Loudest 6.5" speakers...best bang for the buck! Opinions?
 

Who has the best/loudest speaker? I realized I asked for 2 different things there...;) I know everyone says Wetsounds or JL, just wondering if there is anything else out there? I'm looking for a full range 6.5".
Running this in a tower speaker tube in an arch on a boat. I also don't NEED it to be marine, waterproof. I don't drive my boat in the rain. ;)

FYI
I tried running some polk audio components the MM6501s and they dont sound good / not loud enough.

Can anyone recommend something??

Donnie Fuller sells the DJ marine speakers which are Memphis relables. You can try those, he's out of stock on 6.5's but they get good reviews.

I had Exiles in my wake boat. They were insainly loud, not budget though.

Personally I have the jl mx650's in my 6" locations however I read a thread here a while back that the wet sounds are suppose to be a little harsher which in a boat isn't all bad. All depends on what your looking for. As long as your running good clean low distortion amp/amps you have endless possibilities. Back to your question though ck out wet sound.

A buddy of mine has Kicker marine 10 6.5's in his Surpa wake-boat (4 in Liquid Audio cans) powered by a Zapco AG 1000 amp with one 10 inch Kicker sub. They sound great and everybody always compliments on how great it sounds because the Mid's are crystal clear and not all just High's screaming at you. He pulled up next to a Wakesetter last year with Exile audio everywhere and that guy and his girlfriend were asking what he had and who did the install because theirs didn't sound nowhere near as good. Personally I am a JL fan but the Kicker's certainly impressed me.

I like my Polk 6.5s. Pretty budget friendly and plenty loud for me.

If I recall correctly if you look at a speakers sensitivity and say its 92 db I think it means is 92 db at 1 watt. to get to 93 you have to double the power so 2 watts, 94 would be 4 watts 95db is 8 watts and so forth. So if you can believe the manufacturers ratings then the loudest would be the speaker with the highest sensitivity. Honestly its been 20 years since I have thought about this so I may be a bit off so dont take what I said as gospel and maybe someone else can confirm

Oops I was off a bit but close. I found this

So what does all this mean? Let's say you want to equalize two speakers in your band, so that they have the same decibel output. Both speakers produce their sound from 10 watts of power. The sound output of one speaker is 83 decibels, and the other speaker's output is 95 decibels. For every 3 decibel sensitivity difference between the two speakers, you will have to double the amplifier power of the lower speaker. In order to bring up the decibel level of the 83-decibel speaker to that of the higher speaker, you would have to increase the amplifier wattage to 160 watts -- 16 times as much

the point is tho the higher the sensitivity the louder it will be w a fixed amount of power.

x2 for the Polks. i have the mm651um's.

-1 for Polk. I just removed several sets from a new Nautique. You'd think a $180K boat would have better speakers.

Just because you're not out in the rain, doesn't mean you don't need a non-marine grade speaker. True marine speakers stand up to the sun and weather a lot better than a traditional car speaker.

I've been selling/installing Wet Sounds for almost 8 years now. I've got a few customers out there with original equipment installed 4-5 years ago, that still have that same equipment today. The XS and SW-650 is a top notch 6.5" true marine speaker. They're not harsh, as some people may "read" (and not hear for themselves), and they have a very unique sound. Everything from that brand is designed to be loud and clear. I recommend you find a local dealer and get a demo.

Focal. The build and sound quality is amazing. I've gone 116db and wasn't even maxed out. For reference, you will actually feel pain at 125db.

I had a set of Polk Audio's so called "Marine" speakers. As soon as cold rain hit the speakers while in use the tweaters in both blew... I wouldn't ever use Polk Audio Marine. I love their home audio stuff, I have all polk speakers in my home theater.

My current boat (bought used) has 4 Infinity 6912M (6x9s). I had original plans of replacing them until I put some power behind them. I have been blown away by the power handling and clarity of these speakers. They aren't the most attractive speaker out there, but for the $$ they really sound great. I imagine their 6.5 would sound decent..