Roswell Neptune 8.0 vs Wet Sounds Icon 8s ???

Trying to decide between a par of Roswells or TWO par of Wet Sounds.
I have had Wet Sounds on my last 4 boats but am considering a change.
Does anyone have experience with both of these.

neptunes 100% of the way. They are EXTREMELY loud. Dont have a direct comparison but...

Had 2 pro 80s and 2 pro60s on the last boat. running on the same power with roswell amp the single pair of neptunes are tons louder. it is uncomfortable to sit under them if you crank up the volume. They are pretty bright speakers though

Plus it is nice not bashing your head since there is only one set of speakers.

yeah I like the idea of only having 2 speakers on the tower instead of 4 or 6 like Ive done with Wet Sounds in the past.
When you say "bright" are you referring to the light rings?

Bright Referring to the Highs they produce id imagine.

^ that.
I cannot remember if they are as bright or more than wetsounds HLCDs

How about as loud as Rev 8s or 10s? With the Roswell's being more $ than a set of Rev 10s, I'd like to think they sounded better or louder but I'm not in the position to be able to test both side by side.

Originally Posted by tjb1080

yeah I like the idea of only having 2 speakers on the tower instead of 4 or 6 like Ive done with Wet Sounds in the past.
When you say "bright" are you referring to the light rings?

"Bright" like ear piercing highs. Selling out SQ for pure peak SPL.
Anyone can combine a 100 dB tweeter with a 90 dB midrange. That takes no engineering skill.

It just seems to make so much more sense to run a single pair of properly powered Rev10s versus the Roswell or two pair of Icon8s.

Its funny you should mention the SQ v SPL.

My ear is certainly not as well trained as some but I do notice a slight difference in sound quality.

Comparing the WS to Neptunes, the WS towers sounded better in the boat, more in concert with the rest of the boat speakers if you will. I had all WS equipment at the time. Full Roswell in this boat. The roswells sound brighter in the boat, and do not seem to produce as full bodied of a sound as the wetsounds speakers. It is honestly hard to say though, i have them wired to a separate volume control knob so I can shut them down when I don't have a rider because no one likes that a-hole that blasts his music for everyone on the whole lake all day long. Rarely do I have them on cruising around.


BUT when you flip the scenario and put yourself at the end of the tow rope I find that I like the roswell's much more and find the quality, clarity, and spread of the volume to much better. The HLCDs were very directed and if you moved from where they weren't pointed you could not hear them, same thing kind of happened when surfing. Is this perception because they are louder and more clear? possibly.

Depends on what you want them for. Id probably go wet sounds if party cove was the point. roswell if you want to hear it the end of your line. but thats my .02 and everyone's ears and desires are different. As are everyone's musical tastes.

The roswell system in general, including towers, sounds very "klipsch like" in terms of tonality if you're a stereo buff. I prefer this. I wish I could hang a pair of Heresy IIIs from the tower

The wet sounds had a more HK like sound to my ear, a bit warmer and more well balanced.

definitely NOT interested in the "party cove" speaker thing.
I want to hear the sound when riding. I also turn my Tower Speakers off or way down when driving across the lake.
(correction: I have had Rev8s in the past. I have never tried the Icon8s)
Probably going to go with a par of Roswells on this years boat. If I dont like them I sure I can ebay them off and go back to WS.
Thanks for all the input.

I wouldn't compare anything to the Wetsounds Pro series. That's just ancient history and by no means up the SQ standard of today's Rev series. Plus, any 6.5" HLCD, including the Pro60, is just plain awful.
Wetsounds certainly could have made the Rev8 or Rev10 even louder if they wanted. It's so easy to do. But thus far what Wetsounds has been able to do with the Rev10 in the way of a combination of sound quality and high output, no one has been able to duplicate. An addition in one aspect of performance will absolutely be a subtraction in another aspect of performance. No way around that.
I would definitely like to have a set of Klipsch speakers on the tower. With a 12" woofer, a 3-way speaker, and a bass reflex enclosure half the size of a fridge, you might get some good bass. But an 8" in a 2 liter bottle cannot keep up with an unbridled horn compression tweeter. The Roswell uses a very small tweeter diaphragm in a very short horn. Horn length and horn geometry determine the tweeter bandwidth and smoothness. The Wetsounds Rev10 has every possible SQ advantage.
But sound quality is subjective. I'd give both a listen first hand before investing that type of loot.

I posted about the Neptune's on another forum just today.

My buddy has a Mojo equipped with Neptune' 8.0's. I didn't try them out at wakeboard distance but at surf distances they sounded great. It's always nice to have another choice although they are an expensive choice. For the recordI have REV 10's in my boat.

definitely NOT interested in the "party cove" speaker thing.

Then you want to compare a pair of Wet Sounds rev-8 to a pair of nepune 8 in regards to surface area and power handling. Cost wise the neptune 8 will compare with the rev-10. For wake-boarding the the rev series will be the better option.