Wet Sounds REVO vs. RECON Speakers

Wet Sounds is one the premier marine audio brands in the world and everything they do is marine grade. Whether you have a boat, UTV, RV, or any other vehicle that may be exposed to the elements, Wet Sounds offers superior products to fit your needs. Wet Sounds offers two different levels of speakers, REVO and RECON. The REVO are their top of the line offering while the RECON is more affordable and designed for lower power applications.

The Wet Sounds REVO speakers are available in 6.5", 8", and 10" sizes. The RECON series speakers come in 5.25", a 6", and 8" models.

When it coems to grille options for Wet Sounds speakers, there are almost too many. The REVO speakers come with two styles of closed grilles, each in both black and white. In addition to the closed style grilles, the Wet Sounds REVO speakers also have 4 different color options for an open style grille, silver, white with a stainless overlay, black with a stainless overlay, and gunmetal with a stainless overlay. There are 8 different choices for each size speaker. The RECON speakers have a total of 3 different grille options, a close style white grille, a black open style grille, and silver. All of the REVO speakers come with RGB LEDs built in and the RECON speakers are only available with LEDs in the silver, open-style grille and the white, closed-style grilles.

Both the Wet Sounds REVO and RECON coaxial speakers have matching tower speakers available. However, if you want matching tower speakers, you will need to select an open style grille. The Wet Sounds REV 10, REV 8, and REV 410 have stainless steel grilles that will match the black and white XS grilles with the stainless overlay. If you want the gunmetal speakers, the grilles will still match, but the REV tower speakers are not offered in gunmetal. The RECON tower speakers use 6.5" speakers and a smaller enclosure than the REV series. The RECON tower speakers were primarily designed for powersports applications and the included clamp will fit up to a 2" diameter tube.

Both the Wet Sounds REVO and RECON speakers have matching subwoofers. There are more size and impedance options in the REVO series versus RECON, but the RECON subwoofers come with a grille and the REVO do not. The RECON subwoofers are only offered in a 10" diamter with a single 4 ohm voice coil. The Wet Sounds REVO subwoofers are offered in 8", 10", and 12" diamters, both black and white, and in both single 2 ohm and 4 ohm voice coils. In addition to the individual subwoofers, the REVO 12" is available in a marine-grade loaded enclosure with a passive radiator. The REVO 12 enclosure allows you to easily add some bottom end to your boat without having to but a hole in the hull. The enclosure with a passive radiator will also give you better output than a standard, free-air, marine subwoofer.

The Wet Sounds REVO speakers handle significantly more power that the RECON speakers. In the 6.5" speakers, the REVO handle 100 watts RMS while the RECON can only handle 60 watts. In the 8" models, the REVO can handle 150 watts RMS and the RECON can handle 70 watts RMS. The power difference between REVO and RECON is pretty drastic. The numbers sound significant and here's what that means to you as the customer. You can give way more power to the REVO than the RECON. The more power you give speakers, the louder and clearer they play. The REVO speakers can play simply play louder than the RECON and they will sound better. The REVO are also significantly more expensive than the RECON so you are getting what you are paying for.

Speakers have efficiency ratings which tell you how loud that speaker plays at a certain distance given X amount of power. It is usually done as 1 watt per 1 meter. This number tells us how loud those speakers are going to play when power is held constant. If I give each speaker 50 watts of power, one speaker has a SPL rating of 89 dB, the other has an SPL rating of 92 dB, the speaker with the SPL rating of 92 dB is going to play louder. However, speakers are subjective and louder is not always better, but you can always turn the volume down. This number just tells us how efficient those speakers are. The 6.5" RECON speakers have an SPL rating of 89 dB while the REVO 6 have a rating of 90 dB. This tells us that they are both pretty close in terms of their efficiency. In the 8", the RECON have a rating of 80dB and the REVO 8 are rated at 92 dB. The massive, 10" REVO have an SPL rating of 90dB.

The Wet Sounds REVO speakers come with larger tweeters than the RECON series and the REVO use a titanium dome tweeter while the RECON use an aluminum dome. Since both are hard, metal dome tweeters, they are both going to play right, crisp, loud highs. The titanium dome tweeter in the REVO is going to be less harsh than the aluminum dome tweeter in the RECON. Both are going to get plenty loud and cut through any and all ambient noise when powered by an amplifier, the REVO just have larger tweeters to sound better. In a 6.5" speaker, the REVO 6 has a 1.00" tweeter and the RECON 6 has a .75" tweeter. In the 8", both the RECON and REVO have 1.00" tweeters. The 10" REVO speakers have a 1.25" tweeter and there is no 10" RECON speaker.

We recommend using an amplifier for all marine speakers because a boat is a loud, noisy, open-air environment. The more power you give your speakers, the louder, clearer, and with less or even no distortion. However, if you are powering speakers directly off of your head unit, you will want to use the RECON speakers. The RECON will sound completely different and significantly better with an amp, but they will work off of deck power. If you are using deck power, we do not recommend the REVO series speakers. Your head unit does not put out enough power to give the REVO the juice they want. It is not worth spending the extra money for the REVO when the RECON will sound much better with deck power.

When deciding between the Wet Sounds REVO and the RECON, the main differentiator will be the amount of power you have from your amplifier(s). The REVO are flat out LOUD. But, they do need to make sure they are sufficiently powered to maximize your investment. If you need 6.5" speakers and your amp is putting out 50 watts RMS, I would lean toward the RECON. If you have an amplifier that can put out 75-100 watts per channel and you want your boat's system to be loud, go with the REVO. When it comes to the 8" speakers, I think the only option is the REVO. If you are putting 8" speakers in your boat, you are spending up for better sound. Cry once and upgrade or purchase a new amplifier so that you can power them sufficiently. You will be glad you did. The 8" RECON are just too inefficient at that size.