Anyone in the market for tower speakers

[you da man]

would be nice to see some head to head reviews of the few vendors that sell hlcd speakers. some independent magazine testing, but I doubt it will ever happen. there seems to be too much of a price disparity between the bottom and top brands and I'm guessing those at the top would not want the results published
501-post up your .02 when done..

da man, that old fosgate stuff was the bomb. used to dream of a basic system using 2 punch 45's. owned an old power100, but haven't ever seen one since. it was the baby to the power 300/1000. ran 25x4 and it pounded for what it was. I remember a company called waveguide that made a hlcd for under the dash for a few years. some guy had a car with those and the rest alpine system that cleaned up the show circuit for a few years. never caught on in the car world, thinking due to size and cost, but interesting that they(hlcd's) ended up being the premium tower speaker.

I'm hoping the Polk db651 will do ok as cabin speakers. It's $150 for 3 pair and free shipping so if they sound bad it's not a huge loss. I really would like the Wetsounds 6.5" cabin speakers but that will be $700.

501 - I personally would not have tried to use the db651 as tower speakers but how do you think they would do as cabin speakers?

I remember the wave guides. I never heard them but they got great reviews.

I ended up ordering 4 of the HLCD's from Ken at Bullet Lines for a smoking deal. I was just going to order the drivers but ended up ordering can's too so I could sell my Polks as complete tower speakers and hopefully almost break even. I am going on the word of Ken and some internet reviews, so I hope these speakers are as good as they look.

I have an old but very Powerful Pioneer Premier Amp that will feed the speakers with about 120-150 watts of RMS power so they should be well matched. I can't wait to hear them and hopefully the out perform the Polks. I also blew three of the Polks this year (perhaps from overpowering) but they were replaced on waranty so we went a lot of the summer without music and I don't want that to happen again.

[Razzman]

You will not be disappointed in the Polks in the cabin, they are one of the best you can get. They are clear and can handle the power.

[sandm]

sounds like there is a lot of stereo projects going on this winter.
can't wait to compare notes as seems that everyone is going just a little different route. will be interesting to see what positives/negatives come out of each install...

[501]

The Polk DB651's as tower speakers are ok. I can hear them at 70 feet , but they aren't amazingly loud or anything. But with that said, they would probably be pretty good in the cabin now that I think about it because they do go quite loud for a 6.5" speaker. I have a lot of power running to them on the tower which helps too.

I honestly never thought of replacing the kicker speakers in the boat till this thread. I always thought they sounded pretty decent and from behind they look like they are built well. I think adding the sub will make the biggest difference.

For my sub I have a plan to put an illuminated toggle switch by the driver that connects to the remote turn on, on the amp. This way I can turn the sub on or off with the flick of a switch and no playing with the deck or remotes or anything.

Why does it have to be winter now?

[501]

we certainly are going in different directions!

Just in case anyone is interested in a Kenwood amp, here's the one I ordered.

Prices at this vendor are pretty good - with free shipping

http://www.eclectic-mart.com/servlet...H-POWER/Detail

Hey Ed, that's a good deal for an amp.

[viking]

I'm hoping the Polk db651 will do ok as cabin speakers. It's $150 for 3 pair and free shipping so if they sound bad it's not a huge loss. I really would like the Wetsounds 6.5" cabin speakers but that will be $700.

501 - I personally would not have tried to use the db651 as tower speakers but how do you think they would do as cabin speakers?

Am I missing something. Doesn't Polk have a "marine" version of the db651's. Or is everyone just using the car version cause it's cheaper?
And since I'm not up on the technical specs and electronics like I used to be when I was younger.........what is the laymen's explaination of the HLCD type speakers?
Thanks!

[sandm]

you guys with the factory kicker speakers I guess are lucky. I have what I think was the upgraded sound system for supra in '06 and it's all kenwood. 6.5's are ok for what I would consider a "factory" speaker, but they still suck. kind of like the bose system in my wifes murano. it's ok for an upgraded "factory" system, but still not very high quality.
interestingly enough, the 6.5's are bottom of the line kenwoods, but the sub that supra uses is actually a pretty nice kenwood sub. still getting jettisoned, but much further up the food chain than the 6.5's..

501-sub will make a HUGE difference in the overall sound of the system. you will be very happy with the end results.
I'd move the polks into the interior and jettison the kickers imo...

[sandm]

hlcd are horn loaded compression drivers on the tweeter end. they project the sound a lot further back and typically play a wider frequency than normal tweeters.. what most concert systems use and some high end home speakers(klipsch). they take a ton of power though..

[you da man]

Am I missing something. Doesn't Polk have a "marine" version of the db651's. Or is everyone just using the car version cause it's cheaper?
And since I'm not up on the technical specs and electronics like I used to be when I was younger.........what is the laymen's explaination of the HLCD type speakers?
Thanks!

The Polk db651 are marine grade speakers but are mostly used in car applications

[sandm]

my bullet hollow point 6.5's showed up today.
can't wait to get home and oogle at them

guy I work with came into my cube earlier today and asked me what kind of gun I had that I needed that much ammo for. had to chuckle a little.