HLCD speakers
 

Doing audio for my boat and had a couple questions. Are they that much better than the rest? Does anyone else sell them cheaper than Wetsounds or Exile?

Yes they are considerably better, and it's not cheap. There are less pricey alternatives, but you get what you pay for. I was in the same boat, but the wife finnaly gave the OK and it was worth it to do it right and I wouldn't go back to not having it now that I've made the leap.

I have NVS addictions and love them. HLCD's make a big difference. There are some less expensive options. I believe kicker makes a set up that is pretty affordable and I have seen some videos on here of them playing and they sound real good!

There are a few others that work better than car speakers but cheaper than what you have listed, hit the search key with keyword "bullet" or "kicker" with HLCD and you will find some interesting things.

Sometimes the best deal is to buy the right thing once. I know that I probably spend almost $800 goofing around with my homebrew HLCD before I invested in a pair of Wetsounds Pro-485's. I have had that same pair of speakers for over 5 years now so and they are still going strong. Other friends of mine have gone through 2 or 3 sets of tower speakers in the same time period sometimes it is best to buy the right thing the first time.

Yea I went the home brew eminence setup, personally I am completely happy with them. I spend more than I was planning, around $550 for a pair. But I spent 230 on a set of 8inch bullet cans, had I done different enclosures it would have been much cheaper. But I am a sucker for polished bullet cans.

I have the kicker 6500.2 setup in my boat. Think they are running around 500 a set but I found them for 250 refurbed. I can make zero claims that they sound as good as wetsounds etc. I will however say this.......

1) They are a 1/4 of the price
2) You will hear them riding clearly
3) The quality shocked me for the $
4) they are loud

if you are looking for a budget setup I'd highly advise them

Yes, HLCDs are definitely worth it if you expect to project at distance while underway with the wind and exhaust noise. They are by no means necessary if you are limited to at rest or surf range.
I would consider the Kicker HLCD if I doubled up on the midbass drivers in a two midbass driver to one horn tweeter ratio. Other than that I would exclude all 6.5" HLCDs because there is such an inequity between the aggressive horn tweeter and the smallish midbass driver. For balance I would normally prefer an 8-inch surf speaker over a 6.5" HLCD. While the 6.5" HLCD may have more treble to cut through at wake range, an 8-inch surf speaker will have more midrange and midbass at any distance.
So normally I would begin looking at 7.7", 8" and 10" HLCDs.

David
Earmark Marine

I have a 2 year old set of NVS prodigy that sound great but am thinking of selling them to go with rev 10s pm me for more info

what makes it hard is the choices. Its only when you want to have it all you dont, and when you spend half trying to get it all, you end up spending double. buy a quality set of hclds and you will never regret it. but i you dump 500 or so on something that does not perform when you want it, you will kick yourself for it. trust me i have done it over and over again and finally stopped and bought what i really wanted good luck

Thanks guys, guess that means im going to bite the bullet. I might order some exiles, what would you suggest (model and how many). I wakeboard all the time and want to hear while im riding. I know the amp also has to do a lot with the speakers as well, what might you suggest there? Thanks again, for all the help!

Exile is an excellent choice. I would for sure do the XM9's paired with the Harpoon. I'd personally go with two pair but one pair will get the job done and with that Harpoon you can always add a second pair as funds become available. Heck you may just decide to stick with one pair.

To echo what others have said. I too started with the typical car door speakers in a can and waisted my money. You're smart to jump right to HLCD's. FWIW, I have Bullet Hollow point 770's and love them as well. Bullet offers great customer service too just as Brian from Exile does.

If I was on a budget, I would be looking to pick up WS Pro 80s, WS 485, Bullet 770s, etc. You dont have to look very hard right now because a lot of guys are getting rid of them for new Rev speakers

Take a look in the Classifieds section of the various boat forums. For example;

Pro 80s and Syn 2
http://www.wakeworld.com/classifield....php?view=2613