Well after alot of consideration I decided to make my own tower speakers...With lack of money for NVS's and wanting more than what 6.5's had to offer I built my own HCLD system. With the help of past threads it went together pretty easily. Let me know what you think. <BR> <BR> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/306787.jpg" alt="Upload"> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/306788.jpg" alt="Upload"> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/306789.jpg" alt="Upload"> <BR>

Looks good, where did you get the cans from?

They are pvc pipe. Its hard to find that big of pvc. I just sanded and painted em.

The pvc I used actually is a part of a telephone wire junction cover...I dont know if your local telephone company uses these for their junctions but in my area they are used to cover the wires...they are usually found close to homes or businesses. Just start looking and you'll notice them everywhere. Usually when one gets hit by a car or damaged somehow they usually replace them so I was able to get one that had enough length for me to make some cans. They are about 11.25 in diameter.

Has anyone ever looked at the duley wheels on an eighteen wheeler truck? The large centercaps. Anyone know what the diameter is on those?

Well, how do they sound?

The sound is excellent.....Very clear at 80+ ft...They will hurt your ears standing on the swim deck.

I'm no pro. <BR> <BR>Though, I'm in the process of building a tower speaker set. I already have the drivers. <BR>1) a pair of JBL Compression drivers with Mantaray (Altec) Horns. (117db 1w/1m when ran side-by-side) <BR>2) a Pair of JL 10w3s. <BR>3) Soon – fiberglass box. <BR> <BR>The Mantaray horns are Constant Directivity Horns. And they are super directional. In testing, we have music that's too loud at 80 feet, and in the boat it's probably less than 96db. (not painfully-loud at all) <BR> <BR>Ok, so to the point: I'm looking at your Horn, and it appears to be a constant directivity horn as well. From what I've read about the science behind Constant Directivity, it appears that your horn might be mounted 90 degrees clockwise (or counter clockwise.) Which means you'll get directed sound dispersion of (for example) 40 degrees vertical and only 20 degrees horizontal. If I am correct the person sitting in the back seat will get blasted, and the skier won't get all of the available SPL when he cuts to the side. You might be interested in trying to rotate the horn 90 degrees and seeing what the difference is, then post back! :-) <BR> <BR>Nice work though! I love the Polk speaker grills. <BR>

Are you trying to match up the 10w3's with the horns on your tower????? If so, you are headed in the wrong direction. trying to get any sound that the w3's are capable of, back to the rider is virtually impossible. Put the w3's in your boat and match the horns up with some solid mid bass drivers. <BR> <BR>Secondly, the gap between frequecies from the horn to the sub is pretty big.....the sound will be "odd" to say the least. <BR> <BR>If your going some other direction with this please let us know.

This setup is modeled after Duane's NVS entitiy 1010. These are mid-range drivers not subs. These are the same components that were on Duane's first prototype. I just couldn't make mine look that clean. You can find the entire article and technical info on <a href="http://bierbower.net/diytower/home.htm" target="_blank">http://bierbower.net/diytower/home.htm</a> Im not really an audio person so you can check out the article for the tech specs. <BR>

Nice job the cans look great

Sorry to hijack Jeff, I was asking the question to craig.

where did u get the speakers?

No prob adam, just was passing on the info since i know it would be asked eventually. I got the speakers from <a href="http://www.partsexpress.com/" target="_blank">http://www.partsexpress.com/</a> the speaker grills came from cardomain.com <BR> <BR>

Adam, <BR> <BR>Yes, my intent with the prototype is to get the sound of the 10w3's back to the rider. The horns and the 10w3's will be powered off seperate amps. My plan is to run the 10w3's to 800hz with a 24db/oct crossover, and likewise, bring the horns down to 800hz with the same crossover slope. <BR> <BR>It's frustrating as I have not been able to find any frequency response specs for the 10w3s. (I would expect more from JL as a company) I know I'm pushing the 10w3s higher (freqency) than they are designed, and there maybe some freqency gap. <BR> <BR>Have you an alternative mid-bass driver suggestion? <BR> <BR>

Look good Jeff, and no hijack intended either but to Adam C's earlier question, The center/hub cap on the duals or drives is 8", but it's just a cap that hooks on the axle housing, good thought but its only about 1" deep, would make nice end caps for some pvc tubes though.

Craig, I don't knwo the specs of the 10w3's but I could almost guarantee you their not designed to play that high. They are sub-woofers not high-woofers<img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/biggrin.gif" border=0> . Not that sensitivity is an end all of output but it's a measure. The 10w3 is around 85 db's, your horn is proabbly in the 105db range. Even with attenuation circuits you won't be able to get enough power to the 10w3 to keep up with your horns. On top of that it takes alot of power and a big speaker to throw the lower frequencies out to the rider (the 10w3 was not made to do this) NVS does about as good as job as any company out there. They are using the eminence 10" mid bass drivers.

Adam, <BR>Thanks for the thoughts. I'll do some testing once my amp arrives. <BR> <BR>Do you by chance know which Eminence 10" mid-bass is used by NVS? <BR> <BR>(sorry to high-jack the thread guys) <BR> <BR> <BR>(Message edited by yosquire on March 14, 2006)

Craig, I think the NVS use the Eminence Beta 10a's or at least they used to.....thats what i used.