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Wetsounds ICON 8 - New to the Scene?!?!
I was reading in the WakeWorld News Section about the WetSounds ICON 8 - has anyone seen these yet. It seems like these would be a really great option for somone who was looking for a surf style speaker setup. I can only imagine the strong mid - bass from an 8 inch speaker!
I wonder how four of them on a tower would sound with a Syn 2 or dare I say a mix and match combo with a set of Rev HLCD's. It seems like the possibilites are endless with all the tower offerings Wetsounds has on the market. Happy Friday!! http://www.wakeworld.com/news/latest...-speakers.html |
Sounds very promising for sure. A hybrid set up with these could be very cool, 4 of those and couple Rev 8's
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I heard the 8" in-boat speakers they are coming out with. I thought they were very nice. I personally would not cut my boat up to get the 8" speakers in the boat. I still would run a set of Rev 10s on the tower over them.
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They look awesome but what I'm waiting for is the press release on the new rev410
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Although the 8-inch Icon8 might be considered a surf speaker because it has a dome tweeter, it may be a better alternative to 6.5" Proaxial HLCDs even for wakeboarding. Will the dome tweeter project as well as an unbridled compression horn? No. But a 6.5" midbass can't compete with an unbridled compression horn either so the horn tweeter has to be attenuated or the speaker will sound brutally bright for any other type of listening. I might go for the larger 8-inch midbass driver for better midbass extension and a warmer balance.
Not only will this speaker be less expensive than the equivalent sized 8-inch HLCD but it should prove to be less expensive to power. David Earmark Marine |
Anyone know the recommended power for these?
Also, how would these compare to the MB-8? |
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No comparison to the MB-8. The MB-8 is a woofer only, pretty like the same as putting an 8 inch sub on you tower. The MB-8 was designed to run in tandem with a set of HLCD's such as the Pro 80 or Pro 60. The ICON 8 is a speaker and tweeter. The ICON 8 can stand alone. |
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The ICON 8 is 150 watts rms/300 watts peak. The SYN-2 is a great match for them. A bit more power than needed but works great. Murphy is correct 125 watts min. So 125 to 200 is the range.
The ICON 8 are a true sound quality speaker system. Great for those who want something that has the punch that a larger 8 inch driver provides but isn't looking for wake range as the primary. However being a continuous cone 8 inch mid bass and a 1 inch titanium tweeter. They still have plenty of volume at 80 feet for sure. Some of our local dealers who have got to hear them told us "I can't believe it's not a horn" because of the volume capable from them. I see the majority using this speaker are those looking for a true high output surf speaker. However 2 pairs on the tower with good power will give lots of volume and be something for those looking for a great value for surf and wake. The fixed clamp and X versions retail for $699 a pair. They are shipping in 30 days. The housing is the same as the PRO 60/REV 8 size. So very compact. The LED ring we have for the REV 8 will also fit the ICON 8 to add LED’s to it. And you can order them with the swivel clamps if you like. H20, I am finishing the photos of the REV 410 to get the press release out soon. So keep an eye out!. And as jkw pointed out, we have the new XS-808 and SW-808 8 inch in boats coming soon. The ICON 8 is a driver designed for the housing pod only. The 808 are designed for in boat applications. As soon as we get pics of these done, we will be doing a press release on them as well. They are very trick, they are a convertible component system that can be mounted like a true component system with flush mount or surface mount tweeters or the tweeter can be mounted in the center of the grille for a coaxial mount. We see these going in a lot of the off shore boats and fishing boats. There are some wake boats that can accept the larger drivers for in boats but most are limited to the 6.5 inch size unless you do some custom work. Tim Wet Sounds |
Those are beautiful - one of the better looking tower speakers on the market for sure
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I know that these aren't out yet, but is it safe to assume that these will sound better than the REV 8s for in-boat or near field listening only? I know that the REV series was designed to sound good up close, but if you were choosing a tower speaker solely based on in-boat listening which would you go with?
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KP,
You will have to give the finalized version of the Icon8 time to ship and to get side by side with the REV8s. At this time most opinions are going to be based on speculation comparing past HLCDs with past surf speakers. This will be a fresh new comparison because we are dealing with a larger than other surf speakers 8-inch Icon8. And we would be comparing it to a newer generation of HLCD, in the case of the REV8, which is for more natural for near field listening. David Earmark Marine |
Any Idea on a timeframe for the XS-808's?
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http://www.wetsounds.com/pages/products/ICON8.html
Shipping in 2 weeks. Chris, XS-808 will be in 4 weeks or so. I am building them now. KP, david is right. the REV 8 is a very natural sounding HLCD. The most linear sounding HLCD tower speaker I have ever heard. The REV Technology I developed for the Revolution series was designed to provide sound quality never thought achievable form an HLCD before. I think we nailed it. Now not everyone is concerned with wake range or being the loudest on the lake. Many want the near field and surf level sound. So with the ICON, I set out to do the same thing I did with the REV's. With the REV’s pushing the envelope of what an HLCD tower speaker could do. And with the ICON, it pushes the envelope of what a conventional tower speaker could do as far as output and volume while having unsurpassed sound quality. So it will really be down to this. If you want a great sounding speaker and want to hear it when you wakeboard as well as be the loudest in the cove and for surfing, then the REV series is the ticket. If you don’t care about distance or wakeboarding and want a speaker that gets very loud and has a ton of mid bass and near field sound quality for surfing and party cove, then the ICON 8 will be for you. Hope that helps Tim Wet Sounds |
ICON 8 now shipping!!
Tim Wet Sounds |
I would love to read a review of these.
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I can't give a review of the sound but the build quality is on par with everything else that Wet Sounds offers. Looks great for the near field customer.
Attachment 21677 Attachment 21678 |
Anybody got the these new Icon8 tower speakers yet? How do you like them?
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The Icon8 is very impressive. It's a larger 8-inch surf speaker so naturally you can expect more midbass output than a 6.5" surf speaker offering.
Since there isn't a head to head 8-inch surf speaker (conventional direct-radiating non-HLCD) we made comparisons to 6.5" HLCDs. A 6.5" HLCD may have a little more treble for projection but the Icon8 has more fullrange output and has a far better balance. So at any range it has better sound quality. The Icon8 officially ends all 6.5" HLCDs for us. The balance of this speaker just makes more sense. David Earmark Marine |
I wish these were affordable enough to buy them and pull the speaker out and put "in boat" :)
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Ryan,
You don't need to because Wetsounds has an 8-inch in-boat coaxial now. David Earmark Marine |
JL has something coming as well if you have a money tree.
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I agree in that the JL Audio 880 is huge like an IB sub so it isn't going into many towboats. I think the focus of this speaker was more for center console and other off-shore applications. Even an 8-inch will take extensive work to get high in the coaming panels of most towboats.
David Earmark Marine |
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