded too loud causing recorded distortion. Avoid these distorted recordings, they will never sound good. You do however want to make sure that a quieter recording will also play loud enough. So go through some of your songs and find a few good quality recordings (some loud & some not so loud).
2. DO NOT ADJUST ANYTHING ON THE RADIO YET! We will make adjustments to the radio after setting up the amplifier.
3. Gain: Crank up the volume until either the speakers start to distort or the radio will not go up any farther. Note the volume level, and then back off the volume a bit. If your radio can't be turned up enough then that means the gains on the amplifier need to go up. If your radio can't be turned up past 80% before the speakers start distorting, then the gains on the amplifier are set too high. Adjust as needed. Your speakers should be screaming at "full tilt boogie" when your radio is turned up to about 80%.
4. Crossover: Next we want to adjust the high pass crossover frequency. This controls how low in frequency the speakers are allowed to play. You want the frequency low enough to sound punchy but not so low that the speaker has to endure excessive physical stress. Low frequencies cause the speaker to move farther distances in and out. Note the position of this knob before proceeding, then turn it up and down to get a feel of its effect on the sound. You will notice that it sounds better when its turned down, although distortion increases and your max volume decreases when this is set too low. When adjusted to the correct level you will achieve a good compromise between killer sound and extreme volume levels. The result will be impressive. 
5. BX2: The BX2 feature on your amplifier is nothing short of magic. When properly adjusted this feature reduces the low frequency demands on your speakers but also increases the amount of bass that you hear! Note the position of this knob before proceeding. Next turn this adjustment up and down to get a feel for how it affects the sound. When this adjustment is too high the speakers will sound "nasal" and "honky" when turned too low it will cause your speaker to attempt to produce bass output that exceeds your speakers lower frequency limitations.  If you start high and slowly turn the knob down you will notice a point where the speaker stops sounding any better. This is the point that you want to find. Now that you have found the point where this sounds best you should try turning the BX2 feature off by flipping the on/off switch. You can now do an A/B comparison and hear for yourself just how magical this feature is.
6. Readjust Gains: now that you have things sounding great you need to readjust your gains again. All of the adjustments that you have made affect the "total gain structure" so some adjustment is needed. Follow the same procedure as before. Remember to use a variety of recordings because once you put that fairing back on you will no longer have access to these settings.

Adjusting the Radio 

Your Alpine radio is equipped with several unique features that you should know about if you want to get the best sound out on the road. 

1. The first thing to know is that your Alpine CD player is equipped with a 9 band equalizer as well as bass and treble controls. These are separate controls that can be used together in order to achieve the results that you desire.The 9 band equalizer is a key element that will allow you to get a much higher level of performance from your speakers. 
2. Your Alpine radio has a free smartphone app (Apple & Android) called "tune-it" that allows you to make adjustments in real time with a great visual display. This app is wonderful and easy to use. You can save your settings with this app so that even if your bikes battery is disconnected you will not loose your settings! This app makes it so much faster and easier to tune your bike that you will wonder why anyone would ever do it any other way. 
3. You can set your destination on your iPhone before you take off and you will get turn by turn GPS directions announced as you ride. If you make a wrong turn you will be redirected automatically.  
4. Your Alpine Radio is equipped with "BT Plus" this is a much higher quality level of Bluetooth audio than other radios use. With BT Plus you can enjoy high fidelity without being plugged in. In addition your phone will act as a Bluetooth wireless remote. So when parked, you can walk around the bike and use your phone to control tracks and volume remotely.
5. You wont need to use the crossover settings on your radio because you have already done this at the amplifier. If you decide to expand on your system in the future with more speakers, your 6 channels and built in crossover features that your radio has will serve you well.