Audio Systems: Marine radio in motorcycle, weather resistance, audio transformers

Question
I want to install a Pyle marine radio in my motorcycle because of it's weather resistance and I can hide the head unit and use the wired remote to operate the stereo.

Q2: If I don't use the rear speaker outputs will it damage the head unit?

Q2:I'd like to use a small pair of speakers for in town but plan on using my helmet mounted headphones when traveling.  Can I wire the front speaker wires from the unit into a 3 wire stereo headphone jack that uses a common ground without damaging the head unit?  I tried this on an old car stereo and it works but is it harmful to the new head unit?

Thanks for any tips you can give me.  Dave

Answer
Dave,
Sounds like a good idea to use a marine stereo for your motorcycle. Follow the installation instructions for connecting only two speakers. As for the head phones you should use two small audio transformers so that you isolate the outputs from the stereo. This way if one of the outputs gets grounded, the amp won't burn up in the stereo. Don't connect the - or return outputs together for a common ground or return! connect each channel to the small audio transformer and then wire up the outputs of each transformer to the headphone jack. PS, you can connect the unused outputs (rear speaker) to the transformers for the head phones.

TOM,
T&D ELECTRONICS
tdeser@zoominternet.net