Wet Sounds XS-XXX V2 Review

I did some searching through archives and didn't find any real actual reviews of the sub. Can someone give their impressions of it? It seems that reviewers compare it more to JL W6 than W7.

I plan to use it in my Party Bus along with REV10 tower speakers. I'm hoping to find a sub that can turn my corporate limo bus into a bumping party bus.

Very impressive subs but for the price there is better options. I'm loving my new Sundown zv3 12's they can handle 3000 ems of clean power no problem each.

Are there any subs less than $500 that are better than it? Should I just buy a W7 and be done with it?

I was partial to wet sounds because of their tower speakers.

Originally Posted by reckless7

I did some searching through archives and didn't find any real actual reviews of the sub. Can someone give their impressions of it? It seems that reviewers compare it more to JL W6 than W7.

I plan to use it in my Party Bus along with REV10 tower speakers. I'm hoping to find a sub that can turn my corporate limo bus into a bumping party bus.

It's hard comparing different subs brand to brand. They often have different objectives. And most people do not really understand what makes for a good subwoofer besides a few of the more obvious surface specs and appearances. And low cost definitely overcomes a few warts. Everyone tends to fiercely reconcile their own selection with owners goggles tightly clamped in place.
The JL Audio W6 and W7 series are the definition of a balanced design and precision. The lowest possible distortion and a great combination of responsiveness, linearity and extension. Read some of the raving reviews on their home subs in some very esoteric circles by some hyper critical people.
At the other extreme you have a long laundry list of clumsy subs, with no engineering expertise, and with BIG motors and BIG power handling numbers. They are all essentially the same mix of China catalog parts and are absolute distortion generators. But they make BIG thump, hit, boom, and rumble. You cannot make a 12-inch woofer truly handle 2500 continuous watts and still have a precision instrument. They serve a purpose, deliver value in their own way, and I understand that....but to mention this class of pretenders with the real thing....is just uninformed.
Keep in mind that the Wetsounds XXX is the only true marine SPL subwoofer. The construction is made to withstand the worst of marine elements. There are others with this type of marine construction but they would not be in the same output class or others that might be in a similar output class but without the marine construction. I also see a subwoofer in the Wetsounds XXX that was correctly engineered in isolation and not part a series to cost-effectively share the maximum number of parts.
The above three examples cover a broad price range. All three will make the party bus bump.

To me W7 is the most overated overpriced sub that hasn't changed in design in the decade.

David go tell Jacob at Sundown his subs have no engineering behind them. He'll laugh in your face .

Everyone is different I've had a w7 w3 and the China subs in my opinion for the price they kill the jl products

Mine has been awesome... Takes a beating and just keeps on wanging

Originally Posted by BradM07SS

To me W7 is the most overated overpriced sub that hasn't changed in design in the decade.

David go tell Jacob at Sundown his subs have no engineering behind them. He'll laugh in your face .

Everyone is different I've had a w7 w3 and the China subs in my opinion for the price they kill the jl products

It's a debate that will never end.
The JL W7 has multiple patents with a design and testing process that takes all kinds of dynamic issues into consideration. It hasn't changed much because it is the model that everything else is compared to and the most emulated sub on the planet. Every part in a JL W7 is proprietary and engineered just for that woofer. No two woofers in that series share parts.
A Sundown is a jackhammer all day long. So I'm not disputing that it makes plenty of bass. But describe just one unique attribute. Just one unique bit of engineering that we don't see in countless other woofers following the same prescription. Jacob should be able to do this. Just one. Right?

I hope the xxx is badSS I just ordered 6 to but in the new x80

They will be , I heard 2 on a g23 and they sounded awesome

Originally Posted by BradM07SS

Everyone is different

True statement......

There are those that think the sub,that is simply the loudest, is the best....

I just pulled a 3-year old XXX out of a customers boat that is still humping..... Looks as good, and sounds as good, as it did when new.

Some people think SPL no matter how dirty it sounds rules the lake. Those would be the same guys rolling in a 1985 Maxima with 15" Pyles or Cerwin Vegas. I'd rather have my JLw6 properly powered with a properly built and tuned box.

I found some reviews comparing XXX to the DD3512 more than W7. I imagine the JL is more SQ driven whereas the XXX might get louder.

If this was for my car, I'd probably want SQ. But since its for my 36' ft party bus, I want more bass. Technically I am currently outfitted with 2 10" alpine type R's from 10+ years ago. There are large spots in the bus where you can't feel the bass. Optimally, I'd want to install more subs rather than 1 big one but I am not in the mood to tear out my interior to fit them. Plus this way I can take the setup and put it in my other vehicles when I'm not using the party bus.

Originally Posted by you_da_man

Some people think SPL no matter how dirty it sounds rules the lake. Those would be the same guys rolling in a 1985 Maxima with 15" Pyles or Cerwin Vegas. I'd rather have my JLw6 properly powered with a properly built and tuned box.

I routinely hear were people interpret 'overhang' as louder. Technically if you add the element of more time to every impulse I guess it is more volume. But to me that just sounds like nasty distortion. I refer to it as 'phat' bass. 3-inch voice coils, four spiders, and a big magnet driven by a boat load of power will get you phat bass all day long. It's not hard to design a subwoofer for that purpose. You can probably find two dozen near identical versions with different logos.

Why did you buy a marine rated subwoofer for your party bus? Is it exposed to the elements?

Originally Posted by timmyb

Why did you buy a marine rated subwoofer for your party bus? Is it exposed to the elements?

Yes, scotch and water is known to be highly corrosive.

Originally Posted by timmyb

Why did you buy a marine rated subwoofer for your party bus? Is it exposed to the elements?

Party buses are notorious for having "girls night" out and that means "white girl wasted" and girls throwing up. So...yes it's a good choice.

LOL! Ok, you got me! On the other hand, most high quality car audio brand sub's won't be a paper cone so they would be "white girl wasted" proof.

The subwoofer/tower speakers may be exposed to light rain when I remove out of the back and put it on the ground for tailgating and other outdoor events. Since I was buying the tower speakers I thought I'd buy their sub as well (originally had wanted everything wet sounds but later decided to skimp out on the amps and buy some good cheap power amps).

JonyB is sent you a PM

No foam or paper on a Kicker l7, so no fear of withstanding "white girl trashed" and will handle some serious wattage.

Dave: Between 1 JL 13W7 and a wet sounds xs-xxxv2 which would you rather have in a non marine environment?

Originally Posted by reckless7

Dave: Between 1 JL 13W7 and a wet sounds xs-xxxv2 which would you rather have in a non marine environment?

I don't like the question. You can't seriously compare a 12" to a 13.5" even within the same series of the same brand.
I wouldn't get around to a woofer selection until I had the application dialed in for the particular vehicle. Doesn't matter what you use if the vehicle acoustics aren't right.
The very last thing I would do is position a single sub in the middle of the bus.
A single sub would have to be at one extreme and aimed directly at the opposite extreme.
Another approach is to strategically position four smaller subs around the bus in order to purposely nullify standing waves. Executed correctly this could excite the entire bus uniformly without those hot and cold spots. An enclosed bus being a very different environment than a open boat.
Depends on how cooperative the bus is.

I was planning on putting one sub in the back. There are currently 2 small subs in the middle that you can hear bass but not feel. I would be satisfied if there was bass in the back that filled 3/4 of the bus. Maybe I should be looking at 15"?

If space isn't a problem I would do a 18" Sundown zv3 or 18" SSA ZCON ported. Both of these get loud and sound pretty good doing so.

Or a 21" woofer from DD.
Odin with Earmark Marine has a 30" woofer on display.

We were a dealer for Digital Designs for several years. I couldn't be happier to say that we dropped them. Amps and coax's were junk. Almost every set of 6.5" coax's I sold came back. The spider would separate from the basket and flop around, making the owner think the driver was blown. I'd have to remove them from the car, swap them out, send the old ones back. Money lost... Amps would get a rolling static that was intermittent, and DD would call back and say "no problem found".

Never again.

Yeah, I wouldn't go with DD either. It would be 13W7 or IDMAX15. I'd be tempted to go larger sub but would get tired of sloppy bass. I like my subs tight and fast.

The bigger the sub doesn't mean sloppy bass. I run an 18" in my HT and its very tight and sounds great.

But out of those 2 I would pick the IDMAX15 more cone area and will sound awesome and get pretty loud. One of the better sounding car audio subs I've heard. Very efficient also.

David, your memory is slipping. It's not a 30" sub, it's a 32" sub. Those last 2" really make a difference (or so I'm told) lol