One of the latest crazes to re-enter the limelight is motorcycle customization. It can be argued that the motorcycle community, thanks in part to a plethora of shows on cable TV, is discontent to leave anything on its machines stock. Demitrios Karabinis was bit by the motorcycle customization bug, but being the CEO of Arc Audio, he wanted to take the customization to a different level. Rather than forging and welding, he decided his 2002 Harley Davidson Ultra Glide Classic would be the perfect vehicle to showcase the awesome sound one can achieve using Arc Audio equipment. Once the bike was complete, it was only fitting that a 2002 Ford F-150 Harley Davidson Edition should be the companion for trailering the bike to shows when it is not being ridden.
The Bike
Once Karabinis obtained the bike, the first order of business was a custom paint job utilizing House of Kolor Pearl Orange flames. This came courtesy of Marcos and Junior of Lucky 7 Customs in Antioch, CA. Then, according to Karabinis, "I put every piece of chrome that could possibly fit on it." Once the bike looked the part of an awesome cruiser, it was time to address the audio system. Since the Ultra Glide Classic is a large bike meant for long-distance cruising, Harley Davidson equipped the machine with a decent stereo. The stock head unit is robust, capable of a multitude of tasks, so swapping it out would have been foolish. All the helmet intercoms, the hand control for the front and back fader (on a bike right and left balance is not that important since you always sit in the center), and even the CB radio is in the head unit. Joe Sanchez, one of the engineers at Nikola Engineering, added pre-amp outputs and relocated the auxiliary input. This type of work is known in the mobile electronics industry as OEM integration.
After the head unit had been properly modified for the additional source, a Panasonic DVD player was added to the system. Sanchez relocated the remote IR input of the Panasonic DVD player to the face of the Harley head unit. The DVD player's audio output feeds into the stock head unit and has an input function on the handle bar controls.
The signal travels from the head unit to an Arc Audio PEQ7 equalizer. From there, the signal travels to an Arc Audio 5150CXLR amplifier, mounted as low as possible in the bottom of the Tour Pack backrest to keep the center of gravity low. The other issues the team faced were heat build-up and a potential lack of current from the small Harley alternator. Luckily, the Harley charging system was up to the task, although any additional current draw would probably require a larger alternator.
The front soundstage speakers from Harley were removed and replaced with Rainbow CS 265 5.25" component speakers. It required some work to modify the fairing but custom mounting rings were fabricated for the task. For extra volume, a pair of Rainbow CS 210 component speakers were fitted above the crash bar. Without anything to reflect off, the system sounds like a set of near-field studio monitors. The imaging and staging is beyond belief. Of course it's hard to hear this with the engine running but it's nice to know it's there.
A subwoofer system was built into the right-side saddlebag. A set of chrome-plated CX64 midbass drivers were installed in a dual-vented bandpass box.
The piece de resistance of the install was the integration of Panasonic 6-inch monitors in the dash, the Tour Pack, and an additional monitor fitted to the back of the driver's helmet. "The idea for the helmet came from a joke by Robert Zeff of Nikola Engineering when we showed the bike at CES," Karabinas notes. "The actual work was done by Chris Merrill at Audio Illusionz in Redding, CA, who molded the monitor to the helmet."
The Truck
Now that the bike was completed, it was time to worry about the truck. The supercharged pickup rolling on 22s is a mean vehicle perfect for towing the bike. The first item on the list was the dumping of the Ford head unit for a Panasonic CQ-VAD-9300U. The head unit sends its signal to a pair of Arc Audio MEQ-30 equalizers, then to an Arc Audio PEQ with a black powder-coated billet faceplate, which was silk-screened to match the color and font of the head unit. In this unique set-up, the input switch on the PEQ is used to select a custom equalizer curve for the truck. One equalizer is tuned for optimum sound quality while the other provides a nice bass bump when cruising.
The front soundstage is provided by a Rainbow SC 265.28 Platinum component set mounted in custom door pods. The pods were built to act as midbass enclosures. Quite a bit of MDF and fiberglass went into constructing them to make them strong and resonant-free. They were finished in gloss black like the exterior of the truck. To further reduce resonance, the doors were lined with RAAM Mat and then sprayed with truck bed liner. The same speaker system, a Rainbow SC 265.28 Platinum component set, was used in the back. The rear doors were prepped in a similar manner to the front.
To provide bass for the system, four Arc Audio D2 10" subwoofers were mounted in a 3 cu. ft., custom-made fiberglass enclosure, which was in turn mounted in the cab in the rear seat area. A 48dB per octave crossover was achieved by combining the crossover capabilities of the preamplifier and the amplifier, and tweaking the roll-off frequency on special test equipment to make sure they were spot-on the desired frequency.
For amplification, one Arc Audio 4150XXK powers the front and rear speakers and one 2500XXK runs the subwoofers. To make sure the amps have a power reserve for hard-hitting bass notes and the headlights don't dim, an Arc Digicap was employed to smooth out the power flow. Although the two amplifiers push out approximately 1300 watts of power, for additional "free" headroom the entire interior of the truck was gutted and covered with RAAM Mat. Armor Coat truck bed liner was then sprayed down.
Overall, the Harley truck system was designed to be simple and loud, with a clean installation. What better way to tow a custom Harley motorcycle?
DRIVER PROFILE
"When I was a kid I would sit in my father's pick-up and listen to his old AM radio. When I was ready for more I went down and bought a Pioneer Super Tuner cassette deck (the under dash model with the chrome face). By 1978 I had my first amp, a Fosgate Punch. I blew that up pretty quickly and while that was in for repair the shop loaned me a Zapco 150 (the old three-piece). I loved it and it didn't fail. By the time I was in college I was installing on the side. After school I bounced around jobs for a while. My father was always asking, "When are you going to grow-up? Stop playing around with stereos and get a real job." Eventually I bought a tire shop. Selling custom wheels led me quickly into selling stereos. I set up the office and waiting room as a show room and I was in business. At this point car audio had become my dream job. By the '80s I had a competition car and was ripping up the circuit in the Driving Force. Soon I was being invited to show my car in vendor booths at CES. The next thing
I knew I'm running my store, working for the marketing department at Zapco and competing regularly. In 1998, with the help of my old friend Robert Zeff (who had sold Zapco by then), we started Arc Audio. I was there when some of the giants of the industry were just getting started and I'd like to thank those that helped me along the way. Over the years my hobby has evolved into my full-time job. It's been a real dream come true for me." --Demitrios Karabinis