Is JL the best subwoofer producer? I have 2 10w7's and am looking to upgrade to bigger and better sound...was looking into the 13w7's , around four of them...but the cash situation is crazy expensive?? so what other subz have better or equal spl and sq compared to the 13's??

Is JL the best subwoofer producer? I have 2 10w7's and am looking to upgrade to bigger and better sound...was looking into the 13w7's , around four of them...but the cash situation is crazy expensive?? so what other subz have better or equal spl and sq compared to the 13's??

there are many subs that sound as good, hit harder, and are less expensive. Check out this website, www.caraudiocentral.net. Lots of excellent advice there, and they respond very quickly. But for an answer to your question...NO, JL is not the best out there. I personally think my Focal 33Kx is a better sub. But the money is the same.

JL is ONE of the best
when it all comes down to it in the right enclosure a sony could blow a jl away. Dont get me wrong a jl in the right enclosure vs a sony in a right enclosure the jl will destory it.

That aside my top companys are (in this order) JL Audio (i have 3 12w6s for a reason) Image Dynamics, Arc Audio, Kicker, Boston Acoustic, Infinity

My JL 500/1 and 10W6v2 combo shakes like a motherfvckah! Reliable and durable,too; they've lasted through thoudands of hours of heat, humidity, and pounding from distored heavy metal, rap, industrical music!

And to think- some moron in a car audio shop tried telling me that "JL is overrated" and that you get the same sh!t from Fosgate :eyeroll: Please. I previously went through 6 Fosgate woofer from Best Buy in 2000. All were under warranty, and they finally refused to keep returning them because I returned so many. They had to refund my money!

JL all the way!

i had a jl 10w6 for about a year. it was mated to an underpowered amp. so i upgraded to a 500w amp. then it popped. so i went to alpine. i got a SWR-1022D which is a 10 also but half the price. it sounded much cleaner and a little louder. if i had known that there was a better speaker rom alpine at the time i would have bought it instead but, oh well. so check out the x series from alpine.

Diamond Audio subs are really good. everyone who hears my system always compliments my subs! check em out you wont be disapointed!

i have 2 JL 12W3V2D4's on a memphis reference 300.2 i know thye hit much harder than the do they just need the right box think i will sell the 300.2 and get a JL 500/1

ohh yea i forgot diamond yea they are pretty kick ass too

See in my avatar i also have 2 Memphis M3's also with 2 of the old Kicker s10d's the old ones that they dont make in that quality anymore. yes those diamond audios damn sure hit hard theres a guy here selling 2 15" subs for 400 in a custome box.

i dont like 15s a true audiophile can tell they lag...

i dont like 15s a true audiophile can tell they lag...

A true Audiophile wouldn't have left his Bose system in his car. 15's can be as good for SQ as 10's can. It is all in the install and the box. Properly tuned, a 15" sub can deliver excellent bass along with a smooth response curve. I have a friend that I compete with that runs one 18" DD sub, custom made, for Sound Quality comps. It is how a sub is installed and tuned as to how it will perform.

I run one 13" subwoofer, and just a set of 3-way components. I have won every competition that I have entered and will be at the USACi Finals in Kansas City this coming November. I compete only in SQ so even with a huge sub, my car is tuned correctly so you don't know there is a 13" sub in there. Check the link on my signature.

Don't let anyone tell you different. It depends on the type of music you listen to, how loud you want your system to be, and whether or not you want to hear the complete spectrum of frequencies as to what type of sub, what price you want to spend, and who to install it.

Good luck in your venture.

Joe Wallis
Focal SQ Team (Team Cobra)
Team Wolfpack Audio
Intermediate Consumer 601+ SQ

One of the winningest car in the history of car audio has 6 speakers each powered by an Alpine 1500w amp. 2 horn mid/tweet, 2 10" midbass and 2 15" subs.

Tim

i would look into Digital Designs if i were you,their top of the line can get pricey but the others are reasonably priced.
site= www.ddaudio.com
phone#= 1-405-239-2800

One of the winningest car in the history of car audio has 6 speakers each powered by an Alpine 1500w amp. 2 horn mid/tweet, 2 10" midbass and 2 15" subs.

Tim


That would be Richard Black's Grand National with USD horns, and pro-audio 10's in the rear quarterpanels, and 15" USD subs behind the seat. Excellent sound overall! Good to hear someone else remember's RB's GN

That would be Richard Black's Grand National with USD horns, and pro-audio 10's in the rear quarterpanels, and 15" USD subs behind the seat. Excellent sound overall! Good to hear someone else remember's RB's GN


Actually it is Richard Clark. He purchased it from Speakerworks in Orange , CA. (store front for USD) Richard did very little to the car from what Speakerworks built. Harry Kumura's Acura was it's little brother. same speakers but only Three 1500w amps.

BTW: Joe your car is the best I have judged on car stereo.com How did you do at Finals.

Tim

I like my DD 3500's

I have a set of 12" in a probox made for the 98 K1500 extended cab.

Harrison 1600w monoblock amp powering them. They hit entirely too hard for me, but once they are turned down...Perfect for what want em for.


Mike

Actually it is Richard Clark. He purchased it from Speakerworks in Orange , CA. (store front for USD) Richard did very little to the car from what Speakerworks built. Harry Kumura's Acura was it's little brother. same speakers but only Three 1500w amps.

BTW: Joe your car is the best I have judged on car stereo.com How did you do at Finals.

Tim


Tim, I just noticed that I said Black instead of Clark...talk about brain fart. Well as far as USAC Finals, it was a bust, my wife and son were in a car accident and it really put a dampner on rebuilding my car for finals. Needless to say, I made it to finals, but without my car. Still clutched a sponsorship from Orca Distributing, so my new install will be totally Focal (speakers, subs, and amps) with Alpine DVA9861/H701 combo at the helm. I should be at the Spring Break Nationals in Daytona this March. Thanks for the Kudo's on my car. It did it's job. In some ways the new install will be more restrained, but will sound much better.

Think Be Tweeter/3w2 in Apillar and the 165KBE in the kickpanel...with a 33KX Polykevlar 13 in the rear deck.

If it sounds anything like the Focals in my friends Beetle it will sound fantastic. Hopefully your wife and son where OK, I know how it is with family. I am hoping to have my Focus compete and ready for this season. I may have to do a lot of traveling, though.

Tim

Brand preference can blind people from some really good quality up and comers in the industry.

But you would have to go BACK in the day for the best stuff... They just don't make it like they used to... See Orion HCCA gear or the old PPI stuff.

I have been in the industry for YEARS now and I have learned not to brand trap myself.

Though the companies mentioned here such as diamond, and focal are excellent don't sell yourself short and take a look at Ampire and stuff like that.

My new system this summer will be composed of a TON of the new Dimension stuff. Their new designs are impressive. Also Orion is starting to tread back to the HCCA days as well.

Eclipse always has made good gear.

Morel is fugging OUTSTANDING and I am surprised they weren't mentioned along with Diamond, Focal, and Rainbow.

I guess the point I am trying to make is if you are going to build a system, build it for YOU because you have to listen to it EVERYDAY. So design, installation and planning is a huge part. If you don't have access to the knowledge needed to accomplish this kind of stuff, then take it to a professional that does. You won't be sorry.

Music without focus and purpose is just noise

I am having a custom enclosure being built for my 2000 Continental for 1 15" RE Sx sub. i will have pics as time goes on i havent decided what amp i want for it but i am leaning towards Memphis right now. Those JL 12's u saw earlier in this thread i have them now on a memphis PR.500.1 and man its slams the hell out of them even harder than that PR300.2 get this the JL's both have a blown voice coil so i am running 2 dual 4ohm subs with 1 blown VC now single 4ohms parallel into a 1 channel Mono amp. They steel slam my trunk even more they have more room to travel in my Continentals trunk. Oh yeah and i changed my factory alpine radio to a Pioneer 6800

Well I have been competing in car audio since the beginning. 88 CAN almost 20 years. I have heard a lot of different brands but I still prefer JL. But also like Focal. In car audio the major thing is install you can have the best equipment money can buy and with a bad install it will sound like crap. then again a fantastic install can make even crappy equipment sound good. with exceptions. There is other products out there that sound good but I have my preferences.

Tim

I just put a JL W7 12" subwoofer and 1000watt amp in my Mark. It sounds like 2 15" woofers!!! JL IS the sh!t.

Anubody see JL's new stuff that they release at CES this year... its pimp!

why did this thread die, don't people like music anymore?

I have to agree that JL is the :q:q:q:q. I have 2 10w6 and a jl 500/1 and it hits hard.

I use to love jl's also. Untill I got ahold of a diamond mac daddy. Had a way better frequncy range, more excursion, and took a hell of alot more abuse.

I use to love jl's also. Untill I got ahold of a diamond mac daddy. Had a way better frequncy range, more excursion, and took a hell of alot more abuse.

Can they take 5000 watts of 20hz pink noise for several hours, and live?

Tim

It is all in the box design and install. I've heard cheap Walmart speakers sound better than some hi quality ones due to bad box designing and building.

If I were to make a list I would go with JL Audio, FI Audio, SI and Soundsplinter to name a few but I am an sq/sql guy myself. I used to compete in db drag but I like to hear the music now-a-days.

Just won two 12" w3s on ebay for 120.00. yippeeee. upgrade. here is a pic of all jl audio, mb quart, and focal. This guy is in my club and has not been beat in Sound Quality since his new setup.

1st pic is most recent with 10 more SETS of high and midrange speakers. and suicide doors

Go ahead countem. In the first pic you will see he added two more on each side, underneath the side rails. And yes that is another one in the front bumber. a set in each door (4), (10) under the side steps, (1) in the bumper (2) buy the subs (2) more when you open the back doors on the enclosure (2) in the back by the amps, just installed. (8) w7s




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OK, heres how I see it. I had 2 4year old 12w3v2's and powering with 2 JL 500/1. On my hand held meter my best was 129.2dB. Friend of mine has 2 15" mephis audio with the same amount of power. hit 126~128. but you can hear him much further away than me. after looking at all the specs, here is what conclusion I come up with. JL has always been my favorite brand but its not the size of the speaker that make SPL and dB's its air space. Look at the max excursion rate's. Eclipse has alot more than JL. The max excursion rate is going to give you more air volume moved which will equal more sound presure levels.

Two words: Toxik Audio :D

I myself have always preferred the old school kicker subs, anyways...

I currently have a pair of bazooka 10's that are in the properly designed encloser & they rock pretty good, They are plenty of bass for me.

ANY sub can be made to sound great if in the proper encloser, made out of the proper materials & supplied with the proper power.

I remember back in the day... around 1994 or so, A friend of mine bought a pair of 8" JL audio subs that he made some crazy 32 piece compression box for & they hit every bit as hard as his MTX 12" subs. Once again, it's all about the correct total set-up. JL seems to be a favorite for most people on this board however I believe that you can get something just as good sounding for much less. You could go to wal-mart and pick up (4) 12" pioneers and a couple of the pioneer 760 amps, if the correct enclouser was fabbed up they would sound really good. A bunch of $$$ left in your pocket too!:p

I have a pair of the old Kicker solobaric s10d's (round, SQ subs). My favorite sub is a 12" Eclipse SW8122 DVC I have. Very loud and very clean. It was made for eclipse by TC sound (now audiopulse), and is the exact same as their epic line. If I ever need to buy another sub, I will get it from TC sound.

i, personally, think that the jbl gti series 12's hit harder and sound better than the jl w7 13.5's in the right enclosure.

i had to of them in my old mark vii and blew the doors off of all of my friends kicker and jl systems.

The problem with JL, is that their speakers are the same ones you could buy 10 years ago. They still use foam and everyone that has ever had a JL knows that the foam rips and falls apart. I had 3 10 w6's powered by a 0.3 from phoniex gold( when they actually made good stuff). But as of right now you can't beat the Alpine type X subs. Orion has started putting out some nice stuff as well. And as for Kicker, don't even waste your money. Boston Acoustics makes really nice interiors but their subs lack behind. Memphis is not the same as they were 5 years ago or their amps. And as for rockford and diamond audio, Once they got bought out they started making cheap stuff and hoping the name would carry them. Check out Alpines type X if you ever get the chance.

I have JLs that are 14 years old and no problems with the foam or anything else.

Tim

Diamond Audio subs are really good. everyone who hears my system always compliments my subs! check em out you wont be disapointed!

I agree with Joey, been running my Diamond Audio M6 12" for three years and never had a single complaint. Custom built box, tuned for the Mark VIII. Nobody ever believes I have just a single 12". Pushing it with a Memphis 500 watt Monoblock. Takes everything I throw at it and then some, I listen to a little bit of everything.

Realize also, that it depends on what the sub is built for, Rockford Fosgate builds their subwoofers for SPL (sound pressure level) rather than focusing on SQ (sound quality). Each manufacturer designs their speakers for different things.

With the proper enclosure and power, it's hard to beat a Rockford Fosgate when you're looking for SPL, but put that same setup up against a JL system tuned for SQ and the JL system will blow the distorted RF system out of the water in an SQ test. It all depends on what you want and how well you design your system.

There are many opinions here on the forum, as well as some good advice. My advice is find a reputable car audio shop in your area and consult with them. Stay away from the big chains like circuit city and best buy, they'll sell you anything, but if you find a good audio shop, they'll sell you what's right for you.

One of the nicest sounding SQ cars I have ever sat in was George Saltzman's Corvette with Punch Subs.

While there are SPL only subs, Like the Kicker Solox series, and there are SQ only subwoofers like the Focal KX series ( just what I have ), truth of the matter is that you can make virtually any subwoofer sound good in the right enclosure.

I have heard a low-buck sq competitor with Wal-mart Roadmaster dual cone mids and funky pup subs, and it sounded better than some of the "high dollar equipment, low dollar install" cars out there. He just wanted to see if it could be done.

Honestly, JL Audio is good solid equipment. They are not using the same old technology, if you were to look at the W7 and W6 series. They are amazing subwoofers for overall performance. Unless you plan on running 2000w or more into one subwoofer, then the W7 series 13" sub will do you justice.

There are many opinions here on the forum, as well as some good advice. My advice is find a reputable car audio shop in your area and consult with them. Stay away from the big chains like circuit city and best buy, they'll sell you anything, but if you find a good audio shop, they'll sell you what's right for you.

This is very good advice! The only thing that I would add to it is not to base your system on the subwoofer. Base it on the components first, then the power, then at the very least, the subwoofer.

Only in Rap music is the subwoofer the main speaker...in all other genre's it is only for low frequency fill.

my .03c worth.

.02 cents Plus 1 penny for inflation

--Joe