Just pulled the trigger on Wetsounds Rev 10s

[scokill]

After about 10 seasons with what ended up as free dBot5 speakers (don't exist any more) that aren't cutting it any longer...probably due to just wear/tear and age, I finally pulled the trigger on the Wetsounds Rev 10s. Will report out on them. Might be slightly underpowered with my JL M400/4 @ 200W/channel but we'll see.

 

[BrandonG]

They are very loud speakers, you'll be happy

 

[scokill]

First day on the lake with speakers after install yesterday. Not too bad in the install. Had to drill another hole for flush mount and no visible speaker wire with the swivel mount. High quality hardware and you can remove he speaker with one Allen bolt. Speaker enclosure and finish top notch. I tuned them up and headed out this morning.

The good. They are designed to throw high quality sound a long distance....and they do. They sound really good at 30-50’ with moderate power. I have crossover set a 100 hz and they have good midrange. The not so good but not bad.....highs over power the other frequencies at distance when powered up. Also very harsh near the boat. I need to eq them try and mellow the harshness but they are designed that way with the Hlcd. This is being very critical and it was about what I was expecting. The off axis sound in the water is also good and it was a little surprising.

I would say if you don’t care about distance throw and want loud quality and balanced music then consider a different speaker.

 

[rkim808]

First day on the lake with speakers after install yesterday. Not too bad in the install. Had to drill another hole for flush mount and no visible speaker wire with the swivel mount. High quality hardware and you can remove he speaker with one Allen bolt. Speaker enclosure and finish top notch. I tuned them up and headed out this morning.

The good. They are designed to throw high quality sound a long distance....and they do. They sound really good at 30-50’ with moderate power. I have crossover set a 100 hz and they have good midrange. The not so good but not bad.....highs over power the other frequencies at distance when powered up. Also very harsh near the boat. I need to eq them try and mellow the harshness but they are designed that way with the Hlcd. This is being very critical and it was about what I was expecting. The off axis sound in the water is also good and it was a little surprising.

I would say if you don’t care about distance throw and want loud quality and balanced music then consider a different speaker.

Aloha @scokill so all in all u don’t like the REV10’s? I have REV8’s powered by a JL M400/4 like urs and I love them, they so so clean and loud. I was thinking to upgrade to REV10’s, but now after reading ur input i’m Thinking maybe not.?

 

[Meetball]

The Rev10 is designed for throwing out sound, pair with a rev410 center and it fills and cleans the harshness.

 

[rkim808]

The Rev10 is designed for throwing out sound, pair with a rev410 center and it fills and cleans the harshness.

Aloha @Meetball isn’t the REV410 same as REV10’s just together in one unit? And ur thoughts on REv10’s vs REV8’s that much of a difference in ur opinion?

 

[Meetball]

I will tell you the 410 and a pair of 10s are in 2 complete different ball games, as stated the rev 10 was made to project sound outwards with the cone design. the 410 adds a tweeter and is more of a mid base speaker in my mind. They both have their place out on the water. Rev 10 for sure when you want to reach your tuber or boarder but can be a little harsh near the boat, thats where the 410 shines. Its normal to see either 4 rev 10s on a malibu or 2 410s mounted to a xstar out here.

I am in the midwest lakes and the oklahoma people do not play with sound. Its either go big or go home, I have seen the 8s on a tower but they are normally off as a set of 10s or 410s are normally near them drowning them out.

I am still wiring mine up and have yet to hear them play but the boat I ride down in Texas is set up the same way and I believe its the best of both worlds.

With all of that said, I did run into a buddy with the jl 7.7s on the tower and they sound great, but they are limited on getting the sound out there.

 

[Meetball]

I also am going to include more info I found on another site from david @Earmark Marine

Here are a few of the differences between the Wetsounds Rev10 and the Rev410. From here you can decide which attributes fit your particular tower and application the best. Both have advantages in different scenarios.
The Rev410 has slightly more surface area on the midbass drivers because the cones are continuous and sealed. Because of the pod shape, the pod displacement of one Rev410 is slightly larger than that of a pair of Rev10s. So as a result the Rev410 has a slight advantage in midbass extension.
The Rev410 has a comparatively huge tweeter diaphram/voice coil and motor. The Rev410 has a more developed horn architecture with no parallel surfaces. The Rev410 horn tweeter has a lower resonance and reaches deeper into the midrange. So as a result, the Rev410 has a smoother transition between the midbass drivers and the compression horn tweeter. It's really tough, if not impossible, to beat this speaker for HLCD sound quality from a purist standpoint.
The Rev10 is a bit more aggressive on the highest octave so percussion and upper harmonics may sound a bit more distinctive, not necessarily more accurate, but just a bit more accentuated. And honestly, many listeners prefer a bit more aggression at both extremes of the music spectrum. So this small difference is actually welcomed by most.
The average output of one pair of Rev10s and a single Rev410 is essentially the same. The peak output favors the Rev10. Sure, the pair of Rev10s has two tweeter/horns...while the Rev410 has one...but the 410 tweeter/horn is more substantial in every respect. It really gets back to the subtle tonal differences, and not an output difference.
A horizontal array of Rev10s with swivel collars on the outside give you the ability on some towers to fan out the array. This has two advantages. You can widen the dispersion outside the wake and also lessen the impact of off-axis comb filtering (off-axis cancellations that manifest as narrow bandwidth response peaks and valleys as you move out wide). This also keeps the sound from beaming down the middle as much. Plus, the fanned outside speakers are directed more away from the occupants at the rear of the cockpit.
This makes a pretty good case for the Wetsounds 3-Some, giving you all the 'pros' without any of the 'cons'.
Normally the 3-Some gets wired L, Bridged, Right. But, depending on the specific tower and speaker arrangement, L, R, L can work out better, or you can go Mono all the way across.

 

[scokill]

OK, so my initial install was quick and dirty.. I struggled getting a clean signal to them (and my JL boat speakers) and found out that my head unit was the issue. I mis-spoke on the amp too. I have a m700/5 with 2 channels bridged for each tower speaker, and a sub on the other channel. The 400/4 feed the 4 boat speakers.

So I had an older model Fusion Head unit good unit over the years, but something had deteriorated over the years.. I decided to take the headunit signal out of the equation and plugged my iPhone directly in the amp...and wow, what a difference in quality.

So I ordered a new head unit Fusion MS-RA670 Spent some time to tune correctly and what a difference. It's still a little harsh up close, but out in the water it's sweet as silk, or loud as Shit, your choice. I love the head unit. 3 line outs, and you can disable the amp if you aren't using. APP control is good, and multiple devices can hook up via BT and you can select which one to use. Not cheap, but what is these days.

 

[BrandonG]

I like that head unit, particularly because it has 3 pre outs and it looks like you can adjust volume with a turn knob?
The despise that the factory clarion that came on my 19 AR195 uses a push button to adjust volume, I end up just using my iPhone to turn music up and down as it takes a lot less work.

 

[scokill]

I like that head unit, particularly because it has 3 pre outs and it looks like you can adjust volume with a turn knob?
The despise that the factory clarion that came on my 19 AR195 uses a push button to adjust volume, I end up just using my iPhone to turn music up and down as it takes a lot less work.

Yes. The volume is with turn knob....and you can control each of the three pre-out/zones independently, or all zones globally. You just push the button in to cycle through each zone ending at global. What cool is you can set zone(s) position relative to the other zones and use the global to go up and down and keep the relative balance. You can also do the same thing with the App on smartphone....but you can also control the sub output from the volume screen. You can do it on the head unit but have to use the menu.

Speaking of sub output, there are actually 3 mono sub outs....1 for each set of pre-outs. I'm really impressed with this unit.