Coaxial vs. Bicone marine speaker

[hartner62]

Looking for a couple of new speakers for the boat and in the cabelas website it gives two options either a bicone speaker or a coaxial. Whats the difference?

[Whoaru99]

A bicone probably refers to what is usually called a "whizzer" cone speaker. It's like a little inverted cone-shaped attachment usually attached to the periphery of the center dust cover. Check here.

A coaxial would have a second active driver (generally a midrange/tweeter) instead of the paper "whizzer" cone. Check here.

[ishgood]

Coaxial will give you better sound.

If you are looking for the best sound available, check out Alpine.

[pulsar_nx]

My experience says go wizzer cone unless your getting a higher end coaxial speaker. The problem with coaxials is that they send the full range to all speakers (the same as a wizzer) so they still don't sound all that good yet. I've found that a good aftermarket (Jenson comes to my mind) wizzer can sometimes sound as good or better and it costs less too.

If you look at the higher end coaxials (component) they will come with crossovers, now these will blow the socks off of the other two. But they cost alot more. Plus there may not be any marine ones out there.

Alot of speakers and decks are all about what looks cool not what sound cool. So you always want to test them out in the store if possible.

[Whoaru99]

There is usually a crossover (high pass filter) to the tweeter otherwise the bass would fry it the first time you cranked it up (unless it's a piezo tweeter - they really don't need a high-pass filter, but tend to sound harsh). The filters are generally very simple 1st order (6dB/octave) consisting of a capacitor to block the low frequencies from reaching the tweeter.

I do agree that higher-end coaxials and the component speaker setups generally have more sophisticated 2nd order (12db/octave) or better crossovers.

[vikingmeatwad]

have you guys put non marine speakers in a boat before? With those poundings of rain we can take up there I'm a bit worried about non marine and I need to replace my speakers and deck soon.

And to answer the question I believe it's about 1 way vs. 2 way vs 3 way speaks. The more the better as it seperates the sounds for better handling of highs/lows/mids.

[hartner62]

You guys really know your speakers. Thanks for all the help

[Whoaru99]

I have non-marine speakers in my boat for the last few years. However, they are not paper cone, and they are very well protected from the elements as they reside well underneath the dual consoles.

If the speakers will be fairly exposed, I'd stick with the marine speakers.

Mine are coaxials, and are plenty good for the type of listening I do in the boat. Even the "whizzer" cone speakers probably will be fine for listening in the boat unless one is an audio enthusiast, or setting up a party barge.

As for the more the better, perhaps, but it's not a guarantee. Some VERY highly regarded home speakers are only 2-way designs.

In order for more to be better, extra work needs to go into the design to properly integrate more drivers. That's not always the case.