Wetsounds

[evil0ne]

I was reading the rather heated debate over at wakeworld (http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/3183/418051.html) on the 3some setup and it brought up a good question, why not do two 485s instead of the 3some? A pair is $50 cheaper then the 3some according to their website.

[tarheeler]

two 485's might not fit on the new tige towers. they are big speakers.

[spharis]

If I were shopping I would wait on the pro 60's. I am willing to bet the 6" version of the driver is going to sound better, and be as loud as its 8 inch counterpart. 8" drivers are not a true mid range, and get muddy during vocals and snare hits. I would not have chosen wetsounds due to the 8", but now that they are going to offer a 6, I may revisit them.

[Coach]

Depends upon your use. For me I got the threesome because I can turn around the pro 80's and face them at the beach and have some tunes while hanging out. Plus the top bars on the Tige towers are very curved so the dual Pro 485's might not work.

[evil0ne]

I didn't think about width/curve being the issue. As you can tell from the pic below I don't think I'd have that problem. I'm also not familiar with the mounts on their speakers. Coach, do your 80's have a swivel feature as part of the mechanism and the 485 does not?

[Jeff T]

The swivel U bracket is an extra charge...it doesn't come with the pro80s (and they aren't cheap). That bracket won't do you much good on the 485.

[TigeDuner]

We just had the threesom installed on our 05 24V with the factory tower. The swivel brackets are needed to allow the Pro 80's to point straight back. Without the brackets and the large radius on the tower, the speakers would be pointing outside of the wake. The swivel brackets were $80/pr. Notice the speaker mount is not in the same line as the speaker. More pictures later.

[Coach]

The U clamp swivel only works with the singles. I do have a pair but still need to put them on (boat is not at home right now). Evil that is not a Tige tower, and has very straight bars with the 6x9's. The Z tower is VERY curved and I have yet to see any speakers look good on it, plus they force the speakers to cross themselves in terms of sound path. The E tower is not as curved but still noticable. The U- clamps with take care of that. As for the 485's you can do 2 pair on a Tige tower it will just have a very funky look to it because it will not be straight. One end will sit up higher and it will rotate down and way towards the outside (sounds like a baseball pitch ) I am into looks as much as function so the threesome was a great choice for me.

Evil, I think all of the debate on WW is by one guy. The guys who did my system didn't have any problems wiring it and it is very loud and very clear. Example- Boat was in the water at our campsite. We have a private beach between two camping areas and the camping areas are elvated. One camping area was about 50 yards from my boat and the other site was about 150 yards from my boat. We turned it up and could clearly hear the music at both sites and beyond. The guys who were 150 yards away couldn't believe the sound and it was rattling their windows! Trust me you should not have any amp issues with the 3 some (you are using 3 channels) 2 channels for the pro 80's and bridged 2 channels for the 485 (using a 4 channel amp), done deal clean, loud music.

[spharis]

I think all of the debate on WW is by one guy.

As is usually the case. Everyone want to feel like they spent their money well. In the end, you want to be the one that likes it and the way it sounds, and agree to disagree.....who cares what everyone else thinks........(I guess that's not very American of me is it ).

[evil0ne]

I know it's not a Tige tower, I just never thought about the tower being the issue. I can tell from Duner's pic exactly what you're talking about. If I sell my 6x9 setup I'd probably just do two 485s.

I think the debate is over audio quality of stereo vs. mono. I personally don't think I would care/tell the difference.

Anyone know where I can buy a pylon with a nav light built in to replace mine?

[Jeff T]

We just had the threesom installed on our 05 24V with the factory tower. The swivel brackets are needed to allow the Pro 80's to point straight back. Without the brackets and the large radius on the tower, the speakers would be pointing outside of the wake. The swivel brackets were $80/pr. Notice the speaker mount is not in the same line as the speaker. More pictures later.

Is that tower the same as the E tower on the 07s?

[spharis]

I think the debate is over audio quality of stereo vs. mono. I personally don't think I would care/tell the difference.

Are you serious......????? Is someone actually arguing that stereo is going to even exist that far away from drivers that small.....LOL......I would mono my tower speakers regardless if I had any

[evil0ne]

Are you serious......????? Is someone actually arguing that stereo is going to even exist that far away from drivers that small.....LOL......I would mono my tower speakers regardless if I had any

Yep, that and 8ohm operation, below are some of the highlights.

wiring the threesome can be done... all depends how you want to do it...all mono OR stereo and mono... having all the speakers getting a mixed mono signal will have much better sound dispersion..

if you dont mind the pair of 85's in stereo- then go ahead and pick up any 4 channel that can be set up for 3 and it will work...

keep in mind you will have a really "fubared sound disperstion pattern" with everything being bunched up in the middle of the wake..since the 85's will be in stereo and the center 485 in mono...

While I cant disagree about the sound dispersion of sending mono material out, one thing that fails to consider is how a mix collapses to mono.
Many mixes lose a lot of information when summed to mono, so what would be the point of great sound dispersion if the music sounds like ***..
I agreed with your points above, and it was actually mikeski's post that prompted me to respond, but I'm sure theres a way of wide sound dispersion without having to collapse everything.

the stereo vs mono is pretty easy once you hear the difference.really look at the setup - the listening apex is reversed.in order to get a true stereo image at 80' the speakers would have to be incredibly far apart vs. the 2'-3' on a boat tower...not to mentioned you pick up at 3 db gain due to loss of cancellation from the speakers interfering with each other because thay are so close when in stereo (think about it-are your home speaker that close ? and is are you listening at 80' ? that is why there is no such thing as stereo at 80'.... there is music in the middle of the wake, and non out to the sides (mono has a much wider dispersion)

Threesome:
two Pro-80's: 4 ohms stereo or in mono 8 ohms mono (series wired), design condition either case

single Pro 485: 4 ohms mono, optimal load condition.

[Tequilasun]

Isn't the Stereo vs Mono debate moot? At 80' it wouldn't matter anyway.

I guess that's what they are trying to say above. I'd give them Mono, then deny I had it...

[spharis]

The circuit load is a function of the amplifier, not the drivers, so they can throw that all out to a new topic. There is no stereo sound > 10' from a set of tower speakers......maybe some, but not much. The end result is the best amp to match 3-4ohm different spec drivers or 4-4ohm same spec drivers. That should be the discussion they are having. A 3 channel amp is going to be the best setup (try and find a good one), followed by 4 channel that is bridgable (3 channel setup), followed by a single channel amp that is stable to 1-ohm. If someone had the extra cahs, and room, then 2 amps is also a viable option.....but I would still leave all the inputs mono.

I am loving the stereo vs. mono.......especially the descriptions on mixing them down.....LOL.....that's quote worthy stuff.

I would use the amps mono switch for all the channels and be done with it......much cleaner sound than seperate signals from a mono positioned source. This is exactly why you want your subs to be mono as well.