I just stepped off the plane, so this will be a brief summary, with my full review coming some time tomorrow.
First of all, let me make a couple of statements to preface the following thoughts. I've been very careful about what Wakeside has said with respect to the performance of the new Rubicon line (both here and on our website) because I wanted to have first hand experience with the product before I made any judgements. Skylon had some huge hurdles to clear this year after the delays in shipping product last year, as well as some of the unintentional short comings of that product. But this is about the new product, so let's get to it.
The first thing I can honestly say after running the speakers hard today is that I hope each and every boat audio enthusiast gets a chance to hear these speakers. From the Rubicon 100 on up, I think everyone will be pleased with the clarity, accuracy and output of each model (given it's respective purpose in the line). Skylon has put in the time and energy to design a product with the quality and features boat owners are looking for (hence the slight delay in the release of the product, which was not in any way related to supply problems). Having complete control of every component, application and process from within the company has resulted in a product that has the quality needed to withstand the rigors of the marine application, and it also sounds fantastic. Skylon also took great care to address any short-comings in the Deafcon product, as well as any other foreseeable issues, just as you would expect of any quality manufacturer introducing a new product (Apple, GM, Cisco, etc.).
Additionally, a lot of engineering went into the design of the cross-over network to protect both the speaker components, and/or the amplifier in the event of any malfunction. The nominal impedance has been raised to safer levels for the Rubicon's, and the characteristics of that impedance graph, as well as the nature of the cross-over network has been designed to relieve the burden on the amplifier and present better audio qualities. The end result is a safer, more consistent speaker, that will perform in any application. If a DIY installs these himself and doesn't know anything about tuning a system, it doesn't matter, even running full range, they sound good and they're not going to fail. If a purist sends 600W of correctly tuned power to them, they're going to scream, and they won't meltdown, even if one of the components fails.
So what does that mean in terms of output? From a SQ perspective, the 350 and 450 sound phenomenal for horn based systems. There's no way they'll ever challenge a soft dome tweeter, for transparency, but then again, for how we use them behind the boat I don't really think that matters. What it comes down to is that compared to the other horn based systems on the market, these are incredibly smooth and very easy on your ears, even standing a few feet away (at swim platform distances).
Finally, in terms of sheer output, they are incredible. Next to a set of properly functioning Deafcon V's there just no comparison; they're louder, more accurate, have better imaging, and are more consistent throughout the coverage sphere, so even when you're out to the side of the boat approaching the wake there is still plenty of output.
It's hard to say how they would stack up against something like a pair of 1010's without quantitative numbers, but the difference is small enough that you're going to have to measure it. Given the huge increase in SQ up close to the boat (and at 80'), I would gladly give up such a small decrease in output, if there even is one. Bottom line, these are the most versatile, loud, accurate tower speakers I've ever heard, and given what I have experience with in the marketplace, I feel comfortable saying they're the "best" out there right now. At the end of the day though, that doesn't mean anything, because it's just my opinion. That's why my comment above about every enthusiast taking them for a listen is important, you need to put them through the paces yourself. If you're in the NW, let me know and we'll schedule a demo, otherwise I hope you have an accommodating dealer, because I really just want as many people as possible to listen to them and draw their own conclusions.
As to the origins of the components, they are sourced from around the world, from the best suppliers for the application. The tweeters come from England, the glass reinforced circuit boards are from Europe, etc. Sure some of the components come from the Orient, but unfortunately that's the global world that we live in today, and if that's where a reliable supplier that can regularly deliver a quality product is located, then so be it. At the end of the day, all the engineering, design and assembly is performed in the USA, just like the other tower speaker manufacturers out there. This issue has been blown out of proportion IMHO, and a lot of false claims seem to have been made, which is too bad.
From an enthusiast standpoint, I was quite impressed with both the sound quality, and the quality of the design and components, and after experiencing them first hand, I think they'll make anyone happy. If you already have an order in for them, you may have been waiting for a while, but we're in the home stretch, and bailing now would really be a mistake in my mind. We will have product in two weeks, which should be plenty of time for most people before the whether really starts to warm up.
So this ended up being a little longer than I had planned, but hopefully it offers some more tangible information than the marketing hype that has surrounding this new product line. I'll digest my test some more and post more concise thoughts tomorrow. In the meantime, if anyone has any other specific questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.
Jason
www.wakeside.com
Linear Mode
