Heavy Tower Speakers and Tower Sway

Has anyone had a problem with excessive tower sway while trailering to the lake after hanging multiple tower speakers? I just hung a pair of Fusion T-Series Combos on my Mobius LSV Tower and there is a good deal of tower sway with any bumps or dips in the road. I am curious if anyone else has this same problem with heavy speakers.

I was getting a pretty good amount of sway with my NVS 1010s on my X2, mainly because we drive on a very rough road. The Mastercraft "Zero" Flex tower is about the most wobbly tower I've ever seen, tower speakers or not.

Tightening the poop out of the four main tower mounts helped a lot.

Had a problem a while back with speakers that wieghed 60# total on my zero flex tower. A ton of sway and cracked the gelcoat around one of the mounts

Does anyone remove their speakers while trailering and then reconnect them once you get to the lake. I might do this. It sounds like a lot of work, but if it saves the gel-coat on a brand new boat, 5 minutes to assemble the clamps each trip might be worth it. Anyone else have any problems like this?

Brian I am making a couple of tower stands to hold up the tower when folded down. They will look like this and be rubber coated on the inside curve so it doesn't scratch the tower.

As amatter of fact i do pull my speakers so they are not uf for weather or vandal abuse and just install when i get to the ramp area.

Which year Fusion T speakers did you purchase? Were they the ones on sale? I have an '04 Mobius LSV and was ready to purchase a set. Not sure if they sway that much though. Just removed and sold the original Mako MBQuarts. Do you have them mounted towards the outside or closer to the center?

dudeman,
I purchased the 2004 Fusions as leftover stock from wakeside. I have the speakers mounted towards the outside with the Mako 6-light lightbar between them. The speakers themselves are great and very sturdy when clamped to the tower. It's because they weigh so much that the whole tower has a lot of side-sway when I am on the road. Once I get in the water, its not a big deal unless I hit a massive wake headon.

(Message edited by MobiusGuy on April 12, 2005)

If you get away without any gelcoat cracks you're lucky. From what I've researched, there are many factors that affect a proper gelcoat application. Mine is already cracked on the starboard rear mount in 2 places about 1" and 2" each. Called the dealer and they said that if happened within the first 6 months, they could send it back to have it redone, but that is a major undertaking. On a side note, are the '04 Fusion T speakers worth the money? Are they considerably better than the Mako MB Quarts that I had?

I am looking to put 2 pair NVS addictions tower speakers on my tower. All 4 speakers total are going to weigh about 96lbs. I have a 2005 x-star, and am wandering if my "zero" flex tower handle this much weight?

dudeman,
That's too bad about your gelcoat. So many people and dealers will tell you that most of the time its just cosmetic and not structural. But, man, you spend this kind of money, you would hope there would never be any cracks at all. It would be nice to see gel-coat made to flex with the fiberglass under extreme stresses. As for the T-series speakers...they are great. Loud, crisp, and clear. Pushing them with the JL Audio 300/2 amp. As for your Mako Quarts, I have never heard them but I do have six of the Nautic Series Quarts in my boat and they rock. Are the T-Series worth the money...well I think all these accessories are out of control when it comes to price. Its that good law of supply and demand. People are willing to pay the price right now since this sport has grown like it has. I picked them up from wakeside when they had their huge overstock sell and got them at $699 for the pair. I am all about the sales!

Ryan - What is the weight of the Addictions?

You may also want to worry if the rider can handle the volume of 4 addictions, it will be like that old Memorex commercial with the guy in the chair with is hair blown back

If you are worried about cracking, You may want to look at the feet for your tower also. I think the main reason that the gel hasnt cracked on my 2001 is that the tower has a lot of flex points. Also, between the mounting foot and the deck they sandwhiched a piece of 1/4 rubber for dampening. I know when I watched it hitting waves, I can see it abosrb so shock, otherwise the gel would.




I know it also adds to the ability for the tower to flex, But I know my tower setup ways quite a bit, and it is still pretty rigid. (as long as all the bolts are in)


Just an FYI for you.

Ryan,

I think that 96 pounds of tower speakers, plus racks, lights, and 4-8 sets of boards & bindings is way to much weight for a Zero Flex tower. Some of the new 2 1/4 - 3 inch tower could handle that, but the Zero Flex is not that rigid.

The Deafcon V Reference weighs half of that and sounds amazing. We have that setup on our demo boat.

http://www.wakesiderides.com/rides/index.php?page=out&id=118

Mike

I do take off and put up my tower speakers each time. It minimizes the weight up on the the tower lessening the sway. Yes, it does take a few extra minutes when gettin the boat ready at the ramp, but I just work on that while my friends load up their boards, towels and other gear... I think its worth it.

oh yeah, and I run 4 6x9's up there. They are in two seperate boxes (2 per box) on either side of the top of the tower, which is nice bc the head room is not compromised. And the Pirate flags on the end of each box are a lot of fun hehe

Thanks for all the input guys. It sounds like I am not the only one with this problem of heavy speakers and tower side-sway! I think I will try taking the speakers down before getting on the road a few times and see how big of a deal it will be.

(Message edited by MobiusGuy on April 13, 2005)

The "Zero" Flex tower on the 03+ X Star is significantly stronger than the "Zero" Flex tower on the traditional X Series boats. The X Star tower uses 3 inch tubing and billet aluminum uprights.

Props to Wakeside Mike for my laugh of the morning though! One pair of DeafconV vs. TWO pairs of Addictions!

Joe, I was referring to the weight.

Skylon Deafcon V: 50 pounds
2 X NVS Addictions: 96 pounds

Obviously the Addictions are louder, but there is still a question mark on sound quality vs the Deafcon IV or V. We are anxious to hear them side by side.

If weight is a real issue and sound quality is very important (not mainly rider SPL), then I would consider one pair of Skylon Deafcon IV's. They sound just as good as the V's but don't get quite as loud and you lose a little low end with one 8" mid-bass vs two. We sell more IV's than V's, so that must be a consideration along with weight and cost.

The Deafcon IV weighs 16 pounds each (32 pounds/pair) and costs $1,300 (after using reward points toward other audio stuff like the Image Dynamics line that will be available in about a week).

It's amazing that its called a "Zero Flex" yet it flexes left and right like a TJ Hooker.

Speaking of taking down the tower for storage, has anyone come up with a better way of connecting the tower in its upright position rather than using the factory supplied bolts.

I'd have thought that using stainless bolts on a aluminum tower would be a bad idea and would lead to premature wear of the tower threads and since I have to take it apart twice for every trip, I'd expect for things to be problematic down the road.

markfromtexas , i regularly fold down my local made tower and it has SS bolts into aluminum. Just put some anti-seize on the bolts once in a while. Im considering taking it to a shop and having them put the SS inserts in so the metal will be the same and use big knobs so i can do away with my allen wrench.

Does side to side sway really matter? I mean of course too much is obviously bad but in my mind I would rather see that movement in the tower than all that stress transfered into the hull. I know many of the boats in the competition market have thick decks (3/4") that could probably take that kind of abuse but wouldn't you rather see movement in the tower? Maybe its just me but if the tower is solid front to back (a rider pulling on the rope) thats more of what concerns me...