F3T - Speaker and sound improvement ?

[amcvay1979]

Quick Question re: the JBL Component set that's supposed to be the best sound quality....the GTO 508c. It doesn't appear those are Marine grade speakers, which I assume the stock speakers are? With the speakers being exposed to rain and other elements, wouldn't the speakers need to be marine grade?

If no, I'll probably buy a set and install them to the head unit to see how it sounds.

 

[Rattlebars]

Same here so I don't think getting new ones from dealer will fix it. I would like to get some after market ones. But don't know what will work. I do not want to have to cut or add amps. Just want good speakers

I have tried and tried, but cannot get anything to work. the woofers don't get the full range so coax do nothing and the base works with Polk DB501s (they bolt right in) but they fart worse than the OEM speakers (not enough power).

Quick Question re: the JBL Component set that's supposed to be the best sound quality....the GTO 508c. It doesn't appear those are Marine grade speakers, which I assume the stock speakers are? With the speakers being exposed to rain and other elements, wouldn't the speakers need to be marine grade?

If no, I'll probably buy a set and install them to the head unit to see how it sounds.

DON"T buy the GTO's. They work great on RTs apparently, but the F3 is a different animal and they do nothing. Marine is not that important as long as you don't hit them directly through the grill with a power washer. The OEM speakers seem to be just paper.

 

[amcvay1979]

I have tried and tried, but cannot get anything to work. the woofers don't get the full range so coax do nothing and the base works with Polk DB501s (they bolt right in) but they fart worse than the OEM speakers (not enough power).



DON"T buy the GTO's. They work great on RTs apparently, but the F3 is a different animal and they do nothing. Marine is not that important as long as you don't hit them directly through the grill with a power washer. The OEM speakers seem to be just paper.

Good to know....I'm going to tackle the speakers soon, but if you can't just drop in new, better speakers I'm sure an amp will be in the cards as well. Are you saying that nothing you've added speaker wise sounds good in the F3?

 

[Rattlebars]

Good to know....I'm going to tackle the speakers soon, but if you can't just drop in new, better speakers I'm sure an amp will be in the cards as well. Are you saying that nothing you've added speaker wise sounds good in the F3?

That is what I'm saying. The woofer speaker terminals have only the bass frequencies. No good for coax speakers. I have not tried the the midrange terminals to see if they are full range. I tried to hook up an amp (old Rockford Fosgate 200s Punch) and got no results with that on the woofers terminals either. I will be trying again in a few months. If anyone knows who Derrick Johnson is or how to get hold of him, let me know. In the video it looks as if he's using the Green wires for the amp input which are the midrange wires. I believe I will be putting the amp in the frunk close to the battery.

 

[amcvay1979]

That is what I'm saying. The woofer speaker terminals have only the bass frequencies. No good for coax speakers. I have not tried the the midrange terminals to see if they are full range. I tried to hook up an amp (old Rockford Fosgate 200s Punch) and got no results with that on the woofers terminals either. I will be trying again in a few months. If anyone knows who Derrick Johnson is or how to get hold of him, let me know. In the video it looks as if he's using the Green wires for the amp input which are the midrange wires. I believe I will be putting the amp in the frunk close to the battery.

View attachment 166457

My bet is they have a passive crossover hidden somewhere, so you'd need to find that or just run new speaker wires to get rid of that.

 

[Rattlebars]

My bet is they have a passive crossover hidden somewhere, so you'd need to find that or just run new speaker wires to get rid of that.

Passive crossover on the OEM wires after the amp? Nothing like that shows up in the circuit. Speaker part of the circuit shown here:

 

[amcvay1979]

Passive crossover on the OEM wires after the amp? Nothing like that shows up in the circuit. Speaker part of the circuit shown here:

View attachment 166474

Then I'd say the factory amplifier is routing the signals, which I suppose makes sense as they're using a mid and a woofer. So the best bet is to bypass the factory amp altogether or install true mids in the stock location and woofers as well?

 

[Rattlebars]

Then I'd say the factory amplifier is routing the signals, which I suppose makes sense as they're using a mid and a woofer. So the best bet is to bypass the factory amp altogether or install true mids in the stock location and woofers as well?

I need to clarify this thread. I've poured over that video and it seems that he's used the Green "midrange" wires to drive a 2 channel amp running the Coax speakers installed. If you play the video, you will notice that when he demonstrates the sound, there is NO BASS at all, just mid to upper highs because I believe he's using the "midrange" output from the stock radio into a 2 channel (left & right) amp. The bass voice coils don't vibrate at all by the reflection in them. I plan to use a 4 channel amp and run both the OEM midrange and the woofer speaker outs through the amp and get a quality set of component speakers to get the signal from all four channels IE Left two speakers and right 2 speakers.

>CLICK ME<

 

[JS3535]

So what year has a better audio system? The older ones with 2 amps or the newer ones with 1 6x20? The speakers for the 2016 & 2017 are 3x the price of the 2018 & 2019. Not saying that higher price is better quality.

 

[amcvay1979]

I'm still contemplating upgrading the speakers and maybe adding an amp. I wonder if the rear speakers would provide a full range out to send to an amp. Then you'd have to run wires to the front dash and add new speakers, but that may be the only way to pickup full range.

 

[Seattle]

Have you found a solution to resolve the popping sound? I've been scouring the Spyderlovers forum seeking for help from others who are experiencing similar. My '18 F3L has been in the shop four times to try and resolve the issue since spring 2018 - video for reference. Latest software update v20.8 I had completed in July 2019 unfortunately didn't resolve the popping issue.

Anytime my steering bar is turned left/right, static noise emanates from the speakers while in FM station is broadcasting. In the meantime I've had four brand new '18 RT Ltd on loan which also makes the same identical staticky noise through the speakers (video) when the steering is turned left/right. I've asked the dealer to relay this to BRP because I'm suspecting more '18 Spyders with the new digital dash cluster likely has this same issue.

>Has anyone specifically only with the '18 or newer model Spyder's (RT or F3's) that utilises the new digital display cluster notice if:
1) ALL their speakers clip on music's bass points, even while at low volume
2) the FM tuner signal seem is quite staticky and
3) volume output has to be turned up nearly 80%+ in order to hear it at speeds above 50mph/80kph?

I compared my '18 F3 LTD radio volume output against a 2017 F3-LTD. On the 2017 I set the volume output (tuned to the same radio station AND using a music streaming device playing the same song) at 30% and then adjusted the 2018 to an equal level output. My Spyder had to be set at 60% to be equal to the 2017. I've tried this also with the 2018 models with my dealer's new floor models against the 2017's and reproduced the same results.

I have an 2018 F3L. My speakers make a popping sound during moderate to higher bass songs. Is it the woofers or tweeters. Only the front do it. I only have the bass set at 50 percent. What do I need to fix this.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

So what year has a better audio system? The older ones with 2 amps or the newer ones with 1 6x20? The speakers for the 2016 & 2017 are 3x the price of the 2018 & 2019. Not saying that higher price is better quality.

This info is from actually HEARING them perform …. the 16 & 17 speakers were about equal to what I achieved with my 2 ohm JBL speakers …. which is damn good …. however in 18 & 19 the same engineer who screwed up the whole DESS issue probably " FIXED " :roflblack: the also not broken speakers from 16 & 17 ….. this seems to be a common practice at BRP ….. maybe that engineer is a nephew of the founder ….. jmho …. Mike hyea:

 

[ssiggy]

I'd like to replicate the harness that goes from the radio to the rear speaker amp. I've got a top case but no amp. Does anyone have a schematic or pinout for that harness? The 2017 F3 Limited schematic doesn't show it, as far as I can tell.

 

[Rattlebars]

I'd like to replicate the harness that goes from the radio to the rear speaker amp. I've got a top case but no amp. Does anyone have a schematic or pinout for that harness? The 2017 F3 Limited schematic doesn't show it, as far as I can tell.

f3T & Ltd shown. The RaDiO RDO is in the rear under the cowl/(top case?) and the audio unit controls the radio. I would guess that the rear speakers are parallel to the "front" as shown. RW2=right woofer negative RW1=right woofer positive. Extrapolate from there where M = midrange. (no "rear") shown.

 

[AzBTO]

Anyone have details about the spyder limted upgraded stereo? https://www.amazon.com/Can-Am-Spyder-Limited-Upgraded-Stereo/dp/B01B1WTZ9M

 

[Rattlebars]

This info is from actually HEARING them perform …. the 16 & 17 speakers were about equal to what I achieved with my 2 ohm JBL speakers …. which is damn good …. however in 18 & 19 the same engineer who screwed up the whole DESS issue probably " FIXED " :roflblack: the also not broken speakers from 16 & 17 ….. this seems to be a common practice at BRP ….. maybe that engineer is a nephew of the founder ….. jmho …. Mike hyea:

:agree:

 

[fhartell]

What are the size of the speakers on a 2020 F3 Limited?

 

[Seattle]

2018-2020 F3 Limited Amp and Speaker Upgrade?

Has anyone upgraded their amplifier in a 2018 or newer F3 Limited Spyders? BRP stated the 6x20 amp is proprietary and cannot be upgraded. Can anyone establish if this is a truly a fact?

The volume output on my 2018 F3-L is significantly lower compared to a 2017 F3-L (as an example which uses a different electronic dash cluster and audio system that has two amps to drive the front and rear speakers). Even while traveling at highway speeds with a tall windscreen, I can barely make out the GPS navigation instructions let alone the music even with the volume set to 95% or greater on the newer Spyders. Just in case you might be wondering, my annual hearing test confirmed the ears are functioning at 100%.

To be sure the issue isn't isolated to only my Spyder, I've had on loan over the past two years brand new 2018's and 2019's F3-L's and RT-L's which suffered from the same low volume output compared to their predecessor Spyders. The 2020 F3-L I currently have on loan is a tad louder yet BRP claims it's the same amplifier and speaker setup.

I'm interested to upgrade the audio output so I can hear the nav and music. But so far BRP cannot give me anything more. My Spyder tech cannot find anything to determine any difference either between the 2020 and past two year Spyder Limited models.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

[billybovine]

Has anyone upgraded their amplifier in a 2018 or newer F3 Limited Spyders? BRP stated the 6x20 amp is proprietary and cannot be upgraded. Can anyone establish if this is a truly a fact?

The volume output on my 2018 F3-L is significantly lower compared to a 2017 F3-L (as an example which uses a different electronic dash cluster and audio system that has two amps to drive the front and rear speakers). Even while traveling at highway speeds with a tall windscreen, I can barely make out the GPS navigation instructions let alone the music even with the volume set to 95% or greater on the newer Spyders. Just in case you might be wondering, my annual hearing test confirmed the ears are functioning at 100%.

To be sure the issue isn't isolated to only my Spyder, I've had on loan over the past two years brand new 2018's and 2019's F3-L's and RT-L's which suffered from the same low volume output compared to their predecessor Spyders. The 2020 F3-L I currently have on loan is a tad louder yet BRP claims it's the same amplifier and speaker setup.

I'm interested to upgrade the audio output so I can hear the nav and music. But so far BRP cannot give me anything more. My Spyder tech cannot find anything to determine any difference either between the 2020 and past two year Spyder Limited models.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

I have a 2018 F3L. The audio from my android phone BT connected to the dash is plenty loud at any speed. I am slightly hard of hearing. Too many years of loud toys. I have the volume so high that pedestrians walking on the sidewalk turn around to look at what is coming.

If you have an android phone. While BT connected to the dash. On the phone. Have you answered the warning notice about high volume is bad for your hearing and turned the volume all the way up. That has to done everytime the phone is cycle off and on. Each app has it's own volume level on the dash. So if you want the volume higher for the gps app then the music app. You need to turn the volume up for the gps while it's giving a prompt. Hard to do.

 

[jwulf74]

My wife has a 2018 F3T and I have a 2020 F3L. There is a big audio difference between the 2 where hers "pops" at higher volumes and it doesn't play nearly as loud as mine. Both are on the latest software version for the years. But there is a software differece between the 2 years. Hopefully BRP will update the 2018's to the same level as the 2020's, but I'm not holding my breath. I am working on upgrading hers with some Kicker 6.5's and a Kicker amp. No issues thus far with it all wired for testing and that little amp makes it plenty loud. I just received the inner console part so I can start modifying it to make the 6.5's fit and keep the original for just in case... or restoration for trade later. I will do a write-up in the how to section later.. but it will be a while as I have some "engineering" and likely some fiberglass work to do for the speakers.

For enquiring minds, we opted for the PXA 300.4 just to drive the fronts. It has high level inputs and it seems to work well just tapping the original speaker wires. Basically, the stock amp stays in and feeds the signal to the Kicker amp via the original speaker wires. The original plan was to use 2 channels to drives the mids and 2 channels to drive the tweets as there have been reports of the stock system not providing full range output to the woofers and the tweet outputs block lows for sure, but after semi-scientific testing, the woofer outputs from the bike play frequencies higher than we can hear... we tested the tweet output too and it topped out around the same point as the woofer output... so both play fairly high... or our hearing is shot and we can't hear over that frequency anyway... separating the mid and tweet didn't make a difference either. I am using a component set so I can amplify each separately.

So, based on all that, one set of channels will be used for both and i will use the Kicker crossover and just stick it in the speaker cavity.

The other 2 channels I debated using for the rears, but I may try to sneak a Kicker 6.5" (or was it 6.75") sub in somewhere... like maybe removing the glove box and fiberglassing a housing and downfiring it there... pretty tight fit though and not 100% sure I can get enough air volume in the enclosure... we'll see.

TL : DR version... Yes, aftermarket amplification is possible as are aftermarket speakers... it just depends on the size and how much modification you want to do...