Need honest answers...

[stretch55]

Ok so I am on the verge of picking up 2 pair of 6.5" bullet hollow points to replace the wet sound 650 coaxils I have in the cans now. I know the bullets will be very loud and clear at the end of the rope. But we do like to just hangout in the boat and listen to the stereo also. So my question is will they sound good just hanging out? Or will the sound terrible? This is a pretty good sized investment and I just want to make sure it's a good one. The wet sounds sound good I just know the bullets will sound way better at 80'. Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

[mmandley]

Any HLCD can still be used for hanging out behind the boat and listening to. The key is you need a volume control for them separate of the main system.

Other wise as you crank say your system to 50% the HLCD will be at 50% and be realy bright and a little uncomfortable to listen to right behind the boat or maybe even sitting still in the boat.

Get a separate volume control and then your HLCDs can be adjusted to a comfortable listening volume for close range.

[stretch55]

You said that at 50% it would be to loud for people in the boat just hanging out. Then wouldn't it be to loud for people in the boat when you have it cranked up and your wakeboarding???

[mmandley]

I was using the 50% as a reference number LOL.

You have to think about what HLCDs do. They Project sound. As the boat is cruising at 21 you have wind noise, engine noise, and water noise so theres a lot of muffling noises to the music. Also in the back seat of the Moomba you are more under that speaker then in front of it so its not as loud to the ears.

Behind the boat floating around and or cruising you are in range of the speaker's projection. So at this distance the speaker is pointed a lot more towards your ears and you can hear it a lot better.

Try this test, turn up your towers.
Stand behind them.
Stand next to them.
Stand in front of them.

You can see the sound differences as to the angle you are in reference to the speaker.

HLCDs are a very direct firing speaker, they can be heard in all directions yes but they are designed to throw that sound straigh out to the wake boarder behind the boat. This is why you see some guys point the outside towers 35% to each side so when they board out of the wake they still hear the music loud and clear.

[sandm]

I have 4 of the bullets on my tower. I put a separate pac lc-1 inline of the rca jacks heading to the amp that powers the bullets. after the many garage sessions(just did the install and haven't had it on the water yet), I'm pretty convinced that I won't be using the bullets at all when just parked on the water. the polks do a mighty fine job of making the surrounding area loud enough for parking and listening. once you start boarding/surfing again, crank up the tower.. have also noticed that at close range, the polks do sound much more "musical" than the hlcd's. mmandley is correct, they are awesome at projecting music long ways, but as for a very accurate speaker listening at close range, hlcd's are marginal.

[you da man]

Call David at Earnark Marine. He's an authorized seller of both Bullet Speakers and Wetsounds. He will definately give you the pros and cons of each and how they will sound in regards to inside the cabin as tower speakers. Many of us here have spoken with David and bought our audio equipment from him. I've personally been to his store and to say the least, Earmark is impressive in customer service and care of customer boats. I believe the Bullets will have a little more mid-bass and will sound better throughout the range. Wetsounds may sound a little "bright" on the highs.

[Razzman]

Stretch, everyones pretty spot on here with the advise concerning the HLCDs when parked, in fact that pretty applies to any good tower setup. I turn mine off when parked/floating and i don't even have HLCDs but my tower box is setup in a way that they will overpower the cabin Polks no problem so turn them off.

And as sandm said get yourself a PAC LC-1 switch to make it easier to turn them down when not needed.

[stretch55]

Couldn't I get the same result by using the front and rear fader on the deck? Fade to the front for the cabin speakers when parked and then fade back to the back for the hlcd tower speaker when riding?

[EarmarkMarine]

I'm going a little off subject here. That is a very good point about rotating your pods slightly so that you widen your dispersion farther outside the wake. This keeps the sound from beaming directly at the rear occupants. To the limit of what you feel is asthetically acceptable and depending on how your boat sits in the water, you can also angle your speakers a little upward so that when your boat is squatting while pulling, the sound is directed out to the rider versus down into the water and rear passengers.

This can be an issue with any speaker, whether horn or a conventional direct-radiating, if its loud enough to really reach the rider with authority.

Also, an equalizer is the perfect instrument to shape the tower sound for the contrasting needs of near-field sound listening versus long range projection. You just can't accomplish this simultaneously but the right positional aiming as mentioned above will help. Also, zone controls are essential which is automatically part of an EQ.

David
Earmark Marine

[sandm]

stretch, yes you can depending on the deck setup you have. personally, found it much easier to use an lc-1 just in case you have your inboat and tower speakers set up at different levels. much easier to just twist a knob next to the deck than try and adjust fader in the deck. cost of the lc-1 and a short rca cable can be as little as $25. you can achieve the same results with the eq mentioned above, just more cost and, unless you are buying the wetsounds eq($$), the tone adjustments will be applied to both inboat and tower hlcd's and both may not need shaped the same.. my .02