Wet Sounds versus JL Audio for tower speakers

[David Analog]

David,

In listening to both speakers I feel that they both sound great and have the differences. Thanks for your feedback and to answer your questions I am more interested in overall sound quality however with the Wet sounds I do like the range as my kids enjoy hearing the music when out in the water and being pulled. I would be willing to make compromises and would be interested to hear recommendations of speaker choices.

The JL Audio tower speaker with a true acoustic suspension midbass driver (very different from the infinite baffle cockpit speaker of the same size) and a low resonance soft dome tweeter is the most linear tower speaker on the planet. However, and you cannot escape this fact, the more linear the speaker the less peak output you will get....with the inverse also being equally true. "Linear" would denote a flat/smooth/even response and a wide bandwidth. So one pair of JL Audio 7.7s will not get it done at wake range. Good at surf range. Two pair powered to potential is just okay at wake range and very good at surf range. Fantastic SQ when at rest at reasonable volume and distance. Incredible near field midbass response for its modest 7.7 size surpassing 8-inch speakers. Now the upcoming 880 (a full 8-inch) will give you those SQ attributes with more power and projection....but it's not here for a while.
Hopefully you have heard the newer Wetsounds Rev series over the old Pro series. The Wetsounds Rev series is a dramatic improvement in sound quality over the Pro and is really the undisputed best in SQ among HLCD tower speakers. There are a couple other HLCDs worthy of honorable mention but they do not have the size to really provide an authoritive output at wake range in the face of wind and engine noise.
The Wetsounds Icon8 will still give you decent amplitude at distance and is considered to be a good SQ alternative to an HLCD. Personally, I consider the SQ of the Rev8 to be equal and it has more output. That brings us to the larger Rev10. It's more surface area AND it has far more pod displacement which is a major part of the equation. It is the one tower speaker where a single pair can get it done at wake range without being driven into compression.
Now if you want the very best of both worlds you can do a defeatable hideaway EQ processor and make the Wetsounds Rev10 sound exactly the way you like, and certainly at the cost of some output, but that is precisely the reason for being defeatable.

[Tsmitty]

David,

Thanks for the feedback!!

[Tsmitty]

David,

Good morning! I think I am getting close to pulling the trigger on the upgrade and wanted to get your thoughts. I am currently leaning towards a pair of Rev 8's and the XS-650 for in boat. I just wanted to make sure I have enough power so I currently have a syn2 amp and looking at purchasing a syn 4 in addition. I believe that would be enough but just wanted to get your thoughts on that set up in terms of sound and enough power in terms of amps?

Thanks

[David Analog]

David,

Good morning! I think I am getting close to pulling the trigger on the upgrade and wanted to get your thoughts. I am currently leaning towards a pair of Rev 8's and the XS-650 for in boat. I just wanted to make sure I have enough power so I currently have a syn2 amp and looking at purchasing a syn 4 in addition. I believe that would be enough but just wanted to get your thoughts on that set up in terms of sound and enough power in terms of amps?

Thanks

The Wetsounds Syn2 would be great for the tower and the Syn4 can run three pair in-boat coaxials (up to four pair) very well.