Polk Audio Interior speakers

[spharis]

I am referring to cabin speakers, not tower.

I know the reliability and history of the Polk line. Wetsounds are still fairly new in comparison on the inside cabin market and though they look like a great product, they still need some time on the market to win me over. Polk has had the DB lines, both the MM and the standards, for a few years. They are one of the best sounding and best drivers on the consumer grade market; there is a reason they are one of the best selling lines of all time. I ran them for components in past vehicles, and I would run them again. They are not going to be in the same class as a Wetsounds HLCD on the tower though.

Polks, as well as others, do have a certain sound. Polks are very lean on the mid frequencies to me. The DB series has very little xmax. The other, more expensive MM series has a greater xmax and larger displacent on the driver and delivers a fuller sound because of this. The MM is also a separate, so there is SOME quality of highs that are better heard due to the separation of the components. I like the way Polks sound, and I REALLY like the MMs you referred to ttg.

The other thing that needs to be weighted VERY VERY heavily is personal setups. I have heard $60 Sparkomatic systems that sounded better than balls out Zapco powered JL systems because 90% of the time there is not much tweaking to find the sweetness of a stereo. I hear distorted raggedy *** music all over the lake from some expensive tower systems. I hear JL W3's sound like the coils are melting b/c the owner doesn't know what sounds good and what sounds loud. I would wager that if I could get at the controls of the amps and eqs and show some of the referenced owners how good the music could sound coming out of their stereos, the Polks would suit them, and maybe you, just fine.

If I needed to redo my speakers right now, I would probably opt to hit up partsexpress.com and peruse through until I found what I wanted.

In the end buy whatever you can budget, but I would say you will be more than happy with the Polk components. If you get a good deal on the Wetsounds, go with them. I don't think you are going to be able to pick out that much of a difference between any line you choose if they are properly powered and properly EQ'd.

[dogrocco]

I agree the 6500 and the 6501 sounds really nice but then I am cutting more holes because of the components.

[talltigeguy]

Good intelligent answer as usual, Spharis.

I wonder if I played with my amp a bit (although it is a lower class amp), if I might get closer to the fuller sound I think I hear in other speakers.

I got mine for a similar price that you found on Ebay, and they are unbeleivable for that price.

BTW, I still have the stock Clarion speakers, if anyone wants 4 of them, give me a shout by private message. Just to get them out of the garage, I would send for about as much as it costs to ship them.

[wetsounds1]

spharis, Since you are in Louisiana. Do you ever make it to Houston or Austin? I would love for you to hear my RZ4. I think you will change your mind about our speakers. The boat will be at the Austin boat show. And after that, at some wake events in Houston etc.....If you are around, come take a listen!

Because I have to disagree with you 100% about not noticing a difference. Each engineer designs their speakers differently and for different purposes. For instance, a car audio speaker like the Polk is designed for a car environment. A car door. They may say marine certified but the tuning of the speaker is for a car. I agree they are a really good sounding speaker for a car. I feel there is some things lacking as far as marine use. I designed ours to have a lot of low end mid bass punch as well as a titanium tweeter that is tuned brighter than it would be in a car speaker. It is built and designed from the ground up to only be a marine speaker. So in a boat application, those are very important as you are dealing with wind noise and engine noise, plus imperfect mounting locations. Side by side A to B with same amp, same exact location. There is huge differences in the sounds of multiple brands of speakers. I have done the AtoB and even bring my wife to the office for a non biased opinion. Now, she has been married to me for almost 7 years so she knows enough about audio to be dangerous. But I like to get a female opinion as well as a female ear. She can tell the differences in all the tests. And she even hits it spot on every time. She explains it a bit different as what she is hearing but it translates to what I am hearing.

But I do agree with you about setting up a system. I have heard a good speaker sound bad and a bad speaker sound good. So tuning and proper set up is very important.

Try to make it down to the Austin boat show!

Tim
Wet Sounds

[philwsailz]

Tim-

I wanted to share that it turns out I will be in Las Vegas Tuesday, and at the booth Tuesday afternoon. I will slide by and see ya!

[wetsounds1]

Sounds Good, I'll be there. Yeah, we are one booth over from you.

See you in Vegas.

Tim

[philwsailz]

See, I do get a chance to rat you out for being too loud...

hah!!!!

[philwsailz]

Just kidding, I know you know....

[spharis]

I don't think I'll make it that far. Why don't you send me a demo set to sample

I agree 100% that different brands sound different, especially weighted with tweeter selection; I enjoy the sound Polk has (and looks are trivial, but I do think the Polks are an attractive offering....one of the best on the market, marine or car). The boat is arguably the worst case scenario for audio. My argument is that the Polks will sound good as well, Wetsounds good? Most probably not; but they may suit him as an offering. In keeping with the setup being more important in the end than selection, I think the sound off at the Tige' reunion this year proved that. If I recall a couple of canned drivers took the win over several big money tower setups including Wetsounds and NVS.

I think his name was Thompson. I do not think he frequents this site. He was running some standard Kicker interior speakers with a Kicker 12 inch L7 in a sealed box. He had 4 Focal speakers in Samson cans on the tower. The system sounded very nice. Was probably the 4th loudest...IMO, but the clarity was astounding and sounded very nice. They selected 3 judges for the contest (2 females, 1 male) and I think that they went for the clarity of the system.

This kind of falls into the argument I bring up at wakeworld whenever someone asks about free-air subs. I always argue that a free air can in some cases sound as good or better than a sealed setup due to user preference, and setup. Someone can get plenty of enjoyment out of budgeted interior speakers and save the cash on a tower setup that performs (where it is needed). It does kind of bug me that whenever a topic on speaker selection is brought up, it immediately becomes the how much money can we spend topic. I would not want to drop $600 on interior comps, without a sub or amps, when I could have outfitted my entire boat for that. Sure the offerings may have a better sound, but $150 better? 90% of owners out there want a nice budget component that he can enjoy and get a few years out of. I know as owner of Wetsounds you know you have a superior product, but I hope that as a consumer, you understand that it may not be the solution everyone wants or needs. I take a lot of bashing for recommending to people to get what they can afford and enjoy it. Some owners of Tige' probably wanted to go with a Mastercraft, SN, or other models. We ended up choosing Tige' in some cases because of value for the money. I don't feel that some audio components on the market for marine use represent that category very well, especially when a set of $50 comps can fill that void and provide a great sound albiet at a little less quality than what is available. The same arguments we defend about Tige' I bring up about audio component selection.

I might be able to make it to something in Houston. Keep us updated on your appearances. What tweeter are you using? I have been eying the aluminum offerings from Dayton and think I may choose those whenever it is time to rebuild.

[wetsounds1]

Good points, will surely let you know when we will be at some events!

Our tweeters are titanium tweeters and titanium diaphragms on the compression drivers. (We build all of our own drivers so there is nothing off the shelf like the stuff you are referring to) I choose to use a titanium dome when building them and the same material in the compression drivers on the towers as they provide a bit brighter sound when compared to aluminum. I also smooth them out in the crossover so they provide a bright sound but not harsh. I have designed many speakers for different markets, as in the home audio field. I prefer to use a soft dome in that application. So it goes back to application and choosing which materials work best for that application.

I usually build multiple versions and try different materials and new technologies when it comes to driver designs.

I agree it is really tough to get good input on sites as it usually gets back to what that person owns. That is why I always push for people to try to do a demo and listen to them with the same amp and set up. You cannot compare what they sound like on one boat to the other without knowing what the rest of the system is set up like. So it is even harder to truly judge a speaker you hear on one persons boat. As you have no idea what he is playing as far as source, head unit, wire, amps, batteries etc….. I always try to get people to go to a dealer and listen. But that is sometimes pretty hard to do and a lot of shops don't have demo systems or demo boards like they used to

Tim

[talltigeguy]

My wife did not quite appreciate that I got a smokin' deal on interior speakers with the Polk's, but I know when I told her I spent another $120 on the boat it went over better than if I had told her I spent another $400.

Referring to the reunion, the judges were also closer to his boat than anyone else's, just due to the structure of the beach and the way people were parked. People also need to consider if they expect a riding wakeboarder to hear things clearly. I am sure many of the other setups would have performed better than the winner if there were a 'boat running at 22MPH' category.

[spharis]

That is why I always push for people to try to do a demo and listen to them with the same amp and set up. You cannot compare what they sound like on one boat to the other without knowing what the rest of the system is set up like. So it is even harder to truly judge a speaker you hear on one persons boat.

A demo is by far the best way to pick anything.

BTW, I am going to try one of your FA subs as I need a replacement in about 8 months. How much longer are you carrying those?

[wetsounds1]

We will have those for a long time! As they are the factory installed speaker in Tige so of course we will have them for them!

I just finsihed the demo boat last night! You have got to hear this boat.

Tim

[da.bell]

We will have those for a long time! As they are the factory installed speaker in Tige so of course we will have them for them!

I just finsihed the demo boat last night! You have got to hear this boat.

Tim

Any chance you can post some pictures?

Thanks,

[wetsounds1]

I will post pics after the CES show Jan 7 to 10th in Vegas. We are "unveiling" it at the show. I will post them up afterwards and a full write up about it!

Tim