Today Shawn from Wet Sounds stopped by, as promised, to let us get one of the first looks at the newest tower speaker products. He came with a pair of Rev 8s and also a Rev 10.
The speakers now use all of the space on the face of the speaker and eliminate the large border. This allows the new 8” driver to fit into the Pro 60 housing and new 10” driver to fit in the Pro 80. The look of the grill I fell in love with as soon as I saw them. The stainless is now recessed into the grill and has a negative dish. The inward concave of the grill on the Rev 10 compared to the older grills was like looking at a nice set of forged deep dish wheels compared to a stock cast set of rims. Attention was taken to make sure that all of the surfaces are smooth and nothing looks like an afterthought. Another nice touch was integrating the Wet Sounds logo into the grill compared to using a stick on logo.
The new quick disconnect swivel clamps were the next thing to check out. Wet Sounds went above and beyond engineering a swivel clamp that has everything that you need, want or never knew you needed. Tons of thought went into making sure that the clamps were easy to use, reliable and built like a tank. The wire is now routed into the clamp and the rubber inserts are no longer needed. When looking at the small details like the groves on the stainless release fork to aid in grip, you know that this clamp was designed by people who know what little things make a difference while out on the water. Seeing that the stainless steel retaining bolt is a heavy duty course thread means that it will not strip out like others I have seen. The wiring size is not compromised in any way to make this a quick disconnect clamp. Speaking of wiring, an optional harness will be available that will include the wiring needed for single color or RGB LED lighting. Wet Sounds planed for LED lighting into the clamps, I wonder if Wet Sounds is going to release their own LED options… hint, hint. Rotation is about 30 degrees shy of 360 and is more than enough. The standard clamps are also a redesign. Like the swivel clamp, the speaker wire is now routed into the clamp. In my opinion, if you are going to be ordering the Rev 8s or Rev 10s, get the swivel clamps.
Fortunately I was given the notice last week that a set of Revs would be coming into the store so our display was already set up and ready to do an A-B comparison with the Rev 8s and the Pro 80s. Our demo set up is simple. IPod connected to a WS-420 and out to a SYN-4. I will be honest and say that every time I listened to the Pro60s or Pro80s I would turn down the “Mid” knob and the “Mid bass” up just slightly on the WS-420 to tone done the sound of the super efficient frequencies. The Revolution speakers have taken what I already knew to be the harsh areas and smoothed them out 100%. Tim can comment about all of the differences in the cone material, horn design, crossover, motor structure and everything else but what it all comes down to it HEARING IS BELIEVING. The Rev 8s did not sound like a horn at all. The natural bump in volume between 1-4khz is almost gone. All of the detail in the upper end of the instruments was being played like I’ve never heard before from a tower speaker. Mid bass is more defined and has authority. Kick drums sounded SOLID. I can go on and on about the sound of these speakers but you really need to hear them for yourself.
Sadly, we had to take them down from our display and wait for our shipment to come in. The first comment I said to a coworker after the initial excitement wore of was “Holy crap that was just the 8 inch! What about the Rev 10!!” We already have the Rev 8s and the Rev 10s on order and can’t wait to ride behind a boat with a pair or two or four on the tower. Once we get our first shipment we will have them up and ready to demo.
I want to congratulate Team Wet Sounds for making a superior product and bringing to market a tower speaker line that has the same type of revolutionary impact that the first version of the Pro80 did in 2004. The Revolution Series is going to make boaters, wake boarders, wake surfers, partiers and anyone within 100 yards of them very happy (except maybe the grumpy fishermen).
I hope this review is helpful. Let me know if there are any questions I might be able to answer.
A few pictures below and a few more on our Face Book Page:
http://www.facebook.com/acmetopsandtunes
Me Happy with new toys!!
Rev 10 with a sexy grill
Swivel clamp. Final production pieces will have different wire management. Notice the extra 4 wires at the base for LED lighting.
Rev 8
80' Listening test. WOW! The speakers are at the bay entrance. (sorry about the lens cap)
Top: Pro80
Bottom: Rev 8 with temporary wiring job and swivel clamp loose.
Top Row: Pro80s
Bottom Row: Rev 8s
Linear Mode
