Pro60 HLCDs in 6.5" Clarion Cans?

[Nutter281]

Just wanted to be the guys to start the 1000th thread on audio upgrades this season! This forum is fantastic - I love reading the creative input from every angle. I'm looking to upgrade the sound system in my 2003 X2 during these long, bitter cold, central Texas winter days .

With so many threads sporting different options and techniques people employ to achieve different levels of purpose with their sound, it is sometimes difficult to step back and refocus on which solution actually presents the most value for an individual situation. I have the stock clarion system that includes:

- Clarion head Unit + Remote Driver seat control
- 4 X Clarion 6.5" cockpit speakers + tweeters
- 2 X Clarion 6.5" tower speakers + tweeters
- 1 X Clarion APX 200.2 amplifier driving the tower speakers

I pulled the tower speakers off yesterday to clean the cans and was surprised to find out the clarions had both dried out and crack along the white woofer? portion. Needless to say, I'll be replacing those. Sidenote, this being the first time I have ever deep-cleaned those tower cans, I must say, I am quite impress with the chrome job Mastercraft did - little never-dull and those babies are like mirrors now.

My goal is to have 'good' not 'award winning' sound inside the boat and be able to hear music while wakeboarding. There seems to be no debate, if you want to hear music at 60'+, you've got to have HLCDs. I'm having a real hard time justifying $1000+ for the Wetsounds Pro80's that seem to be the best all around answer for sound at a distance.

I was at the Austin Boat Show today and one of the sound vendors I was talking with told me that he had a pair of Pro60 HLCD speakers without the cans that he could sell me.

My question is this: has anyone ever tried putting the pro60 HLCDs in the clarion cans (I believe it will require slight modification) and is it even worth my money? Aside from can installation, has anyone ever ran just pro60s and can they project to the wakeboarding distance, or, again, am I wasting my time trying to project sound at that distance using a 6.5" enclosure? I'll be honest, I kind of fell back in love with those stock mastercraft chrome 6.5" cans from a 'cosmetic' perspective; that combined with an overall unwillingness to part with so much money for speakers has got me searching for alternative paths to a similar end.

I've also read mixed reviews on the Krypt Audio 6.5" HLCDs - some say they are money well spent and other sites claim they are pretty much garbage at anything less than 10 feet distance.

Thanks,
Austin