Tower Speakers -Want best of both worlds

I just bought a new 06 VLX w/illision tower and need soom help with new tower speakers. I prize a high end speaker sound ie. Focal-Cadence-MBquart but also want long throw capabilities. Unfortunatly Ive never personally been able to hear the NVS-Skylon long throw speakers. I know these setups have no problems with volume but how do they sound ? When in the boat do they give as good as a sound as an highend component speaker ?

They sound good but IMO 4-6 6.5 high end (Ive heard focal's and cadence) sound better in and around the boat. The average person probably couln't tell. It would take soemone really paying attention to it. I play my 1010's quite a bit just tied up to other boats, I've never once gotten a comment about "bad sound quality".

For a great compormise between the two , I'd go with 4-6 6x9's

Thanks Adam. My old boat had 2 pair of Cadence CVL's on the tower, actually suggested by you. They are by far the best "car-audio" speaker Ive encounterd. They handle soooo much power and never distort plus sound fantastic. They just dont throw the sound as far as I would like and wont fit my new tower. Have you heard the Skylon Defcons ? How do they compare in sound to the NVS ?

Do both if you want both worlds.

Neptune Audio equipped a Malibu with 2 NVS Addictions http://www.nvs1.net/addiction.html
and 4 6.5s I think.

If you go all 6.5s, you won't have the volume 80 feet back.

Good point J-rod ! It has crossed my mind to utilze both types but then cost starts to double. I was hoping I could acheive both with one set. I wonder how the new Rubicons will perform ? I wish I could hear these setups in person it would solve my dilema.

The only time the NVS' don't sound great is when your standing on the swim step with them blasting you in the face. They really deliver ear-piercing volume even when your system isn't cranking. I have 1010s also. Evan has Fusions which deliver higher quality sound, but he is now looking into NVS also. We ride more than we just hang out on our boats. Hopefully that helps your decision.

Check out the new NVS Tyrants. With separate mid/bass driver, I would think the sound quality would also be a bit better. Duane @ NVS says they should have Illusion X mounts within 6 weeks or so. I am hoping to put those on my 247 in April.

do u guys have any opinon on the blade towers, specifically having 4 6x9's up there, do the sound great? or do u reccomend 4 6.5's on a regular illusion tower

That Blade tower with 4 "good" 6x9s up there with a highly efeicient amp will perform better then 4 6.5s on the regular illusion. The problem with running the blade is that you are limited to those 4 6x9s in the tower, rather then expanding on your system if you decide to do more.

My dealer steered me away from the Blade tower and recommended the standard Illusion. He told me the Blade tower had stabilty issues.

what is wrong with the speakers that come with the blade and what would u replace them with

I was just told the Blade is no longer available.

wow, i heard that the blade had some problems as well but i really liked the clean look of the built in speaks, i hope it makes a come back

I believe Malibu uses Sony xplod speakers in the Blade. I have never heard a stock Malibu sound good in any form. The Sony speakers have never really impressed me much. I have only heard the coax's so take it with a grain of salt. Unfortunatly Im not too familar with 6x9 speakers but I bet Clay would have some great upgrade ideas.

(Message edited by iagainsti on February 13, 2006)

This is an interesting topic. There are lots of opinions how tower speakers should be used. My opinion is that the tower speakers are for the rider, the boat speakers are for the boat occupants. I typically turn my tower speakers off when there are no riders behind the boat. But my boat is new and the stock speaker locations are pretty good so I get decent sound without the tower. I don't really understand the point of tower speakers pointing forward either. In some boats (like Grant's), speakers pointing down from the tower sound very good inside the boat, so this works too. In reality you could probably do everything except bass at the tower (Teddy's boat). If I wanted a big fiberglass box I would have two systems in the box, one for the riders and another for the boat passengers, with fading between.

Any tower speaker discussion should state an objective like: I want to hear my speakers when I am riding or I want the sound to be full in the boat. It's hard to give good advice without these clarifications.

ok mike i have 2 tower speakers on my tower what is the best way to make enjoyable by the rider but not over annoying to the passengers. the speaks i have are the audioformz enclosures with polk db-675

When I ordered my boat I was highly discouraged from the Blade tower. Same thing...stability problems, and I also heard it isn't available anymore..??..

I heard there was a failure of a bu tower with lots of speakers on it. Lots of damage not covered by warrantee.

Mikeski we are on the same page, i am about to order an 06 VLX and I may be leaning toward the "two systems box" idea. I do like the midbass response of the 6x9s, but because i own a boat stereo business I think its better to show the customer both sides of the picture so they get an idea of the difference in sound.

B Tingey- I think that the Pioneer 5-way 6x9s sound really crisp. They have so much response to them it is unbeliable. You get alot of midbass out of these speakers, and the extra midbass is whats going to send the music to your riders, loud and clear. If you replace the sonys with the Pioneers make sure you have alot of clean power going to them. This is the other nice thing about the Pioneers, you could run 75 watts or 150 watts to them and they sound good.

I agree, a combination of traditional car audio drivers along with HLCD tweeters and large mid/sub bass gives you the best of both worlds.

If you want an "off the shelf" package, we've been selling a lot of Rubicon 250s and a single Rubicon 450. It takes quite a bit of space on the tower, but the fact that everything matches is a big plus for a lot of people.

Obviously if you're having a skilled fabricator like Clayton build the system for you, he can do whatever you want, but over the counter, this is the best setup I've found for satisfying both "zones" of audio.

Jason - You've heard the new Rubicons ? I was under the impression they werent out yet. I have been patiently waiting and hoping these will solve my problem. I never got to hear last years defcons so I dont have much to go on. I gather you work for wakeside ? Does Skylon have mounts for the horizontal part of the Illision tower like the deafcons ?

(Message edited by iagainsti on February 14, 2006)

My friend had a custom system made for his boat and IMO it gives the best of both worlds. It sounds crisp and clear in the boat and LOUD while riding. He had two 22" horn tweeters tuned down to 16" and then two 8" mid bass speakers.

btingley,

The db675's shouldn't be annoying to the people in the boat. Is the question theoretical or practical? They are designed for a closed cockpit car. If your boat guests find it annoying I would suspect that you are driving them into distortion or from a distorted amp. People get annoyed pretty quickly with more than 5-10% distortion levels.

KG, yes I have heard a few of the pre-production speakers, and will be listening to the entire line next week when I go down to Skylon's installation center.

You can read my preview of Rubicon 250 here, and I'll be posting summaries of the 350 and 450 next week. The biggest difference in the Rubicon line compared to the Deafcon's is the finish work that went into them. They just look much more "complete" than the Deafcon's.

That's also probably the biggest difference between the Rubicon and the NVS products, although I still give the nod to NVS in terms of sheer output.

Sine you've never had a chance to hear either the NVS or the Deafcon's, the best comparison I can give is an analogy from another segment of electronics; HD TV. If you've ever had a chance to experience 720p (or even 720i) programming, you know how drastic the difference is between that and standard TV. That's similar to the contrast between these horn systems and traditional car audio speakers back behind the boat.

Thanks for the reply Jason. I think I understand, hopefully I'll get to hear some of these systems for myself. Keep us posted on new models, Im sure theres alot of other curious peeps out there as well.

Hello All
I've been obsessing with building my first system to replace factory sony componants,im wanting to include at least 1 LCD on the tower between the speakers of which I have none at this time,And maybe one at the front that can be rotated to the bow or driver.Today I learned allot about not wanting a wakedesign mirror mount LCD I thought the price was way to steep @ $915 and from the feed back do I really want anything that they make?
My thought was to just take there mounting box and put it on a single tower mount between a single component coaxial system like the polk 6.75w/a set of addictions. Is this a good versatile setup. if it will fit or should I delete the tower LCD or even have a set of smaller speakers with the addictions or maybe go with a different set of components.

get some meyer sound speakers and mount them to your tower.

top notch sound quality combined with projection and volume.