Winter Project #1 - Exile XM7 Tower Speakers

After adding a pair of Exile XM7's to my tower in October and hearing the difference in the boat and for the rider between them and the Pro80's. I decided to drop the 80's and add another pair of the XM7's. Also adding 2 Exile 800.4's to power the XM7's. Going to do some rewiring of everything, upgrade to Tsunami X-20 rca's, and do build a new amp rack as well. Can't wait to get this done and have some rainless weather on the weekend for some winter riding.

And for those of you who are thinking this is an advertisement for Exile, its not. Just a customer who is very satisfied, who believes they have some great innovations and ideas with there products and wants other to hear about them and check them out.

Will post pics once I get it done.

Nate,

Let me first say that I'm an Exile dealer, am very supportive and would really like to see them do well. They are today and will be in the future a real player.

I'm also a WetSounds dealer so my opinions are tempered by real and objective experience.

Its ridiculous to make comparisons between an oversized 6 1/2 inch (Exile XM-7) and a true 8-inch (WetSounds Pro80) HLCD. If you want to do Exile a favor then expound on the Exile benefits (and there are plenty of them) without implausible comparisons. You're not endearing people to Exile with this approach, IMO.

David
Earmark Marine

Wow. Didn't realize I made an implausible comparison when I stated that there was a difference between the XM7 and the Pro80 with regards to how they sound in the boat and for the rider. I never stated why I decided to no longer use the Pro80s. Nor did I bad mouth the product. So I really do not understand why you are attacking me and more or less bad mouthing the XM7s for me saying that I heard a difference between the two; decided to no longer use the Pro80s because of that differnce.; and for giving my support to Exile.

My statement of hearing a difference between the two came from appox 20 hours on the water listening to both seperatly and together.

You are probably right naming off the benefits that the Exile XM7's have would benefit Exile very well. Because the ability to rotate the speakers 360 degrees, easily removal for storage for added security, a clamp system that has the ability to work with multiple style towers and fit in factory locations, etc should be talked about. But that was not the purpose of my post. Purpose of my post was to state my winter project because of my excitement.

And finally my comment about this not being an advertisment for Exile was poking fun at the thread about the Harpoon amp and peoples statements in it. Because realistically anytime someone posts a thread giving support to a product or wants to let people know of a new product they found it is an advertisment.

Sorry Nate. I've got a low tolerance for bull**** and I'm standing by my statement in its entirety.

And, no one else would interpret that I was "more or less bad mouthing the XM7s..." unless their sole intention was to create a little drama.

But now I'm just a little curious as to the conditions under which the comparison was made.

Where did you buy the Pro80s?
How old were they?
What pods were they in?
What was powering them?
I'm sure it won't be revealed here but something just doesn't pass the smell test.

And wow. Having read the other thread you couldn't predict that naming another brand, WetSounds in particular, wouldn't be inflammatory?

David
Earmark Marine

I wouldn't ask you to not stand by your statement because that is your opinion.

It appears the only one causing drama here is you.

Purchased the Pro80s new in box from Stereo King in March 2009. They were powered by a Kicker 850.4.

I do not understand why you think that there has to be something fishy going on here when I believe that a certain product is better then another. Your reaction to me liking the XM7s over the Pro80s makes me think that there is something fishy going on with regards to you and wetsounds. But that will probably not be revealed here.

Smell test.......fishy..........I'm out.........

Big Nate,
That sounds awesome man. I plan on ordering a pair of XM7 with a 800.4 for Brain at exile audio sometime in March and put them on my 2000 210. The reviews I have read on these speaker are awesome. Next Summer should be fun.

Big Nate what did you like better about the xm7's over the pro 80's? I'm just curious as to what made you go with one over the other? Nothing more than curiosity.

Matt -
That sounds great. You will really like them.

David -
I believe that I misinterpreted what you wrote earlier as for a bash on Exile rather then you stating that there is a size difference in the products thus making a direct comparison not really feasible. If that was your soul intent i am sorry for making the conclusion.

Aaron -
What made me first look at the Exile XM7's was seeing a post on here about them and a guy installing them on his Mastercraft. Once i read that i looked at there site and noticed that you can demo the XM7's to see how you like them. To me any company that has the balls to do that must have a good product so i looked into them and decided to test them out.

Both speakers sounded great at 80' but the XM7's sounded better in the boat. I am not meaning in the boat just floating with the volume down, I am meaning while the stereo is turned up for the rider 80' out. And that is what really sold me on them. I also really liked the ability to remove the tower speakers easily. I have my tower speakers mounted on top of the tower, so in order to get my boat in my shop with the Pro80's i had to take the tower down. Now with the XM7's i just have to take them off. And its much easier taking speakers off then lowering a tower. The other thing that really sold me is that I have been looking at getting a new boat (either Malibu, Nautique or Mastercraft, currently have a Supra) and with there clamp system I can mount the speakers to the factory locations on the Malibu or Mastercraft tower without having to buy new clamps. All around the XM7's fit my needs better.

Nate,

Are you sure you had PRO 80's and NOT PRO 60's? As I am confused about you saying you had to take the tower down with the PRO 80's. The PRO 80's COME with a quick release swivel clamp already. 2 allen bolts and the speaker comes off vs. 1 allen bolt on the other.

???

Tim
Wet Sounds

Tim -
Yes I am positive that I had Pro80's. They had the old style clamps.

Hmm, OK. The old clamps were ALSO quick disconnect. Remove the 2 lug nuts and the speaker slides off.

Tim
Wet Sounds

Nate,

That's a good review and I can appreciate all that you described. And, that approach facilitates an open forum without inviting all the typical reprisal. In this way we all benefit from more information. Even though I've been in the electronics business for a very long time I learn something daily on this and other forums.

Congrats on your new Exiles!

David
Earmark Marine

I find the Pro80's (even with the old style clamp) very easy to remove by myself. If they were mounted on top of the tower it seems it would be even easier. Interesting review none the less. Not sure I can believe they sound as good for the rider though.

I actually has the lug nuts loctited in place because they had a tendency to work themselves loose. That and the fact that the other speakers on the tower did not have a quick disconnect made it so I had to lower the tower. But it is easier to remove te Exiles either way. One allen head and no wire connection to take off versus 2 lugs or allen heads plus the wire connection.

If you find it hard to believe that the Exiles sounded better all I can say to do is find a local retailer or do the demo program and listen for yourself.

No need to argue with Big Nate on what sounds better. To him the exiles sound better for what ever reason. He is entitled to his opinion. To others the Wet Sounds may sound better. There are to many veriables when comparing speakers. Proper power,how they were tuned etc.

Amen Aaron.

The more Beer you have the Better your system sounds. I have also been told Ulgy lady's don't look so bad with a few extra beer's

Your right Grant

Why is it that nearly everything I have seen posted about Exile seems like a bunch of marketing BS. Do they give you guys the stuff if you post hype here on Wakeworld? As a serious audio enthusiast, there is almost zero chance I would ever buy a single Exile product based on the childish comparison and slanderous postings I have seen over the past year.

I wish I got the product for free. That would be almost as great as money growing on trees.

Any post on Wakeworld giving support to any product(boats, maintenance products, stereo equipment,etc) is a form of marketing that most companies tend to like the most: consumer to consumer.

If we all had the opportunity to test out Exile, Bullet, NVS, Wetsounds or whatever tower speaker you want that we would find things about each one that we like better then the other. In the end you would buy whichever sounded the best to you, has the features that you want, and best fits your needs. Personally I have never listened to the Bullets or NVS, but I have listened to Bazooka, Skylon, Roswell cans with Kenwoods, Wetsounds and Exile. The later 4 all have been on my tower at some point in time. Before Exile was on the market the Wetsounds where the tower speaker for me. There is even a thread on here from several months ago inquiring about which set of Wetsounds I should add to me tower to compliment the Pro 80's the best. Instead of adding another set of Wetsounds I added Exile instead. The features they offered impressed me which is why I decided to try them out. While trying them out I came to the conclusion that they fit my needs better and that they sounded better to me. Which is why I decided to replace my Pro80s with XM7s.

It is really bad that when someone makes a comparison that people do not agree with or believe is logical that they have to defend themselves so much. I just hope that before anyone decides to rule out a particular product that they take the time to test it out for themselves and come to there own conclusion rather then taking the word of someone online or a sales person. And just remember as Aaron said earlier we are all entitled to our own opinions.

Big Nate,

Why are you going to run two amps. Exile just came out with the Harpoon that will run 4 HLCD's...so it claims.

That would make more sense to me

Murphy -

I decided to go with and purchased the 2 amps before I new that Exile announced the Harpoon. I could have used the Kicker 850.4, which has been a great amp for me, to power the 4 XM7's that I have now but i decided to try something different this time. I also decided to run the 2 based on Exile's download install tech tip of using 2 pair of XM7's and 2 800.4s. Which doing this actually never crossed my mind before so I wanted to try it.

I am sure that the Harpoon will have no problem powering 4 HLCD's and might have gone that direction if it was available when i made my purchases because some of the features that it has available interest me and I think would be useful.

Took a little longer then I expected to get started on this but other then some fine tuning of the stereo I am done. Need to take it out on the water for the actual fine tuning, but it sounds amazing and very loud in my shop. Love that I no longer have speaker wire showing. Thanks Exile for making such a great product!

Amps:
Kicker ZX650.4 running the interior speakers
2 Exile XI800.4 1 for each pair of XM7's
MTX TA81001 running Kicker L7 15

Not the best quality photos because they are all taken from my cell phone.






(Message edited by thesack on January 17, 2010)

Looks good!! Are those exile amps running the tower speakers?

Yeah the Exile amps are running the tower speakers which are Exile XM7s. One for each pair.

One for each pair? That's nutz!

Looks good, do you still have the pro 80's?

Yeah one Exile Xi800.4 for each pair. So i have 400 watts going to each XM7 speaker.

Jesse - No i sold the pro 80s awhile back.

Beer goggles rock.

Looks great Nate.

Someone asked about the Harpoon a few posts back..
it won't be in stores until late Feb. Nate if you want one we can work something out. No problem. Just let me know.

Hopefully the sun shines on us all in the USA and everyone can get on the water sooooooooon.

Brian @ Exile

Thanks Brian. Definitely like the Throttle Box Controller that the Harpoon has with it. Would be interested in seeing how it actually controls and shapes the sound. Are you guys going to do a demo program like you have with the XM7's with the Harpoon as well?