Where to start with system?

I bought my first boat late this year and this is what it has on it;

(4) 6x9's and (2) 6.5's ran by a small, cheap amp.

I want to upgrade to some Wetsounds, but don't have $10k to spend on a system. Were should I start? What I think I want to do is remove all of the gear on there, put a pair of Pro80s on the tower and put the largest amp they can handle on there for now. Will a pair of Pro80s be louder than what I have? I can hear the music at 75 feet, but it is NOT loud or clear. You can tell what song is playing, but not much else. Also, what I have is very loud in the boat. Will the Wetsounds project more behind the boat and not be so loud on the driver?

What other suggestions do you have?

Thanks
Jon

(Message edited by hunter660 on October 24, 2008)

One pair of pro 80's will be louder and get a wetsounds amp to match. You may spend a couple of bucks more, but you won't have to buy twice.

What amps do you have powering the tower? I know wetsound amps are good but IMO, you could save some money with the equipment that you have in the boat in regards to amps. Now the speakers on the other hand are a different story.

Jon,

If you do the pair of PRo 80's with the SYN2 amp. That amp is 200x2 and matched for the PRO 80's. It has enough power to run 2 pairs if you add another pair later.

Our tower speakers are designed for the rider at 80 feet back and voiced from 80 feet. Our pro-axial driver is designed to have a wide dispersion. There is more sound projected to the rider and less spill over into the boat than a typical car audio speaker like what you have now.

Tim
Wet Sounds

A lot louder if there is a crappy amp running that mess.

A set of Pro-80's is about 900. There are a million amps out there that will work. Get something that will run 200+ amps to each 80.

Dude How much do you want for the stuff you have right now? PM me

I took all of my existing hardware out of the boat. My amp is a Phoenix Gold 200.2 I’m guessing it is 50x2@4ohm RMS. After looking at the specs on the wetsounds website I realized how big these things are. Is the "hang height" from the top of the tower of bottom? Any one have some pictures of their setup on the same tower as mine? It looks like I will have NO headroom.

"Our tower speakers are designed for the rider at 80 feet back and voiced from 80 feet". thats what nvs has been advertising for years. come up with your own marketing saying

(Message edited by Ponte_06_x2 on October 25, 2008)

(Message edited by Ponte_06_x2 on October 25, 2008)

^^^and that helps the OP how?

Ponte,

What is your deal? Why always so much hate. You need to get your facts straight before posting.

I have let your smart alex comments slide for a long time since I know you are buddies with Duane and a big NVS supporter.

But to come onto a post and throw out some stupid stuff like this is BS.

So you know. I had already started Wet Sounds and already had prototypes on the water long before NVS ever hit the market.

Wet Sounds has been in business longer. You did not know about us is all.

We have also been explaining that we design our speakers for the rider and voiced at 80 feet back since DAY ONE.

Don't even get me started about people copying.

Tim
Wet Sounds

I agree with Tim. Something Tim is doing must be working because I see way more WS on boats than NVS.

As for an amp...I personally would do a JL 300/2. That will give you 150RMS watts all day long. Further more that amp has its own power regulator. That way it can run on just about any voltage down to about 10.5 all the way up to 14.5. They are great amps and they will push those speakers no problem.

sorry. i guess my sense of humor was a bit out of whack.

I wouldn't say "a bit out of whack", more like pointless...

ive been bad. let the spanking begin. please no belts. they hurt way too much. thanks for the comment "sparky". again to tim. sorry

(Message edited by Ponte_06_x2 on October 25, 2008)

Can we get back on topic here?

Where is the "hang height" measurement taken from?

Jon,
The answer to your question about "Hang Height" is that it is typically taken from the bottom of the crossing tube that you will be mounting on to the lowest point of the speaker module.
An example of hang height would be the NVS Deviant or Prodigy using 10 inch drivers is 8.60 inches.
Hope you find this post helpful.

Duane

ponte, Thanks for the apology.

You can do simple searches online like a whois search if you don't believe me.

wetsounds.com: Created on Jan 29, 2003
nvs1.net: Created on Dec 17, 2003

Jon,

Take a look at our site under the gallery pages. You can see a ton of different installs. With a pair of PRO 80's out to the sides, you will have plenty of head room and walk through.

Thanks,

Tim
Wet Sounds

Creation of a website is NOT synonymous with providing product to the masses. Nor is testing, developing, or any other such so called "development/research".
Who Give a F@@K how long you've been developing something, or how old your website is?
The most important thing to the consumer is how long you have been proving product. If you think otherwise then you should look for the oldest website you can find and by produt from them without any other consideration.....simply ludicrous.
You could make a case to state that development is better for the consumer, but given good R/D that provides product to the consumer quicker and has evolved to the best product on the planet with "desiging the best" as an achieved goal cannot be ignored.
Time and time again I see the reply of "Oh we've been developing long before Duane got started" but this is without PRODUCT. Sorry but this is REAL BS.
If it's really important to you as a consumer about "who started Pro Audio for Wake Boat Towers" then you need to ask "Who provided Product first,or who had drawings first"
NVS was not the first to develop a prototype, nor was wetsounds. But, NVS was the FIRST to provide a successful product, not wetsounds, not skylon, not anybody else!
My real feeling is that if you as a consumer want the BEST tower speakers that your money can buy then you need to compare the offerings. Having been providing Pro Audio Tower speakers for over 5 years I can honestly tell you that NVS provides the best bar none. I would expect any manufacture in this product line to say the same, but you as a consumer need to do some research to determine for yourself.
With NVS 10 inch drivers either domestic or with the European driver upgrade, you will have the best available SPL and SQL for the rider available today....no BS.

where should he start with his system again?

Wow...

We too could have thrown together some product out of a catalog so we could say, "we are first"

But we decided to spend the time engineering, developing and tooling. To provide the highest performing product the industry has seen. Which IMO, Wet Sounds is the highest performing product on the market. When you engineer and design a complete product from the ground up. It takes time.

My point to ponte was simple. We had a website long before you did. So how is someone that clearly already had a business plan and product in the works going to copy someone that comes after. That was it. Pretty simple. Just proving that we have been at this a long time, even longer.

Duane, your post sounds very desperate and immature.

I have respected you on this forum and the way you handled yourself. It sounds like in these economic times, you are throwing out good business practices on how to handle yourself on this site out the window.

I have lost that respect.

Tim
Wet Sounds

Tim,

Don't stoop to this guys level... you will only hurt yourself. To be honest...I could care less who was first.

What a shame for NVS to tarnish their repuatation in a public forum with a late night disgruntled post.

No one is argueing that engineering takes time. So does all aspects of business operations.
My comments about "who was first" is more to point out that at this juncture it's near POINTLESS to debate. I have however become tired of seeing replies to the question stating "we had dwgs". I'm just saying so what, that's not the question.
As I predicted by mentioning, "any manufacture would say the same" regarding product quality and performance. I wouldn't expect anything else.
As far as desperate and immature goes, well I've never resorted to name calling....and business is fine.

Holy crap guys... who cares who was first/better/king of the pro audio hill...


Jon, it does not matter if you go with the Wetsounds or the NVS, they will both be better than what you have as far as hearing the music 80 feet back. Get an amp that provides minimum 100wrms to each channel at 4ohms. Look to spend between $900 (used if you can find them) to $1500 for the whole setup.

Jon - How close does your head come to your current speakers? Both Wetsounds and NVS will hang lower just looking at the picture. I believe the listed number is from the bottom of the tower.

Trust me, it is worth it - with the proper amp (and probably with a crappy one too) you can clearly hear music back to the rider. I have two Pro-80s on my boat powered with an older 160x2 amp and they sound awesome.

In regards to the sound projecting out from the boat - the sound from the driver's seat is definitely reduced compared to sitting on the sundeck - this is a good thing.

Why don't you just start with an amp upgrade that could later be used to run a "pro audio" set up. Maybe once what you already have in place is set up properly you'll be happy may be not but at least you gave it a shot. Ultimately you're likely be more happy with WS/NVS or the like plus they'll look better whats going on up there right now is a bit of a hodge podge. If you're considering either WS or NVS you'll gonna spend less on WS and most certainly be more than happy with the results, not taking anything away from NVS they're awesome too but more expensive and require more watts.

Another option and the one I went with is Bullet Hollow Point 770's. The only reason I mention them is because I had similar speakers to what you have on the outside and I increased my head room with my new set up while going with larger speakers. You can check out my profile pic to get an idea of them. Money wise they're the same as WS and run as efficiently.

As far as amps go I like Alpine PDX, ARC KAR series, JL slash, JBL Power series, etc etc etc. There are tons of options including WS SYN's but they can be more dough.

Whichever speakers you try, mouinting them way on the outside helps since this is usually over the area where the driver/passenger are in a seating position.

I would suggest you buy a top-motch amp and try it with your current setup. If you don't like it, then you can get speakers and you already have the amp ready to go.

WS vs NVS - IMO, WS sound a little cleaner and NVS project more to the rider. I have the NVS and I have had people follow me around the lake so that their rider could listen to my tunes.... no joke.

I have the same 6x9 setup and it rocks! They sell the package on ebay and it's pretty expensive. Replace the 6x9's with super high end and put a nice amp in and you will hear everything very clearly! I have actually never heard a louder system than mine on our lake, I know from posts on here, there are huge systems, but mine is loud and clear. Good luck and the box is called a wetbox.


Duffy

And get an fae and everything will get much clearer and easier to hear.

Duffy

If you have a chance, listen to both NVS and wetsounds. There is a distinct differnce in their sounds. Listen to them on an A/B type switch if you can ( dealer setup maybe)

There was a pro audio tower spekaer before either NVS/wetsoudns..they used JBL componets...I foget the name of them, I wanna say it was a company called Nevin ( no the jacket manufactruere though)

NVS could have been huge but there marketing was never as good as wetsounds, and based on the fact that wetsoudns are produced overseas, I'm sure there's alot more margin for dealers selling the wetsounds brand.
Leave the west coast and go to a grassroots tournament...say wetsounds, 8/10 know what your talking about, say NVS maybe 1/10.

(Message edited by wake1823 on October 27, 2008)

Thanks for the help guys.

I think I'm going to go with the Pro80s and the SYN2 amp as suggested.

I cannot fold my top up or down with my current setup, I'll have to do some checking to see if I can with the Wetsounds.

A FAE has been on my mind and I may do it as well.

Duane, you have lost at least one potential customer due to your attitude in this post.

Jon,
I apologize to you for hijacking this thread the way I did. I'm sure you will be happy with any current Pro Audio choice including Wetsounds. Their products and customer service is among the best. I've just grown a distaste for the rhetoric and blew.

Jon, you'll never hear anything bad about the customer service of either WS or NVS. This thread aside from everything I've read on here (been around a while) their both really good guys. I would take this thread with a grain of salt.

hey Jon, have thought about moving the wet box to the top of the tower on the front hoop and like every one else has said a new amp. the amp to run 4 good 6x9`s will be the same amp you need for pro audio so no loss there. you can save a ton of cash and the wet box has the potential to sound awsome with the right power and speakers. moving it forward and up would eliminate the headroom problem and keep it clear of the rope.Just my 2 cents. ps if your hell bent on getting rid of the wet box pm me ill take it off your hands.

Jon, you wont regret a Pro80s and SYN2 setup, Ive been running a pair of 80s for a long time and I just recently added the SYN2 amp followed up with a pair of Pro60s last week. Im running 175 watts rms to each pod at 2ohms, after 5 hours on the lake the amp was barely warm. Tim and the whole crew at wetsounds are great and take great care of there customers.