Wetsounds/Bullet/NVS Test Day

Who makes the BEST tower speakers?

This is the ever lasting question of many. Myself and a few others on the forum would like to plan a day to test the top dawgs of the tower speakers in a heads up battle. I would like to eliminate all variables and put all the speakers on one tower with the same amp and be able to quickly A-B-C-D comparison. We could have a barbecue with some drinks at the same time. All just an idea at this point. Throw out some ideas or what you would like to see / hear and I will see if I can organize an event that everyone can attend.

Let the ideas flow.

So far. For sure:
Wetsounds
Bullet
NVS

HSE?

recommend getting the speakers from people that already own them that way they're all broke in and there's no accusations of someone putting up a "ringer" of a speaker setup

I herd the new Bullet set up at Ben's shop and they are definitley loud! I told him to stick them on the roof of his shop and go have his customers stand across the street!

test out the kicker horn drivers also.. i like kicker but they a freakin ugly as hell!!

and on the speakers im gonna have to predict :
#1 wetsounds
#2 nvs
#3 bullet

i dont see the 6.5" out performing mid bass horn drivers but i could be wrong

After owning/listening to the complete NVS line as well as the wetsounds line, depending on speaker/power combo they sound different/better IMO. For instance using the same amp on a Pro 80 and a NVS 1010, will not produce accurate results. I don't know how you would test this, maybe differnt clasess?

I'm not an engineer, but my theroy is the more power your pushing to the HLCD class tower spearkes the brighter they get due to the hihger sensitivity levels of the compression driver. Even with attenuation circuits on them. I used to push my pro 80's with 350 watts RMS per pod, and now roughly 160 RMS. I like the 160 RMS sound better.

It really comes down to which one speaker looks good on your tower/boat, because they all sound clear and loud.

I can't even turn up my NVS up more than half way without my wife yelling at me. I was across the lake at our favorite lake and in a cove boarding with the Tyrants NVS blasting. My wife was with our kids at the swimming area of the lake which is far far away from the cove and she could hear my music crystal clear.

What I am saying it gets to a point that you really don't need them louder than a certain volume anyways without going deaf. WHAT!

Cost difference between the three. If anyone cares.

Wetsounds Pro 80s - $900 for a pair
NVS addictions - $1295 for a pair
Bullet hollow point 770 - $949 for a pair

I'm assuming these are the bullet speakers people are talking about.

Another vote for HSE!

Rubicon's as well

I agree, it would need to be at least: NVS, HSE, and Wetsounds. I also think the ONLY fair way to do this sort of test would be to organize with the companies for the proper suggested equipment. For example, NVS also suggests using a zapco amp.

Ultimately I think its far too apples and oranges to offer a legitimate comparison. Are we going by speaker size (cone size), bang for the buck, pure noise, or quality sound? The last being VERY relative to the listener.

The only thing I can say is that if you going to compare speakers it makes the most sense to use the manufacturers recommended setup. I believe the last one of these (supposed comparison) ran completely underpowered the NVS' setup (against the manufacturers suggestion) resulting in an unfair comparison. Its like sticking C cell batteries into a D cell maglite then saying "ohh its too dim a light".

I think in the end the results would have categories for loud and quality of: cheapest quality/loud setup, money no object quality/loud, and wattage categories such as 400 watt limitation, 800 watt limitation , 1200 watt limitation etc.

But like brannon said, I think the general idea is to take an NVS/HSE/Wetsounds customer's speakers, put it on a manufacturers supplied setup and see what happens.

And ultimately I think your going to need to be in personal contact with EACH manufacturer and offer them their "ideal setup" to get everyone to play ball.

You could also create a heavyweight champion belt for S&G's as well as offer sales on the spot as an incentive.

Maybe a spring ride comp/setup?

even side by side, its going to be preference.
I doubt the "loudest" is the clearest...etc.

People are blowing this way out of proportion. I believe that he was just throwing out an idea that would give people with questions about these speakers, and don't get the chance to hear them ever, a chance to hear them for them selves. In saying to find out which one the best is, they are all great. But as you can see some people think differently about which is the best. If this thing does happen, people will have the chance to choose for themselves. Plus it's a good way to get a group of people together and have a good time.

This is looking very positive. Everyone's input it being noted. I agree that there are many factors that would need to be taken into account in order to make it a fair comparison. What it comes down to is that I would like have a day where we can all get together and give everyone a chance to listen to what they haven't already heard.

From what everyone has said it needs to be 4 manufactures products on hand. Wetsounds, NVS, Bullet, and HSE. Which products from each should we try to organize to have set up? PRO80, 485, 770 Hollow Point, Addiction, Entity, and Trident? All on the same boat (I can have tower extensions made to put them all on a single tower)? In order to simplify it can I select a single amp that is very clean and will have enough power for any set up and then adjust the gains and crossovers accordingly with an amp per? Thanks for all the input. If anyone wants to get in touch with me follow the link in my profile or E-Mail me: BL@acmetopsandtunes.com

Steve - The price you put for the Hollow Point 770 are for the chrome. The black and white are $899

bstephen24- "People are blowing this way out of proportion. I believe that he was just throwing out an idea that would give people with questions about these speakers, and don't get the chance to hear them ever, a chance to hear them for them selves. In saying to find out which one the best is, they are all great. But as you can see some people think differently about which is the best. If this thing does happen, people will have the chance to choose for themselves. Plus it's a good way to get a group of people together and have a good time.
Thank you. I'm not setting it up to be a competition I want to try to help the people in our area make an educated decision, make it a good time and put faces to the screen names.

My bad, I read the first post noting "who's the best"... haha.

Regardless I like the idea and goal.

I vote D-Bots!

Matt- I was wrong for trying to assume that anyone can come to a conclusion that there is a BEST. For each ear there is a best in sq, best in volume, best speaker dispersion... and in general there is best in cosmetics, best in durability, best in hang height, best in customer service, best warranty...... I don't believe there will be a best, just a personal preference.

one more thing to remember is the distance between the speakers will also effect the sound so it'll be tough to mount them all at the same time and be fair

Ben,

Maybe we could set a boat up with them all mounted sideways, anchor a boat on the Sac. river across from Crawdads, and run them through their paces.

Do it like wine tasting...

Blind test - scorecards

Ratings:
Loudness 1-10
Sound Quality 1-10
Clean highs 1-10
Mid 1-10
Mid-Bass 1-10

Tower speakers only, no sub or boat speakers. Choose two or three 15 second music segments. Run them in different orders. Speakers should be pulled off the shelf from dealer stock and broken in before the test.

The key here is the "judging" area needs to be nice comfortable place to hang out.

Mike- I thought about this also. 2 rows high and extending beyond tower. Do you think that 12-14' distance between the outer most speakers will make a difference while listening to them at 60-150ft back?

I put this together as just a visual guess of what can be set up with a few extra tubes. Its not to scale but the top row of speakers will be about 14' wide. What do you guys think? Can we demo them like this?

Mikeski- I'm not sure if Crawdads, Chevys, Virgin Sturgeon or any of the other offices would like that very much. Agreed, only tower speakers play during demo. Would you say 4 hours at %80 is enough to break them in enough for demo? I've decided to not sponsor this event as a "test". I want it to be a demo day for the people who want to hear them. If anyone else wants to test them or try to rate them its fine with me.

As for the difference to be honest I'm not sure but I'd say unless it's way to much work I'd like to see the difference separation makes. To do so how about after the test move a couple of the sets closer or farther away and see if it sounds different.

Another vote for HSE!

If your going to do a test it should be more apples to apples. The Bullet Hollow Point 770's and 650's are made to compete with the Wetsound Pro 80's and Pro 60's and other smaller "round" speakers on the tower.

The Tyrant, Pro 485, HSE are big box speakers and should have there own category.

Just a thought.

Stewart - Will for sure keep this in mind. What about a single 485 vs a pair of 770s? I think this would be a fair match up.

Ben,

Sounds like a great deal!! You would want to try to keep the distances the same across the board.

What about if you did it on a pontoon boat. And instead of trying to put them all on a tower. Go to a pro audio sound rental company. Rent some Pipe and Bases and some cheeseboro clamps.

These are the type of clamps that allow you to criss cross pipes.

You would have 2 bases with vertical pipes. Then you could have different horizontal pipes with different speakers on them. You could then attach one pipe with those speakers and test it. Then change out pipes.

Would be a fast and easy way to do it. And if you are on a pontoon. You can mount the bases on a big flat area.

You could then test at the same distance, same height and same width between speakers.

Also, when doing the tests. Do a single RTA reading directly behind the speakers and another off axis. Go out as far as you can off axis like you would on a wakeboard.

Dispersion is something that a lot of people do not consider when listening to tower speakers but I feel is one of the most important as you don't ride right behind the boat. So try to simulate the tests like you would when you ride and test it from the farthest area outside the wake.

Let me know if there is anything we can do to help. Do you have a portable RTA?

Tim
Wet Sounds

Tim - Thanks for your support and input. We do have an Audio Control SA-3055 RTA with the large display board so the crowd can see. We also have a basic hand held RTA.