What if Wetsounds is overkill?
 

I'm trying to get a setup together to put into my boat in the coming weeks here, and I'm wondering if I even really need a Wetsounds setup. I mean I sure as hell want one, but then again all I do is surf - I don't need to hear it at 80'. Anyone able to suggest some high quality alternatives? I want something that pounds, but I don't necessarily need something that can be heard on the other side of the lake.

Overkill? I don't understand.

How about a pair or two of Wet Sounds SST-65's and a Syn Micro.

Bullet hollowpoint 770's are a good alternative, but about the same price

Your basically saying you dont need a HLCD tower setup. For wakesurfing, you would be fine with a high quality marine coaxial. I recommend Kicker KM613's

Try the Wetsound MB-8's with a set up 80's? You get more mid-bass close to the boat but still have the ability to hear the music at 80+ feet when you do wakeboard.

http://www.wetsounds.com/pages/products/MB-8.html

Tim!! Tim White!!! are you ok? someone get the paddles....clear! Again! Clear!

Look at a pair of the Exile XM7's then, fantastic speakers and they sound awesome.

I'm here, I'm here

andrew,

sounds like you are not wanting something as loud as our pro audio set up but you still want something of the same Wet Sounds build quality.

take a look at our new XST-650. this is the same housing as the pro 60 but loaded with our xs-650 coax. tons of mid bass punch and gets loud and clean. we started building these from numerous requests for something that still rocked but for those not as concerned with 80 feet back.

now if you want the ultimate wakesurf system. our Double Up is the ticket. Unbelievable output with a ton of mid bass, can still get really loud at the rider but it is built more for surfing and party cove.

Tim
Wet Sounds

Andrew, I am running a set of Pro 80 and MB-8's on my boat because we surf mostly. It is well enough sound to hear it close and the good thing is that with the WS-420 you can control the boat speakers separately from the tower speakers. I get all the bass and sound I need close up without having to blast the whole lake.

you can never have overkill in my opinion, whoop!:D

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...V/IMG00649.jpg

Andrew, I like you pretty much just surf now hence I don't need the music 80 plus feet back. I currently have Bullet HLCD's on the tower and I very much like them. They sound great while surfing, party coving or wakeboarding but I hear what you are saying. If I did it over again I would likely go one of two ways. Bullet makes a 770 co ax (7.7" which provides a lot more surface area for midbass than a 6.5") that I'm told is excellent for midrange listening and is designed for the tower and tower enclosures. Another nice benefit is that they don't require as much power as a HLCD's so they would save you money on two fronts. Maybe chat with Ben (soundbox) with Acme or David with Earmark about them. I have not heard them in person but based on the performance of their HLCD's I doubt they would disappoint plus I trust those with whom I've spoke.

Exiles XM7 coupled with the Harpoon sounds very interesting and is likely the way I will be going the next time around. The Harpoon has a feature that allows you to shape the music and have it fill out in closer to the boat for the purpose of surfing and party cove while still having the ability to project the music well past 80 feet. I've heard these in person and they sound damn good and clear especially on the vocals. Being 6.5's they do have a little less mid bass but its negligable.

Good luck brother and have fun.

Aother option would be to turn the volume down.

richard is right!

Because it sure is fun when you turn it up and everyone is looking around for the boat concert!!!

On a more serious note, I think the only thing that would be "overkill" for you would be HLCD(horn loaded compression drivers) which are meant to shoot sound out long distances. I wouldn't shy away from Wet Sounds products as they will still give you nice clear/clean sound and will give you the option to go loud or soft via the volume knob. If you go with lesser speakers you will get lesser performance. If you then need to crank up your system to get the sound you want and the speakers distort you haven't really gained anything. I would say any of the wet sounds without HLCD's would be perfect for you.

If you mainly surf, then a 4-pack of 6.5" coax's in a towerbox would work great. My personal recommendation is the XR series from JL Audio. It's what I have been using for years now. Loud, clean and affordable. I run them with a JL Audio 300/4. The spec sheet on the amp puts it at over 100W @4ohms per channel and this is PLENTY for everything we do. I can hear them well at 80' feet back too. I built my box but you can get a decent box from a number of sources for a good price too.

Andrew as Hate N Pain said check out the Exile's. I think you'll be seriously impressed with them as I am, not only as a quality product but as a quality company as well. As an example besides a rock solid committment to the consumer and customer service what also impressed me is their product confidence. Look at the XM7, a full 2 year warranty! That’s a hands down winner in my book! Who else does that? Other companies offer as little as 45 days. Check them all out and then ask yourself, if this is important to you. It is and was to me as i'll be installing their custom ported Moomba LSV box and 12" sub next weekend! Hopefully XM7's will go on the tower in the near future as well!

I would do something different but not for any other reason than to be different. What about 4 JL 7.7 components in cans with a Syn 2 or the ARC Audio KS300.2?

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I definitely have a lot of good options to look at for my boat now. I think my job just got a bit harder, but it's great to know there's a lot of competition out there.

Andrew,

When you're surfing or beached, the WetSounds Double-Up is widely acknowledged as an HLCD tower speaker that delivers extra warmth and sound quality but is still capable of projecting a good distance if needed. This package shaves just a bit of overall amplitude in exchange for sound shaping and increased midbass, which is ideal for near-field listening. This seems to fit your description.

The HollowPoint 770 coaxial is a non-HLCD tower speaker that is voiced a bit more aggressive to match the challenges of projecting and exhaust noise competition. Most important is the fact that you're getting an oversized 7.7-inch midbass driver which will have a huge advantage over conventional 6 1/2-inch speakers. And, this speaker is a little more cost-efficient to drive.

The JL Audio 7.7-inch tower speakers are also a good call for near-field sound quality.

David
Earmark Marine

I agree with Coop!
As my Dad would say " it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it". I just pulled the trigger on the Double Up system and surf 85% of the time other 15% partying in a cove.

As mentioned above take a look at the Exile XM7's if you are thinking about going with HLCD tower speakers. I have owned several different tower speakers over the past 2 years (Kenwood/Roswell, Sklyon, WS 80's and Exile XM7's). In my opinionthe XM7's sound better in the boat and just as good at 80 feet. Plus the features that they have make them simply amazing. No one else has the clamp system like theres that allows you to hide the wire inside the tower (no wires exposed to get caught on anything), rotate the speaker 360 degrees, and remove the speaker from the tower with the removal of 1 allen head bolt. If you pair the XM7's with there new Harpoon amp, you have a winner for both wakeboarding and surfing. The Harpoon amp has what they call Throttle Control, which allows you to shape how the sound coming from the speakers sounds. Meaning that you can take the "brightness" away and not have the speakers killing your ears while surfing.

If HLCD's are more then what you need, which if you are strictly surfing they would be, take a look at the Exile's SXT65 tower speakers. They are a non-HLCD tower speaker that has a 1" titanium dome tweeter and is fixed mounted. Hopefully I attached the pic of the SXT65 to this correctly.


One great thing about Exile is that they offer a demo program. So you can try the gear on your boat and see how it sounds first hand, rather then just in the stereo shop.

Here are a couple of links to take a look at of things to consider when building your system.

Video 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nn4eGY9UwY

Video 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAXL0r7vyB8

Video 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT0XpSf9KKM

Video 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlwE86Qij2c

Video 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1rorUVujiE

Hope the links are actually useable my computer isn't always kind to me when it comes to links.

The guys at Exile are extremely helpful and will definitly take care of you.

Nate: That Exile mounting system is really cool. I'm not sure if they're distributing in Canada yet, but I will definitely take a closer look at them.

Tim (WS) & David (Earmark): Thanks for the input, really appreciate your guy's words. It's sounding like I don't really need an HLCD based speaker, but it's good to see there are quality alternatives to those from WS and others. How far back do these non-HLCDs typically throw quality sound?

Andrew - According to Exile's website (exileaudio.com) they have a distributor in Canada. Send Brian from Exile an email ( brian@exileaudio.com ) I am sure he can help you out.

If you think that Wetsounds are overkill, then why would you look at other HLCD's in the market place especially when the public seems to think that Exile and Bullet HLCD's are just a good or better?

I think Tim White hit on the head and well as David with Earmark...Look at something Non HLCD if you are worried about overkill.

Hey there Hate and Pain.

I love those Links.

My boat is at the end of this video link also.

Video 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlwE86Qij2c

Can vouch for the Double-Up, that's a great avenue to pursue for surfing.

Andrew -

In the Exile Lineup you have a few choices. People have kicked around several of them but let me lay it out clear for you. Exile tower speaker choices:

HLCD XM7's - Probably not the thing to do for your set up because you mention looking for optimal sound at wake surfing range and not the over the top hella loud sound field at 500ft+ distance. Thats how the XM7 is designed to perform. You could tailor this setup with our Harpoon 1000W amplifier and use the throttle box remote controller to shape the sound at distance 80ft or 15ft depending on your needs. But from reading your post, I suspect this setup would be over the top performance wise. XM7's run 850.00 a pair.

SXT65 - Is designed as an SQ tower speaker and utilizes a lot of the same hardware as the XM7 but the main difference is they are not HLCD's. We are using a traditional mid-bass and coincidentally mounted 25mm titanium tweeter and wrapped in all composite materials. This is the speaker someone posted with the yellow background. SXT65's run 500.00 a pair and give you phenomenal sound at the 20ft+ range.

As for being in Canada, no sweat. Shoot me an email and I'll locate an Exile retailer close by and you can go have a listen.

Cheers

-Brian
Exile Audio
brian@exileaudio.com