New stereo brand on market?

[Mikey]

One of my buddy's has the newest MC model boat just released.. Had to sign disclosure waivers etc just to get the info and order the boat etc.. He has the first one in Canada, funny though breaking it in down in Sandpoint Idaho.. Anyways. Since MC Had an exclusive deal with JL audio for years.. That's no more.. His boat and all future boats get Klipsch. Marine audio.. I had no idea Klipsch had marine stuff.. Must be new... Mind you I honestly have not really been following up too much on latest and greatest products. I love Klipsch as most of my home stuff is this brand.. His stereo, although a tad Bright. Maybe needs a little fine tuning. But clarity was outstanding.. I think there's a new player in the market.. Btw another buddy had a 2016. MC with his JL stereo right beside as a few of us all compared the two.. Both nice... Always good to have options I guess. Btw his boat is the new XT 22 crossover boat.. Still getting broken in but from what he has seen so far it's gonna be a surf and do all monster.

[MLA]

This has been better than a year in the works, the move from JL to Klipsch. Yes, this is their first splash into the marine market, but dont look for them on your local marine audio shelves anytime soon. Seem this will be a 5 year deal with MC at least.

[sandm]

knowing klipsch horns in the home audio market, I would think they have some potential to build a pretty decent hlcd but with exile, jl, kicker and ws already in the game, it'll be an uphill battle for marketshare.

auditioned their home audio stuff several times when I've been in the market. build some great mid-end subs but their fronts have always been on the bright side for me. prefer a non horn driver for most of my audio. feels like they kind of de-valued their lower end lines by the constant best buy sales.

[Prospersigman]

Klipsch is known for their horns, going back to their PA and Sound equipment. I have Klipsch reference series 7.1 surround sound system in my theater room and it takes a JL Fathom to balance out the highs from the Klipsch horns in the front tower speakers.

[David Analog]

knowing klipsch horns in the home audio market, I would think they have some potential to build a pretty decent hlcd but with exile, jl, kicker and ws already in the game, it'll be an uphill battle for marketshare.

auditioned their home audio stuff several times when I've been in the market. build some great mid-end subs but their fronts have always been on the bright side for me. prefer a non horn driver for most of my audio. feels like they kind of de-valued their lower end lines by the constant best buy sales.

So many mid-Fi lines have struggled through the decline of home 2-channel and the simultaneous decline in the music industry. Most of the survivors changed their products to cater to the chain stores, and, have moved more towards a home theater product consisting of smaller drivers in slender cabinets with a smaller footprint (something that is more aesthetically acceptable to everyone). Most of these pseudo HiFi/home theater products are voiced for soundtracks but aren't that impressive for pure music reproduction. And that would include a description of the more contemporary Klipsch products. As for the Klipsch heritage products, 5 basic horn models, those have remained pretty much the same as post WWII speakers where amplifier wattage was minimal and high sensitivity took precedence over all else.

[David Analog]

As for name recognition, keep in mind that many of the brands that we view as popular in a small wake community, and an even smaller wake forum community, are not recognized brands by the masses. Where as names like JBL and Klipsch have significant mindshare across a much, much broader spectrum. The moment Klipsch enters the marine audio market they instantly rise in pecking order. Followed by Kicker and JL Audio who have had success in a car audio market for decades that is infinitely larger than the boating market. Plus, JL Audio occupies mindshare in the home subwoofer market. Then you have Wetsounds to complete the top four slots. It's tough sailing if you are not in the top brand 1, 2, or 3.

[rdlangston13]

So many mid-Fi lines have struggled through the decline of home 2-channel and the simultaneous decline in the music industry. Most of the survivors changed their products to cater to the chain stores, and, have moved more towards a home theater product consisting of smaller drivers in slender cabinets with a smaller footprint (something that is more aesthetically acceptable to everyone). Most of these pseudo HiFi/home theater products are voiced for soundtracks but aren't that impressive for pure music reproduction. And that would include a description of the more contemporary Klipsch products. As for the Klipsch heritage products, 5 basic horn models, those have remained pretty much the same as post WWII speakers where amplifier wattage was minimal and high sensitivity took precedence over all else.

I haven't a clue what you just said here

[David Analog]

I haven't a clue what you just said here

No worries. By tomorrow it may not make sense to me either.

[sandm]

I got it. I have polk speakers and compared to my old mans monitor 10b's that were extremely musical, mine seem to be more geared toward reproducing the latest batman movie than a queen album. used to have a pair of polk rti2000's and although they sounded a tad better than what I have now, even they were still more theater speakers from the late 90's. klipsch is the same way. along with jbl and infinity.

I do remember working at circuit city for a time and selling DCM speakers. man could they belt out some music tho when driven with the HK preamp/amp we sold.

[David Analog]

I got it. I have polk speakers and compared to my old mans monitor 10b's that were extremely musical, mine seem to be more geared toward reproducing the latest batman movie than a queen album. used to have a pair of polk rti2000's and although they sounded a tad better than what I have now, even they were still more theater speakers from the late 90's. klipsch is the same way. along with jbl and infinity.

I do remember working at circuit city for a time and selling DCM speakers. man could they belt out some music tho when driven with the HK preamp/amp we sold.

On a bit of a tangent....never been a fan of most of the home audio horn speakers and their typical sonic signature....some of it being exceptional but some of it being hard for me to tolerate for long. Until I heard some recent higher end JBLs. So good in fact that I was looking around for the DSP but there wasn't any. All passive. If you ever get the opportunity to hear the JBL 1400 Array or the JBL K2S9900, go out of your way to do so. Incredible!

[kaneboats]

My wife's friend had us over the other day and I was looking around. He's got a surround system for movies, TV, etc. and then a different setup with different speakers in the same room for music. I made a comment about it and he put on some music. All became clear-- very clear.

[sandm]

On a bit of a tangent....never been a fan of most of the home audio horn speakers and their typical sonic signature....some of it being exceptional but some of it being hard for me to tolerate for long. Until I heard some recent higher end JBLs. So good in fact that I was looking around for the DSP but there wasn't any. All passive. If you ever get the opportunity to hear the JBL 1400 Array or the JBL K2S9900, go out of your way to do so. Incredible!

I'll have to if I ever get the chance. the only horns I have ever heard and actually liked were a set of speakerworks in a car back in the early 90's but they were VERY heavily controlled by a whole lotta audiocontrol upstream.

I get the rev10 concept for wakeboarding but I really wish WS would put a large driver conventional speaker together for surfers or party cove. the musicality would be appreciated for near field listening.

[Dandy21]

I get the rev10 concept for wakeboarding but I really wish WS would put a large driver conventional speaker together for surfers or party cove. the musicality would be appreciated for near field listening.

^^^THIS...have been thinking the same for some time! We truly don't use tower speakers much other than when we are just anchored up and floating around the boat. Water travels to well over water and I don't want the home owner's on the lake to have a reason to look any further down their noses at wakeboats. In addition, there is something special of the sound of water under the board that blasting music takes away.

[zabooda]

I might need to pull out my Carver system. I spent $5k back in 1981 for the system but everything has been boxed up since the room remodel. Everything takes up so much room and used very little but holding onto the components after seeing the price people pay for it.

[David Analog]

I get the rev10 concept for wakeboarding but I really wish WS would put a large driver conventional speaker together for surfers or party cove. the musicality would be appreciated for near field listening.

I totally agree. Wetsounds did a great job on the original non-HLCD dedicated-marine Surf Speaker, the Icon8. But doing the same scaled up into a larger 10" version has its challenges. You can only get the mids of a 10" midbass driver to go so high....and you can only get a 1" metal dome tweeter to go so low. So you end up with a major null in the middle. MB Quart somewhat solved this in the early '00s in a marine 10" coaxial with dual domes. JL Audio solved this in the M880 with a larger 1.2" low-resonance soft-dome. So, while I'm not in the Wetsounds loop, I have my suspicions why this hasn't been done yet. I am confident that when/if Wetsounds does deliver such a product that they'll do it right.

[David Analog]

I'll have to if I ever get the chance. the only horns I have ever heard and actually liked were a set of speakerworks in a car back in the early 90's but they were VERY heavily controlled by a whole lotta audiocontrol upstream.

Right, and you can apply the exact same principle at this time to the Wetsounds Rev10 with an Audio Control EQ or a JL Audio DSP. To gain linearity or warmth, you would give up some amplitude and projection, but all surf speaker alternatives do the same. Some of the DSP units have different memory settings, so you could apply different curves to three typical situations, as in 'at rest', 'surf', and 'wake'. If you are going to impose equalization on a speaker, it would help if the speaker could handle a great deal of power and was moldable, and that describes the larger 10" Wetsounds Rev10.

[KnoxMojo]

Just curious.. I am running an HLCD tower setup powered properly, they are amazing at wakeboard lengths and also sound great while surfing....everyone seems they want their towers to do all the work, why not invest some money to upgrade your in boat speakers and a good sub with a zone controller of choice? At that point you can turn down your towers, turn up your cabins and sub and have great sound no matter what you are doing? You'll see that I'm all Exile, but my buddy running all Wet Sounds does the same thing with his Rev 10s and sounds great at all volumes and situations as well.....

[jmvotto]

I might need to pull out my Carver system. I spent $5k back in 1981 for the system but everything has been boxed up since the room remodel. Everything takes up so much room and used very little but holding onto the components after seeing the price people pay for it.


Love carver and klipsch , did out The McIntosh