That looks like it could be a Mastercraft OEM. JL did private model numbers for Mastercraft. Did it come in a retail package or loose? If so, its just an M650
Both speakers can run just fine on a head unit or an external amp, with no issues. Advertised power handling is only one piece of the puzzle. Yes, the M series is the more expensive speaker and does handle a little more wattage, the M can handle plenty or wattage and is actually the better sounding speaker between those 2.
Is the pod plastic or aluminum? Coating the inside of an aluminum pod with some sound dampening can help. Amp tuning as well as a blown mid-bass driver can also cause a tinny sound.
Most any song by RUSH will likely have some good bass riffs from Alex Lifeson, or Fleetwood Mac's "Chain". Then rest your fingers on the mid-bass cone and feel for movement.
Just checked em out. The enclosures are plastic and there is a foam cloth like stuff inside behind the speaker. when i push on one speaker cone i hear air sucking in and out, moderate resistance, no scratching. The other speaker, i don’t hear air but do hear some scratching.
Don’t know if that’s normal.
Scratchy sound when you push the cone in indicates a overheated winding coil. one of the turns of wire misaligns and is rubbing on the magnet. Usually creates low level distortion.
After careful listening, the 6.5 mx tower speakers clearly don’t sound as good as they should. So, what’s my options?
Can I put 6.5 M series cockpit speaker in the same enclosure $430? They don’t make 6.5” M series tower speakers. Website says tower speaker woofers are optimized for small enclosures, not sure how important that is.
If I can’t reuse enclosures then i’m looking at 7.7 MX for $650 or M series for $850.
You've got at least one speaker thats got a mechanical issue with the mid-bass driver. This will certainly impact the sound quality.
Next, Hard to give an opinion on how a speaker sounds, without knowing anything about the amp and how its tuned. Changing speakers here, would yield little positive results.
As noted above, the MX series is clearly the better sounding speaker IMO. I would have a hard time moving to the M series here.
Why do you think the mx is better? The m series is quite a bit more expensive. I have a jl m800 amp. I tuned per jl instructions using voltmeter then turned gain down on speakers until I liked the balance between the speakers and sub. They sound pretty good until I get at higher volumes. They definitely do not sound as good as my mx770s in the cockpit.