UNBOXING: All New Soundstream WHD14+ Head Unit

We've got one of the very brand new Soundstream WHD 14 Plus radios—first in the country to have it! We're going to do an unboxing for you today.

First thing you're going to notice is the information packet that comes with it. It's going to be really thin; it's not going to be a full set of instructions. There is a QR code on here that you can scan with your phone, taking you to a full page of instructions to show you how to install it into your motorcycle. Then it's going to come with the T-harness for the motorcycle, which will plug directly into your factory harness. It’s going to have the input for the hand control module that is now included with this radio at no extra charge. You'll have plugs to connect right in for your hand controls to work. It's also going to have a remote amplifier plug-in, so it can turn on any amplifiers that you're running.

We'll go ahead and unbox everything else. This radio also comes with a GPS antenna. So if you start having cellular signal issues and you already have a map loaded into your Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, this GPS map will take over for you. You won’t have to worry about being out in the middle of nowhere anymore and losing your cell signal. It’s going to come with a microphone so you can take and receive calls when you’re on the road. I will tell you, though, that when you're out on the highway, people are not going to be able to hear you due to the wind and exhaust noise. You will be able to hear them through your speaker, so this is primarily for when the bike is off or if you're going at slow speeds.

Now, let's get into the radio itself. Soundstream always does a great job with their packing, but right now we don't need it.

Right off the bat, you're going to notice this looks like the 2019-2023 GTS model radio. It gives you a nice big black screen without the buttons on the side that you would have on the 2014-2018 models. On the back, you’ll notice the same connector as your factory Harley radio, as well as six RCA pre-outs that are now all 5V. This is the replacement for the old HD HU 14 Plus radio that was discontinued over a year ago. They’ve updated it with a new 7-inch Q LCD screen—the same screen that you'll find in the V2 radio, but only 7 inches instead of the 8.3 inches of the V2 model. You’ll also notice that this radio has a camera input for the back for the HD vision that’s coming very soon; you're going to want to check that out.

This radio is going to fit all 2014-2023 Harley-Davidson models: Street Glide, Electra Glide, the Limiteds, the Ultra Classics, the Triglides, all of the Road Glides, and the RG3 models. This radio is full IPX5 rated from any direction, which means it’s waterproof. Don't worry about washing your bike, sitting in the rain, or getting caught out in the rain; this will take care of whatever weather gets thrown at it. It's plug-and-play, so it goes right onto the bike. If you notice, this chassis is in the same exact shape and fitment as your stock radio. It comes with little plastic inserts just like your stock radio and bolts up the exact same way. Just like in the Soundstream SI model and the V2 models, this radio also comes with a 13-band EQ and crossovers for both your front and rear RCA outputs.

This radio has crossovers built into it that are separate for the front channels, the rear channels, and you also have separate crossovers for your subwoofer that you can dial in if you're going to be running a subwoofer on your bike. Unfortunately, this does not work with CBS or headsets from the factory model bike, either wired or wireless. This entry-level radio does not support the use of any of the Boom 1 or Boom 2 amplifiers that both the SI and the V2 radios do. So if that’s important to you, I recommend getting one of those two model radios.

All right, first of all, let's fire this thing up. We’ll show you some of the new features of the WHD 14 Plus radio. The first thing you're going to notice is that it actually has a Q LCD display, the same display used in the V2 radio. However, it's only 7 inches wide instead of the 8.3 inches wide that the V2 has. It’s super crisp and super bright; out in daylight, you're not going to have any problems with this radio.

The other thing you’ll notice right off the bat is that I'm paired to this wirelessly—no more extra dongles to add or anything like that. Just like the V2, it has wireless CarPlay and Android Auto built right into the radio. So let's go into some of the cool features. We’ve got our audio settings; we can go to our equalizer. We’ve got a full 13-band equalizer on this. I do know some guys like to crank these all the way up, but keep in mind that anything above +4 will likely cause distortion. I recommend that if you're looking for more bass, keep your bass down, bring some of the treble out, and adjust your gains appropriately on your amplifier. You’ll get a much cleaner signal coming out of your radio.

Just like the SI model, you've got your digital crossovers on here. I usually run mine at around 100 to 80, depending on the speaker, and I like to set a slope of 24. That drops it off quickly so you're not pushing low frequencies through your 6.5s or 6x9s, which can be hard on the speakers when you’re playing this thing at full volume. You also have a subwoofer setup, which allows you to adjust your subwoofer level and crossovers. You can set up both subsonic and low pass, as well as slope and frequency crossover points. It also gives you the opportunity for subwoofer phase, whether you want to set it to 180 or zero. Some of you high-end guys will understand what that means. If you're just playing deck power or 6.5s and 6x9s, you don't even have to worry about that.

As always, if you're running a four-speaker system and you've hooked up everything correctly, you will have the ability to do full fader and balance. Just hit the quick reset button to drop it right back to the middle. You also have the opportunity on this amplifier to do an amplifier turn-on, which means you're not getting a pop that some amplifiers can give you on your motorcycle.

Next, we have our source level adjust. I can go in and adjust this because a lot of the time, the radio is going to be the loudest source on the bike, and the other sources may not be as loud. You can bring those up to match whatever your loudest source is that’s playing on your radio. And like all the other Soundstream radios, you actually have a dimmer feature. If you want to adjust that, you can go into your settings icon again, then display settings. You can adjust your nighttime brightness to be darker. Right now, it's at almost full brightness. You go back to display settings and set it to 8, and you’ll notice a big difference for nighttime riding. That way, it’s not too bright for you, especially if you have the Road Glide and the radio is all the way at the top; it can get a little bright at night.

One of the other really great features on this radio is it now comes with Bluetooth 5.0, which enables you to access a whole bunch more things from your phone, and it also makes everything work a lot quicker when communicating between your phone and your radio.

Now, let’s go on over to Apple CarPlay. Unlike before, when you had to replace it with a dongle if you wanted wireless, you can now keep your phone in your pocket or saddlebag. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are now fully wireless. You can switch over to your other phone screen, make calls, take calls, and see your voicemails; it’s all completely the same as Apple CarPlay or Android Auto would be on any other device. To get back to the main menu, just hit the eight little boxes at the bottom to take you back to Soundstream; now you're back to your standard menu.

To wrap it up, I'm really excited to be one of the first in the country to have the new WHD 14 Plus radio. This thing’s amazing! It replaced the old HD HU 14 Plus with a ton more features. So head on over to Lifestyle Cycles online mega store today and get yours. They’re under $1,000, come with free shipping, and include the hand control module at no extra cost!

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