Not super happy with JL 12w3.. Looking for another 12

[ThunderOne]

Hey all,
Currently I'm running a JL 12W3 and I'm not super happy with it. It's pretty good, but I feel like I could have something better.

I plan on sellin the sub and box but keeping the amp.

The amp I have is an Alpine digital 400 watt amp.

Any suggestions on a good 12" sub that can handle around 350 RMS? I was thinking of Memphis perhaps.

Thanks for your help!

[sjv13]

Hey all,
Currently I'm running a JL 12W3 and I'm not super happy with it. It's pretty good, but I feel like I could have something better.

I plan on sellin the sub and box but keeping the amp.

The amp I have is an Alpine digital 400 watt amp.

Any suggestions on a good 12" sub that can put out 250-350 RMS? I was thinking of Memphis perhaps.

Thanks for your help!

Subs dont "put out" a certain RMS number, they "can take" a certain number though. Amps are what "put out" watts, and then the sub receives the watts (energy) and converts the energy into sound by moving the cone of the subwoofer.

You may want to consider selling your amp and sub and getting something more powerful. JL and Alpine are big names and you can get better stuff for less money. You may notice my sig and see that I am running brand names, but that's only because I bought the stuff before I became knowledgeable. Good luck to ya!

[DDtC]

You already have one of the better lower power subs. Since you already paid for it keep it. I'm sure you have something set up wrong, box or settings.

[hispls]

Pics of the box?

[ThunderOne]

The box has 1.3 cu of airspace which is slightly large, but right now the sub is running maybe 180 watts if even and it still bottoms out if I push it.
I would like a sub that I can run 300 watts through all the time without it bottoming out. Now, while I do know my sub is good and the box is too big, the problem is that I am having trouble selling just the box. So selling the whole shebang will be easier to do. While I'm at it, I'm considering other brands but don't know what's good. I've been told Memphis is good. Sorry about my lack of a precise use of RMS, but that is what I would like to run it at, so the sub needs to handle 250-350 RMS. this one I believe is optimal at 250 RMS so I'd like my next sub to operate well with a little more power, closer to the higher range of output my amp can handle.

[ThunderOne]

I know the JL can handle 500 watts however that is very close to its maximum range.
On another note, my alpine amp has a gain control knob and when I turn it from say 0 to 1, the sub makes this odd grinding noise. Anyone know what that is? It doesn't do it when I turn the knob from 1-10. Only 0-1.

[ThunderOne]

What about this? It seems to like a smaller sealed enclosure and has a 750 watt RMS rating, which means it should have an optimum RMS of around 400 which is the max my amp can put out.
Image Dynamics IDQ12 V.3 D4 (IDQ12-V3D4) 12" Dual 4 ohm IDQ V.3 Sub

[jeffdachef]

to be honest, you can switch out that sealed for a ported box thats tuned to have a flat EQ so you'll have sound quality and loudness without your sub having to bottom out. Also are you sure its not distortion from a clipped signal? Your amp might not have enough juice to push it, if i were you, i'd get an amp with more than enough rms to power your w3 or any future sub you would want to upgrade to. Also GCON-12 Sound Solutions Audio 12" 750W GCON Series Subwoofer - SSA STORE
says 750 but can easily take almost double with clean power with the sound quality to boot.

[ThunderOne]

I'm not entirely sure what I'm hearing, I'm going to the local audio shop tomorrow to have them check it out.
As far as my amp, it seems to be powering the sub just fine. My gain setting on the sub is super low. If I try to push it towards 300 watts at 4ohms my sub starts to bottom out horribly bad, I'm assuming because the box is entirely too large.

The amp is an MRX-M50.

[RicksI30]

Something is wrong with your setup. You have a good sub and amp, so I would try to find the problem which is most likely the settings or enclosure.

[jeffdachef]

I'm not entirely sure what I'm hearing, I'm going to the local audio shop tomorrow to have them check it out.
As far as my amp, it seems to be powering the sub just fine. My gain setting on the sub is super low. If I try to push it towards 300 watts at 4ohms my sub starts to bottom out horribly bad, I'm assuming because the box is entirely too large.

The amp is an MRX-M50.

What are your lowpass settings set at? Do you notice it bottoming out on the low notes or the higher hertz midbass punch? If its bottoming out on the super low notes then you might need an amp with a subsonic filter or switch it up to a ported box with a good EQ. But if its bottoming out throughout the whole spectrum and its not loud enough for you than it might be....

My inner basshead tells me that if you dont wanna bother with any of that, than i guess you could just find a stronger subwoofer with recommended sealed box specs close to the box you currently have. The IDQ 12 v.3s have a recommended 0.65-1.00ft^3 sealed which is smaller than your box. The SSA Gcon 12" D4 has an optimal sealed box recommendation of 1.25-1.50ft^3 which your current box falls under. With either of these subs, you should be able to wire them down to 2 ohms to get more power out of your amp and they would laugh at the power and ask for more.

the JL W3 should fetch a nice price on craigslist so your not going to lose out too much money with the switch.

But try to work things out with your current setup first with the audio shop before spending any money.

[RicksI30]

your amp gain settings dont determine how much watts your pushing your sub with, what determines the power your feeding to your subs is how you wire your subs. The gain is mainly the audio signal. What are your lowpass and subsonic filter settings set at? phase shifts?

Yes it does...

[jeffdachef]

Yes it does...

yeah i forgot that it affects the efficiency of the amp also so it does affect it in some way and the most obvious, at 0 gain there's like no volume xD so i removed that part lol.

[ThunderOne]

After going to the audio shop, the guy told me two things. One, the noise that my sub makes (grinding/crackling noise) when I turn the rux-knob from 0 to 1 is a disconnected voice coil and that I should send it to JL for repairs. He also told me that something else must be wrong with the sub, because he said "JLs like being in big boxes" and that I should be able to crank the gain up a lot more than 40% (130ish watts) before it bottoms out. He thinks it shouldn't be bottoming out so easily. He also said he used to have two W3s.

So, send it back? I guess he may be right, because the box is really only .175 larger, would that much airspace make such a drastic difference? I guess I need to send it to at least get the voice coil fixed.

I was thinking about taking a circular saw to the box and cutting it down 2" on each side. But I need to find someone with a big enough saw. Haha

To answer y'all's questions:
The sub bottoms out the worst during very low kick drum style notes. The sub is also 4ohms so that's what I run it at on my amp since I only have the one sub. As far as settings, I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. The bass sounds good, but I can't crank it. My head unit has an internal amp, but that doesn't affect the sub, does it?

[RicksI30]

Measure the voice coils with a dmm.