Recommended Flight tower speakers

[r4000]

I'm looking to upgrade my flight tower speakers and was wondering if there were any recommendations. Also we have the upgraded subwoofer in our 06 226 which hasn't really worked at all (fits loose and rumbles horrendously) any suggestions?

[NautiqueJeff]

RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

Wet Sounds is the only way to go.

[Bullet]

RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

i second that.......

[AuMDLST]

RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

Check out NVS tower speakers [url]www.nvs1.net

[SurfRC]

RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

Wet Sounds +3

[TravisFling]

RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

HLCD's work better than anything (Wetsounds, NVS, etc.) for projecting sound across a large distance (80 feet with wind). Any other option, like coax 6.5's or 8's will provide good cove music, but are more designed for a closed space than open air environment. Plus the brands mentioned above are water proof, or more correctly put "element resistant".

[EarmarkMarine]

RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

r4000,

Are you looking to install one or two pair of tower speakers?

Are you planning to stay with the same power (Clarion) or upgrade the power to the tower speakers?

Do you have the Polk MOMO 10-inch in the port side locker?

David E. M.

[OHLNautique]

RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

Everybody on this site loves Wet Sounds or similar. I have not heard any yet that I think sound good. They are loud as **** but the sound quality is terrible. Anybody care to explain this? I love my Titan's with MB Quart 6.5's. They sound great and we can hear them fine while riding.

[Quinner]

RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

Can't say I agree with OHL's assesment, have NVS Tyrants and have heard several other boats with NVS's, they are really loud and really clear, ask any one of my neighbors, LOL.

MikeSKI who is an active member of this site is an extremely knowledgeable stereo guy, IIRC he did some side by side comparisons of several different speakers including NVS & Wetsound, do a search and you should find some good info.

[Bullet]

Re: RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

Everybody on this site loves Wet Sounds or similar. I have not heard any yet that I think sound good. They are loud as heck but the sound quality is terrible. Anybody care to explain this? I love my Titan's with MB Quart 6.5's. They sound great and we can hear them fine while riding.

how many have you heard? when they are set up right they are crisp and clear---i had 4 pro 60s on my 04 and they were amazing---

[Mikeski]

RE: Re: RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

OHLNautique,

I tend to agree with you. Most tower speakers I hear sound horrible from a SQ standpoint. I will untie and leave a group of boats tied up together when guys get their speakers cranking because they sound so bad. It's really bad but most guys don't know the difference between incredibly loud and incredibly distorted. I have a few friends that fall into this category, I spend a fair amount of my day turning their stereo's down when I go riding with these guys.

I have MB Quart 6.5s in my truck and in my car. These are great closed small area cabin speakers. The ones in my truck actually came out of some Boss cans on a buddies boat. I have four pairs and really like these speakers in my application.

I use my tower speakers to project music to the rider and sometimes to broadcast music in a cove, in a private campsite area we frequent and in a few other circumstances. I have taken the time to tune the controls of my system and balance the tower so it works with the boat and the subwoofer. My subwoofers are phase tuned so they do not cancel the bass produced by the boat speakers or the tower. I also frequently make minor adjustments to EQ as needed to optimize the sound of my system for a specific music track. I download the highest bitrate possible from i-tunes or rip them at a high bitrate from a CD. I have a couple friends in the recording business, even they have commented on how nice and musical my system sounds.

My choice in tower speakers is the Wetsounds Pro-485. It matches my musical tastes best from all of the speakers I have heard. I also have friends with other Wetsounds models, NVS and Skylon HLCD products. Unfortunately I do not have anything positive to say about the Skylon products, one friend has the older Deafcon Vs, another friend has a Rubicon 450 with 350's on either side. When I loaned my boat to Sound Illusions for the Wetsounds test we preferred the 485's over the 2005 NVS offerings.

These days I appreciate Wetsounds and NVS systems with nearly the same appreciation. Both can should horribly loud and ugly when they are not set up properly, either can sound pleasant and loud if set up properly. Now I tend to recommend Wetsounds for Nautiques and NVS for MasterCrafts as I feel their respective housings look more in place when paired this way. My 211 has curved smooth lines just like my Wetsounds 485s. My buddies MC X45 has bold machine work just like most NVS products.

In comparison between your MB Quarts and my Wetsounds. Based on even the best car speaker in a can system I have heard, the Wetsounds will sound equally nice at equal volume levels, but the Wetsounds probably have another 10db of headroom while they are still making nice sound. The MB's will start breaking up long before they get to adequate listening levels for a rider at 23+MPH, 75'+ from the speaker. I can even hear my tower quite clearly when riding my slalom ski at 34MPH.

To put it another way. My ski club has a pair of Peavey horn loaded 12" monitors for our sound system. Side by side, my boat sounds better than the Peavey's. Side by side my buddies boat with NVS also sounds better than the Peavey speakers. We have probably a dozen boats with various car speakers on the tower, none of them can touch the sound of the Wetsounds, NVS or even the Peavey's. We do an annual "Mardi Gras" weekend at the campsite when we dress up and tow the boats through all the campsite loops and throw candy to the kids. I am typically the lead boat that plays the music soundtrack.

As with anything, if you are happy with what you have, leave it alone. I was happy with mine until I heard the Wetsounds, I stepped up, now I am happy again.

Mike

[SuperSquirt]

RE: Re: RE: Recommended Flight tower speakers

OHL, cruise down to K-town and my boat will change your mind real quick.