Wet Sounds or Roswell?

[Fred M]

I was pretty much sold on installing a Wet Sounds system in our AR240 this winter with new speakers all the way around, Icon 8's on the tower and class D amps. But now, all of the local boat dealers seem pretty sour on them anymore. the dealer where I bought the boat is becoming a Roswell dealer in the very near future, and have tried to sell me on how much better they are than the Wet Sounds equipment.

I was told that many dealers dropped them and are not talking nice (Wet Sounds), because they opened up their sales to places like Amazon.com, Crutchfield, and other online retailers. This cut the profit margin they can make off the equipment, and hence the bad attitude.

Does anybody have any opinions on this? I always thought they were both very good brands of marine audio equipment. In the top 3 along with JL. Is this opinion shared by any of you? If not, what makes the Roswell so much better?

 

[Hector]

No opinion on Roswell.
I have all jl audio and am extremely happy

 

[veedubtek]

I had all JL on my 242 and loved it. Had all Wetsounds on my 210 and loved it. I always thought Roswell was a cheap brand, no experience at all with it and don't even know any dealers around here. I mean, it could be great, but could also be sold at big-lots for all I know. My next big stereo will be JL again. If Wetsounds was the same price, it would be Wetsounds. I always thought the Wetsounds highs were a little clearer, but not enough to warrant the added cost. Just my opinion of course. (and I never used tower speakers from either, so no opinion at all there).

I'd be willing to bet @Earmark Marine & @David Analog have much better thoughts on the subject.

 

[PaulyB]

Wet Sounds hands down... Best Marine Stereo Equipment you can buy....

 

[Mainah]

I belive that at least some of the Roswell audio stuff is just rebranded Focal. Focal is a good car audio brand but if just rebraded I would be curious about holding up in a Marine environment.

JL audio marine is the standard by which all other are judged. Nothing else needs to be said there.

Wetsounds is great and I suspect any former dealer bashing is just sour grapes and trying to push their new brand so they can turn a profit. The fact Wetsounds is successful enough to make sales outside of dealers with their price point speaks decibels IMO.

@David Analog knows all of the finer details on all of these brands. Earmark marine will get you a good package price while steering you in the right direction. Mention the forum if you call them.

Also install quality will make a difference.

Best marine power wire in the business is Knukonceptz. Nobody makes better power wire than their Marine Flexs wire (I will never use anything else in a mobile audio install and will now use this for any and all battery cables too) That said the high end JL marine audio wire is pretty much the same stuff.

Please post pics when done.

 

[Fred M]

Roswell is definitely not cheap, and I don't think its rebranded from anything. They make towers, audio, wakeboard racks, etc and I know their Neptune 10.0's tower speakers were designed to compete with Wet Sounds Rev 10's. They are a very similar price, Roswell maybe a $500 more for the system, and I know they are a good quality.

I just want to put in the best system for the money. As with most boat stuff you go to buy, you can't really test any of it in a boat on the water. The sales racks are so hard to get an opinion on.

I agree that the dealers are just being sour grapes about them now selling online. I heard that quite a while ago, and it seems to be true. The dealers that used to carry Wet Sounds have dropped them and are now touting their new Roswell line as SO much better. From what I see they are pretty comparable to each other. And if roswell is building a speaker to compete with REV 10's....my thought is why not just buy Rev 10's?

 

[Fred M]

Wet Sounds hands down... Best Marine Stereo Equipment you can buy....

My plan is to replace the in boat speakers with the WS-650's (4), add a 10 inch sub, and put a pair of Icon 8's on the tower. Amps will be 2 Syn-DX Class D amps, and a WS-420 equalizer of course. I am pretty sure that is going to be my system, unless someone can give me undisputable reasons to go with something else.

 

[redthumper9]

I can't speak for Roswell, but I'm running all Wetsounds with the exception on JL cabin speakers. The fit and finish on all the Wetsounds equipment is fantastic. I'm running the SD series amps and they are BIG power but yet never seem to break a sweat. I'm also running 2 pair of REV 10's custom painted with LED rings......once again.....just plain awesome. Customer service is top notch as well.

 

[PaulyB]

I would go with Rev8s over the Icons.... You will be much more happy with the REV8s than the Icons....

 

[PaulyB]

I would go with:

1 HTX-4 300wx2 @ 4 ohms for the tower speakers - $450.00
1 HTX-6 channels 1-4 for in-boat speakers 100wx4 @ 4 ohms and channels 5-6 bridged for 300wx1 @ 4 ohms -$550
1 XS-10 FA sub - $250
2 pairs WS-650's - $275/pr
1 pair REV8 tower speakers - $1049/pr

With that set up you will have one sick system and very efficient with no wasted amperage....

 

[TOGA]

JL Audio. Best there is. It is the standard.

 

[PaulyB]

Also if you wait until Black Friday to order from Wetsounds they will most likely do a 20 percent off on Black Friday....

 

[PEARCE]

I think JL and Wetsounds are the gold standard in marine audio. I personally have Polk MM651UM throughout the cockpit and a pair on the swimdeck. They are all powered with amps, because they like power, along with a 10" ported sub, the system plays very loud and very clear. If you're on a tight budget go with Polk. However, when I'm ready to upgrade the sound system on the Sea Ray I'll probably be going with JL and Wetsounds equipment if I stay with 12v. If I go 120v a\c, I have a generator, who knows what I'll end up putting together.

 

[Mainah]

@Fred M - You have the right idea to do it right the first time. I went budget with my first upgrade and was not happy. I updated this post with my experience and will be upgrading the 6x9s to polk mm and adding another mm sub as well as another jl audio amp next year. Wish I had just gone all jl audio or wetsounds the first time around but all polk mm won't be bad in the end. https://jetboaters.net/threads/detailed-2016-242-ls-1k-audio-upgrade.9400/

The number one thing I learned is go custom sealed box on the sub. The polk mm is nice for that because it needs very little cubic inches. Perhaps Wetsounds has an equivalent.

This forum is good at spending your money for you but also top notch advice taken in aggregate.

 

[bobbie]

Exile audio....all the way

 

[Bill D]

What @PaulyB said, but I would add an extra set of 650's to the mid cabin from the start. JL Audio makes great stuff too, but in my opinion the Wetsounds speakers sound better. When I upgrade my amp, I'll go with JL amps.

 

[Noko]

I have 4 Wetsounds XS-650 6.5" and one XS-Series 10" sub and I think they are great. But there are so many variables in speaker sound. It all depends on what sound you like. Unless you can compare the speakers side by side, it would be difficult to say which is better by the way they sound. But my Wetsounds speaker are well made and I think worth what I spent on them. I have one JL XD 700/5 amp that powers my whole system and its loud enough for me. We don't pull a wake boarder and don't have tower speakers.

 

[FloJet]

When it comes to lake audio no one can touch wet sounds. I have 2 Rev 410's on my AR and there is not a brand that can touch it power to power. Now for the amps, I will def advise you to stay away from Wet Sounds. I run JL in all my systems. For the boating world WS amps are just not feasible. They are rated at 14.4v, while JL is rated down to 12v on any impedence. This gives you many choices in set ups. While floating you will never come close to that 14.4 v. with WS amps. And you will spend less with JL and they won't overheat like WS. Here in Oklahoma we have a big market for sound systems and most of the higher sounds systems here WILL not use WS Amps. At this time no other company can compete with WS tower speakers. I don't care what anyone says. There isnt any comparison. I have blasted away any competition that is not carrying WS, even if they have 6 to 8 speakers. That's just my 2 cents.

 

[Mainah]

Darn it guys you are giving me the tower speaker bug and I was going to try and wait longer to do it because of other major expenses next year.

Now that the boat is wrapped all I can do for my boating bug is to plan upgrades and buy parts. I am convinced nothing beats wetsounds rev 10s for end of wakeboard line loudness and clarity. Now the question is how to mount them on a 2015, 16, 17 242 tower so I don't bang my head or in my tall 14 old son's case his face. Anyone tried mounting rev 10s in the tower corners? Anyone have photos with someone standing at the wheel and these bad boys mounted?

If they go on sale at 20 percent off on Black Friday I may just roll the dice anyway and store them till spring but would feel better seeing them mounted.

 

[MattFX4]

Darn it guys you are giving me the tower speaker bug and I was going to try and wait longer to do it because of other major expenses next year.

Now that the boat is wrapped all I can do for my boating bug is to plan upgrades and buy parts. I am convinced nothing beats wetsounds rev 10s for end of wakeboard line loudness and clarity. Now the question is how to mount them on a 2015, 16, 17 242 tower so I don't bang my head or in my tall 14 old son's case his face. Anyone tried mounting rev 10s in the tower corners? Anyone have photos with someone standing at the wheel and these bad boys mounted?

If they go on sale at 20 percent off on Black Friday I may just roll the dice anyway and store them till spring but would feel better seeing them mounted.

My concern too. I have the WS420 EQ sitting at my house waiting to be installed, but waiting until I get tower speakers. I plan on ordering the Rev 10's sometime this fall/winter depending on sales or promotions. Seems like I remember someone here with rev 10's on a '15-up 242 tower. They were pushed out towards the corners as far as possible.

@Fred M You can't go wrong with Wetsounds or JL. Right now my entire system is JL, and it sounds great. Let us know what you end up going with.