There are a lot of companies offering speakers designed as upgrades for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Picking the best speaker for your situation can be a daunting task. That said, knowing you’re dealing with a manufacturer that has more than 50 years of experience creating products for music fanatics makes that choice easier. Let’s take a close look at the Rockford Fosgate TMS65 6.5-inch speaker for Harley bikes and trikes.
Features of the Rockford Fosgate TMS65
The TMS65 is a coaxial full-range speaker designed as a direct drop-in replacement for 2014 and newer Harley-Davidson upper fairing, non-cooled lower fairing, and TourPak locations.
The TMS65 is built on a Glass Reinforced Polymer frame, with mounting provisions that match the original locations. Your installer can drop this speaker in without cutting or drilling. Even the factory wire harness will plug in without an adapter or modifications to it or the speaker.
The speaker features a low-mass carbon fiber reinforced polypropylene woofer cone, offering a balance of efficiency, thermal stability, and accuracy. The primary spider at the outer edge of the cone is made of a synthetic rubber called Santoprene. The surround attaches to the basket using Rockford Fosgate’s Vertical Attach Surround Technique (VAST) to optimize the cone area. The beauty of this balanced design is the frequency response specifically tuned for what Rockford Fosgate calls “open air” acoustics. Typical “flat response” or car audio speakers sound great in cars, where there are reflective surfaces like glass and door panels, but on a motorcycle, there are few reflective surfaces. This specially tuned response allows riders to hear their music while riding on the highway, overcoming wind, tire, and engine noise.
Element Ready™ Reliability
Unlike many coaxial designs, there is a second surround at the base of the woofer cone to keep water and debris out of the voice coil gap. This second surround is crucial to the driver’s Element Ready™ Design. Element Ready refers to Rockford Fosgate’s suite of features that help their products perform reliably in motorcycle, motorsport, and marine applications. Aside from being dust, dirt, and water-resistant, the TMS65 speakers are constructed using materials that won’t dry out, fade, chalk, or crack due to prolonged UV exposure.
A final consideration that many competitors overlook is vibration and impact testing. The TMS65 is subjected to what can only be described as violent physical abuse to ensure the product remains intact. The result of all this is a speaker solution that will perform reliably for years on your motorcycle.
Premium Power Handling
Returning to the design features, you’ll find a 35 mm voice coil wrapped around an anodized aluminum former at the base of the cone. The anodized former helps wick heat away from the copper winding, allowing the speaker to reach its 75-watt continuous, 150-watt maximum power handling rating.
The speaker’s center features a 25 mm proprietary film dome tweeter. The grille integrated into the speaker above the tweeter includes a phase plug to improve accuracy and off-axis performance, which is critical when the speakers are installed in lower enclosures on either side of the engine.
The speaker is powered by a compact neodymium ring magnet motor with integrated cooling. This is vastly different from competitors in the market that use large, heavy ferrite magnets. The neodymium motor allows the speaker to drop into upper fairing locations without cutting or heat-molding the inner pods. Further, neodymium weighs significantly less than ferrite for a given magnetic strength. As such, you can add great sound without added weight that might affect the bike’s balance.
TMS65 Speaker Specifications
The TMS65 has a nominal impedance of four ohms and a sensitivity of 94 dB SPL measured at 2.83 volts at a distance of one meter from the cone. The frequency response is specified as 56 Hz to 20 kHz. As always, Rockford Fosgate’s specifications for its speakers comply with the CTA-2031 standard.
When purchased independently and not as part of a vehicle-specific audio upgrade kit, the TMS65 speakers include grilles for 2015 and up Road Glide front fairings, 2014 and up Street Glide front fairings, and 2014 and newer TourPak applications. The speakers also work with Ultra Classic, Electra Glide, Tri Glide, and Road Glide Ultra applications. Your Rockford Fosgate retailer can confirm if the speakers fit your specific situation.
Balanced Sound Profile
Shopping for speakers without hearing them is like buying a paint color for your car without looking at the options. When it comes to motorcycle speakers, the engineer who designed them must balance two criteria: efficiency and midbass performance. The TMS65 speakers are a great combination of both. They play low enough to allow bass guitars and drums to be felt in your chest while minimizing amplifier current draw.
More efficient speakers are on the market, but they lack midbass performance. If screechy midrange and no midbass are your goals, those are a better choice for your situation. One additional thing to remember is that the TMS65 speakers blend perfectly with Rockford Fosgate’s saddlebag subwoofer systems. Those ultra-high-efficiency midrange drivers will leave a frequency response gap to the subwoofers unless you add dedicated midbass drivers.
Upgrade Your Harley-Davidson Motorcycle with Rockford Fosgate
When it’s time for your Harley-Davidson’s stereo system to sound better and play louder, drop by a local authorized Rockford Fosgate retailer and ask about the TMS65 speakers, amplifiers, and subwoofers they have available. You can find an authorized retailer by visiting their website and using the locator tool. Be sure to check out their Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube feeds and channel to stay up to date with their latest product releases.
