TOWER SPEAKERS: FOUR 6.5'S OR TWO 6X9'S. OPINIONS?

Which would be better and why? four 6.5" speakers or two 6x9" speakers.

thanks

Well that's really like comparing apples and oranges. I've never heard a pair of any car speakers that are loud enough. Put two pairs together and now your talking. So comparing 4 speakers of one type to two of another is really tough.

6x9 vs 6.5 is more a matter of choice than anything. A 6.5" will reproduce more accurate sound, a 6x9 will have a little more base. But on a boat your not going to notice the accuracy of the sound so find a good deal on some quality speakers and have fun.

although 6x9's may throw out more sound,it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good sound... we currently have four kicker 6x9's on our tower and it sounds good on land, but once we get out on the water and crank it, it distorts like crazy! now i'm currently trying to figure out what to do to clear the distortion and i may resort to getting an EQ in hopes that it will clean it up!

Personally, i think you should go with four 6.5's and throw a good clean amplifier to them! Just my .02

i just installed 4 6.5" infinity speakers and they have a real good sound even when you crank it and while riding i can hear them very well.

daryl, change the crossover point no your amp to about 100 hz or maybe higher and you should be good.

daryl-> I'm with Ty here, If you have a HPF turn it on and set it at 100-150 for starters. Every 6x9 I've tried cannot carry the low end at high output levels so you have to knock it out.

Well, I've got both on my boat, 2 Pioneer 6x9s and 4 Infinity 6.5s. The 6x9s blow the 6.5s away! They are extremely loud and produce a lot more bass. I forget the exact model number (6990R?), but they are the top of the line from last year and sound pretty much crystal clear. I'm pretty sure they are 4 channel speakers. Anyway, I would definitely go with the 6x9s. You can get 6x9s really cheap online.

Daryl, How do you like your lights on that tower.Do they produce enough light? Is it possible to really see driving at night or do they help other boaters see you?

dave...would you go with TWO} 6x9's or FOUR 6.5"?

Well, I would go with the two 6x9s over the four 6.5s. The two 6x9s I have put out a lot more than the four 6.5s. I have to mention that two of the 6.5s are facing forward though, but the 6x9s would still outperform all four 6.5s.

Is that what you were asking?

Go big, go with (4) 6x9's run at 2 ohms. Get a decent 2 channel amp that will support 2 ohms. Dial the amp to avoid distortion, listen while you ride!

Thanks Damnation and freakytikki, i'll try to figure out how to do that considering workin on stereos isn't really my forte haha. I'll try and find the settings on the amp and i'll take a picture for you guys so maybe you can help me out a little better!

Wild Bill, as far as i know, these lights are great and they do produce enough light. I never really use them when we're driving at night because i heard that it was illegal and i'm pretty sure that they are. I'll try to take a picture of the lights on for you at night!

MY HPF that I use is built into my kenwood deck. Ty have you thought about 4 6x9's? I got a box from www.80feetout.com and I put four boston 6x9's with 150 to each speaker the way Holby said and they are possibly enough for the boat as well as the rider.

i put 6 6.5" speakers on mine, and i've been very happy with it. I'm running infinity kappa 62.5i's. they're clean and clear, running a kicker 800 watt amp. i've been in boats with 4 6x9's before, maybe just the way they're tuned, but the bass seemed too much when i was in the boat. just my $.02...

THREAD HIJAC

noob question??? Is the MAIN purpose of tower speakers for the boarders or for the people in the boat?

tower speakers are for the boarder. they add to the inside of the boat for those sitting on the back bench, but mostly for the rider.

The main purpose is to piss off the fishermen with loud music they dont like coming from boats making to many waves in there personal hot spots for the lunkers.....And I wish I had the problem of tower speakers only being for the rider but my boat is so small it doesnt really need more than those I dont think. My fingers are still crossed for that new boat as a wedding gift.......YEAH RIGHT........HAHA

The right tower speakers will be very loud for the people on the back bench in the boat. Heck, I even had a guy who was riding 80' back ask me to turn it down a little once.

Nice set up Tommy G. I'm running the Kappa 62.5i's in my boat too. I've got 10 of them total. The ones in the boat sound great, but the ones on the tower don't seem to project as much as the 6x9s.

Jeff is right, the tower speakers definitely piss off the bass fishermen, but I try my hardest to stay away from them. No problems yet.

so the verdict is that two 6x9's will outplay four 6.5"?

Damnation,those pioneers are awesome. I put 2 pairs of the 6980's in a box and turned up the juice. After I got the HPF set correctly, you could hear them screaming over the top of my dodge diesel. The battery was low on the boat and I had the charger on, my amps were begging for juice and they got 120 amps of it. My Sony HD690G's could not replicate that feat.

steve,
6.5"?

Steve is talking 6x9's here (6980). Yeah Steve, I was really surprised at their performance. I had no idea I could get that kind of sound from a Pioneer speaker!

Ty, if you want to really crank up the noise, just put 4 of the Pioneer 6x9's up on your tower. You can get them for much less $ than the 6.5" Kappas and IMHO, they will far outperform the 6.5's. Be careful though, with that much noise coming off your tower you are begging for a ticket! Oh yeah, what kind of amp are you planning on pushing them with? They need a lot of juice.

(Message edited by damnation on May 21, 2004)

I've heard a lot of expensive stereos in the last couple weeks. Most of the 6x9 systems CAN be heard while your riding, but there's a difference between hearing it, and hearing is LOUD. I bought the NVS 1010 system yesterday and Duane came out and hooked them up while I was picking up my new X2 at Ski World in Pleasanton.

I bought the boat with no stereo, so Duane brought a battery, amp, and a small walkman CD player so we could demo the speakers. We mounted up the speakers and pulled the boat into the center of the cul-de-sac in front of Ski World. The sound is very directed, so we wanted to point it right at the store to get some attention! I took a demo trip with Duane a few months ago at Disco Bay, but I really forgot how loud these speakers are.

If you want to know how loud it is, just call Ski World Pleasanton and ask anybody about the tower speakers they heard yesterday. Ski World stocks most of the high dollar equipment in their pro shop, and it was readily admitted that the NVS setup pooped all over everything they sell. This stuff is crazy!

The 1010s just barely fit on the narrow X2 Zero Flex Flier. There's about an inch in between pods. Heightwise, I am 6'0 and can easily walk under them standing straight up. If you're 6'3 or taller, you may be in trouble. Overall, I could not be any happier with the system.




Thanks Duane!

Joe,

All I got to say is DAMN!!!!!!!!

Duane's stuff is the bomb - you will not find a louder or better sounding setup anywhere - PERIOD.

Hehe, you cause any car accidents on 580 when Duane rocked it?

Joe,

What time were you at ski world yesterday? I came by to check out some X2's but all they had was a red one on display, and their demo boat, a black x2. I love the solid red, i actually talked to Justin about ordering a boat from them. What kind of options did you get on your boat?

The pioneer 6x9's are awesome. I've got 2 pair of the TS-A6980R & 1 pair of the TS-A1680R on my tower, I am still shocked at how much sound comes out of these speakers.

Chavez, I agree, nothing else even comes close! No car accidents, but I imagine they cars would have heard it just fine had we pointed it their direction.

Daryl, we were at Ski World from about 10am till 1pm. We kept the options to a minimum. We wanted a completely base model boat, with Perfect Pass and a tower mirror as the only options. They had a Red-on-Red boat already in production, but it had the MCX, so we went ahead and upgraded. They only charged us $1200 for the $1800 option. It would have been an extra month if we wanted the Predator. The boat came from the factory with a Clarion stereo, and no Perfect Pass. Ski World busted ass to remove the stereo, and install Perfect Pass all in one day. If you're going to buy a Mastercraft, ask them about trading the stereo for Perfect Pass.

Stock Stereo: Clarion head unit, crappy speakers and tweeters, no wired remote, and no sub. Total-$1000

Do it yourself: Sony CDXF-7700 MP3/CDR player($230), 4 Sony X-Plod XSV1640H 6.5's($69/pair). Just that head unit and 4 speakers sound SO MUCH better than the stock stereo. It's really not even a comparison. Plus, the red portions of the XPlod components looks great on the red gelcoat!Total-$368

We also have an XPlod 10" that we're putting in tomorrow (need to dig up an amp), and a wired remote to mount right next to the steering wheel (The head unit mounts in the glove box).

The 1010's are about $1800, and the Orion 800 watt amp was $300 from www.cbrstereo.com

Overall the stereo is a low budget system that sounds RIDICULOUSLY good.(The boat was so damn expensive, I had to go easy on stereo equipment!)

Ok, time to go finish routing 12 gage wire through the tower.

TY i dont think 2 6x9's would be louder then the 4 6.5's but I dont know for sure. But if you could swing it 4 6x9's are very loud with enough power and the right speakers.