Liquid Audio tower speakers

[rsinger]

I had to learn the hard way about properly powering the system. Not talking about amps but batteries. My two battery set up with no shore charger was not enough to sustain the power needs of my system. After repeated use and drainage on the stereo battery without ever charging it back up it got so weak that my system would just cut off randomly.

This was also one of my considerations. I'm hoping to have a decent enough sound without having to go down that road. Might not be possible, but I'll try. I guess, bottom line is looking at the load that the alternator can support, and stay under that. Good thing that my oldest kid is an electrical engineer wannabe. He can do all the math, then we can get back to the real world and see if the calculations work. Hopefully he's still got some contacts at the university because I know they have some pretty heavy duty load resisters to test out the calculations. Only problem there is that I'll need a temporary spare battery until we know the results, because we would be doing the tests on the water under practical conditions. Why waste gas doing tests when you can be wakeboarding/surfing in the mean time?

If we end up going that deep, I'll document the progress.

[98outback]

rsinger

I do not have as much power amp wise as these other boats do but I did install a second battery with a perko. I also have a charger mounted in the boat that gets plugged in when we return from the weekend at the lake. Its the same charger as the person before was talking about. I believe its a promariner pro sport 12 I am using instead of the 20. I have been using this battery setup for 4 years with no issues. Charger is only around 100-150 and an extra battery is not that much to have a reassuring feeling when out on the water.

[wetsounds1]

rsinger,

The design of our new Revolution tower speakers were built from the ground up to be the best combination of in boat sound quality as well as output. The REV 8 are insane how clean and clear they are and full of mid bass. They do not sound like a horn speaker. So you don't need a hybrid type system as you described as the speaker is already designed to do both. I have a dealer who has 8 cans with Focal components on his tower of his personal boat. These are very expensive car audio speakers at $999 a set just the speakers and then the tower cans he had built for them. He does a ton of very large Wet Sounds systems. He has a boat in the shop now with 14 REV 10's on the tower. So he goes big. However, he was like you that he was more interested in inside the boat sound quality, knowing he would sacrifice wake distances. He is pulling all his stuff off and putting in 8 REV 8's. As he said they are the first horn loaded speaker he has ever heard that has the sound quality he loves and now he doesnt have to sacrifice wake range. So he can finally have both.

So my suggestion is not do so much reading. But go take a listen. Do a demo, spend some time with the music you like. And compare and find the best for what you are after. You can call us at 877-938-7757 and talk with Justin or Omar and they can see if we have a dealer near you that has some REV's on display.

Tim
Wet Sounds

[philwsailz]

I agree with Tim. If you go with a tower system that is designed in the beginning to sound good near and far, there is no need to mix and match direct-radiating coaxials and HLCD to get what you are looking for. "Hybrid" only tries to merge two different technologies in an effort to minimize their unique and disparate shortcomings...

Lots of good stuff being said about the new Wetsounds REV stuff. Consider the Kicker KM6500.2 setup as well, as there are some killer 1000 watt setups starting to be built, based on the IX amplifiers. What I know about either Wetsounds REV series of the KICKER KM6500.2/KM6500 tells me you will get good sound near and far from HLCD technology from both brands that at the same time does not sound like a horn. There are some very impressive Kicker KM6500.2 setups out there in addition to the Wetsounds setups, so look around. Listen too as Tim says; all the hype and fan-speak on the forums will not replace you putting your ears and your music to a set of speakerrs you are considering.

Best of luck in your quest, and let me know if I can be of assistance!

Phil
Kicker

[EarmarkMarine]

Nothing stays static for long and things definitely change. I have to wholely agree with what both Tim and Phil have said about today's current tower speaker offerings. You can definitely have a single speaker that has the muscle to project over distance with amplitude and without breaking up and still have a speaker that sounds very musical and enjoyable at near field.
Will a $1000 pair of Focal components sound the best at five feet? Absolutely. But a speaker with that complex of a passive crossover network has no business on a wakeboard tower or even in the coaming of a boat. Even at rest, they tend to fall flat when you get much beyond the swim deck.
Initially HLCDs were all about prioritizing the SPL competition and therefore compromised SQ. Smallish HLCDs couldn't get a midbass driver to keep pace with the aggressive compression horn tweeter. So some where brutally bright. And they didn't want to fully attenuate the tweeter because that would seriously diminish the output....and finish poorly in S.P.L. Then the "Hybrid" systems were developed, starting with the Wetsounds Double Up and followed by the Exile Hybrid, although taking different approaches, both used contrasting speakers to still maintain an HLCD presence and yet moderate some of the more strident aspects of an HLCD for better near field listening. And these hybrids generally do sound very good. But they are not a necessity any longer for those who want both the near field SQ and the long range projection. You can get the results far more efficiently and generally more cost-effectively today.
Drivers (individual speaker components) have improved. Crossovers have really improved! And, the manufacturers have really stepped up in there understanding of speaker design. Its not easy to build a speaker that plays very loud when needed but is also very well damped so that it does not have an erratic response. But they did it!!!

David
Earmark Marine

[c.rix]

I have that kickers 6500.2 on my tower I am only running the 1 pair for now, but all I can say it that my all buddy's say my tower set up is much clearer/louder than other boats they have rode behind one buddy has a stock 4 speaker rockford 6x9's set up and the other 6.5 clarions both coaxials that came with their boats and the hcld's blow them out of the water !!!

the Kickers actually sound very nice even at close quarters while surfing I was actually very pleased with them thinking they would be too much at 10' out

best part about the hcld's is that I can hear them clear as day even at 75' out but with that in mind so can people on shore probably why I got cussed out last weekend while wakeboarding