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in boat speakers


kx250frider617

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I am kicking around the idea of upgrading my in boat speakers. I have the cheap alpine 6.5's. At first, I would be running 45w to each speaker but would probably upgrade the amp later. of the three brands: Wetsounds, rockford, JL audio, how do each compare.

I know malibu comes with the rockfords, why yould you swap to wetsounds if both speakers are in the same category?

Also, I see all those brands have a budget friendly version alongside their higher end, would i regret buying the cheaper versions

such as the wet sounds xs65 vs 650.

I am looking for a speaker that can handle loud volumes without distorting while also sounding great.

My tower setup right now is 4 skylon vector 8 HLCD and a RF T1000-4, so my in boats are really lacking right now.

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Wetsounds and Exile are definitely the top two contenders.

I've personally been unimpressed with JL Audio with regard to value and in comparison to others in that price range.

If you do upgrade, it only makes sense to upgrade the amp in addition. 45W (I'm assuming continuous) is likely not enough to realize the potential of any high end speaker you put in.

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Exile 6.5 Cabins are a great choice, I have had them in my last boat for 4 years, they sound great and very durable, The two bow and rear bench seat speakers constantly got wet and always performed great up until the day I sold the boat, And the price is real reasonable, But upgrading the amp would go along way, http://exileaudio.com/store/index.php/packages/cabin-speaker-amplifier.html

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Yea I the amp I was looking at eventually was the RF t800-4

I'm all about continuity which is a reason I'm leaning towards the RF power 6.5's. I love the look of the grill too.

From a looks of construction standpoint, exiles 6.5's seam to be comparable to the wetsounds sx65?

I forgot to mention, I can get somewhat of a deal on RF stuff, is there any major reason why I should spend more $$$ and go with wetsounds xs650? The exiles look like they would be the same price that I could get the RF's.

Either way, it's a hefty amount of money and I don't want to end up upgrading again. I want to do it right the first time.

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Assuming your 45 watts is from a HU? This is your weakest link. I'm not saying the value leader Alpines don't need an upgrade but top priority should be given to: 1 Source, 2 Preamp/EQ/DSP, 3 Amps, 4 Speaker location, 5 the actual speaker drivers. I betcha those Alpines would do a lot better with some nice clean power feeding them. However, if you plan to over drive them while underway then you need to upgrade the whole shebang.

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Have you looked at Kicker at all? After looking at wetsounds I just couldn't pull the trigger on the in boats and amps (still went with rev10s and syn4 for the tower). After doing some research on the new kicker KM line I was sold. I went with 4 6.5s and a pair of 8" coaxs. I couldn't be happier. They are very loud and clear. The KM8s really make the system. They fill in the mid bass perfectly. The built in LEDs are really the icing on the cake. Here is a link to my install. Some of the pics are gone now but there are still some of the speakers in the light and dark with the LED on.

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?/topic/48775-2014-a22-custom-kickerwetsounds-install/#entry711559

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Actually. They are being pushed by an alpine 5ch amp rated at 90x4 and 350x1 @ 2ohms. Right now, my problem is the speaker start to bottom out at high volumes. That is with the HU eq flat. And hz at 80 high pass. The alpines just can't keep up.

On a sidenote, what HZ level do you guys run your tower speakers at? I have mine on high pass at 60, but have been told I can go as low as 40 no problem. I'm just not used to tuning this caliber of speaker. Skylon vector 8's btw.

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Actually. They are being pushed by an alpine 5ch amp rated at 90x4 and 350x1 @ 2ohms. Right now, my problem is the speaker start to bottom out at high volumes. That is with the HU eq flat. And hz at 80 high pass. The alpines just can't keep up.

On a sidenote, what HZ level do you guys run your tower speakers at? I have mine on high pass at 60, but have been told I can go as low as 40 no problem. I'm just not used to tuning this caliber of speaker. Skylon vector 8's btw.

Gotcha. In addition to those mentioned above, people seem to like Polk's. You might also consider drivers that aren't "marine" as long as they aren't paper. I'm partial to Pioneer's TS-D line. Focal's Access series have been used too.

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For amps, I kind of want to stick to two amps total. If I got another t1000-4. It is 1ohm stable, I could run all 6 speakers off channels 1/2 giving them about 83 rated watts each. Then bridge channels 3/4 to my sub giving it 500w. Cool thing about RF amps is that they are very conservative on their numbers.

On my current t1000 I am pushing 330w to each of my vector 8's the way I have them wired.

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Wetsounds and Exile are definitely the top two contenders.

I've personally been unimpressed with JL Audio with regard to value and in comparison to others in that price range.

If you do upgrade, it only makes sense to upgrade the amp in addition. 45W (I'm assuming continuous) is likely not enough to realize the potential of any high end speaker you put in.

I wouldn't count out JL 6.5s if you have the money. Honestly better all around sounding than either exile or WS. If they had their 8s out when I bought my speakers I would have went JL

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Why would you want load down a 4 chnl amp with all chnls driven @ 1 ohm? Sound quality and efficiency drop.

The Rockford Fosgate Power series are very efficient and the difference in efficiency from 2ohm to 1ohm is a minimal 0.6% This is the actual efficiency numbers.

4ohm 84.1%

2ohm 81.6%

1ohm 81%

Most other amps will be at 80% at 4ohm and drop significantly down to 75% just at 2ohm.

It would allow me to only run 2 amps and be easier to instal instead of running more cables for a third amp and building a new amp rack.

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Another vote for the JL Audio MX650 6.5" coaxial. A true marine speaker, domestically built in the price range with many non-marine import speakers. Does that matter in fresh water? Certainly not as much as in salt water but it can still matter. Cotton spiders in a boat tend to lose their damping qualities after several seasons and those automotive speakers can lose SQ.

The JL Audio MX650 is very smooth, musical and uncolored. The most honest portrayal of how the music is recorded.

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Within the states, the JL Audio MX650s range between $200 and $220 a pair depending on the grills, excluding the chrome versions. That's before forum, zone, system and other discounts.

I also think the Rockford coaxials are pretty good, especially when they get the power they deserve.

The significant difference between the two is a metal dome versus a soft dome tweeter. Generally people are in one camp or the other.

The JL Audio uses a soft dome that is lower resonance, better damped and smoother, not to mention having a second order crossover versus a simpler crossover used in most coaxials. So the seam between the midbass driver and tweeter all but disappears. In general, the JL speaker is harder to localize.

I run the Audison Voce AVK6 6.5" in my RV and soon in one of my cars. Again, a soft dome with more of a euro sound. Of all marine speakers, the JL is closest in sound quality to the Voce.

But that is what I prefer. You should really listen to both with a broad range of material.

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I run the Audison Voce AVK6 6.5" in my RV and soon in one of my cars. Again, a soft dome with more of a euro sound. Of all marine speakers, the JL is closest in sound quality to the Voce.

But that is what I prefer. You should really listen to both with a broad range of material.

:drool:

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