I just got my brand new 13W7 and I thought I'd throw out a review for people who are interested. First, I'll give you the specs. Its in a 3.5 cubic feet PORTED box (with displacment) and is tuned to 35hz, with a JL 1000/1 amp running to it. I drive an audi A4 and the sub is back firing towards the trunk. First, let me tell you, I had never heard a 13W7 before. The closest I have heard was a 12W7 with a 1000/1 amp to it in a sealed box, and it pounded. But I dont think I was ready for what I got when I heard it. Me and my friend, who has a kicker 15" L7 in a 6 cubic feet sealed box, were rolling up to the car garage where my car was being worked on to go pick it up. And no joke, with in about 20 yards of the car garage you COULD NOT HEAR my friends kicker anymore. Keeping in mind we did have all the windows rolled down, but the deepness of the 13W7 was insane. Then we stepped into the garage, and maybe it was the auscoustics in there but OH MY ****. This thing hammered harder than my other friends friends 15XXX with a jb 1200.1. And the initial sound quality of the sub was amazing. From before we even got in the garage I could tell the exact Linkin Park song that the guy was testing just from the bass notes, it was THAT clean. Then I put my head inside the car.....BOOM. Loud as he11, it met all of my expectations that I had for the SPL of the sub, and I expected it to be fairly loud because of the small car and the ported box. After leaving the shop and driving it around for a while the first day I could not have been happier. When I stop behind a car at a traffic light I can see THEIR mirrors shaking from my car (and no, I am not someone who jsut goes around balsting everywhere for the world to hear, I was just doin it my frist day, afterall, if you got this sub...wouldnt you?!? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif ) So in conclusion about the SPL of this bad boy, it is loud, very very loud, and I highly recomend porting this sub so that it can be used to its full potential.
Now to pick apart the sound quality of this sub. First off, the Sound Quality is very good, the best I have ever heard, so anything I am about to say is minimal and does not have a huge impact on the overall sound of the sub. Oh, and I have an alpine 9815 head unit...so that helps with the sound quality I highly recomend this head unit. Anyway, the only real complaint I have (and this will be taken care of next week) is that the sub causes major rattling, and I mean major. Esp. witht he sub puching out all of the extra air in the ported box. Inside of the car it does nto sound too terribly bad because of the loudness of the bass, but outside of the car its a different story, the rattling is almsot as loud as the bass the sub is producing. So if you invest in the sub, you will have to invest in a lot of dynamat as well. On certain notes inside of the car the rattling is bad too, but this has nothing to do with the sound of the actual sub. This sub sounds very very sharp, even in a big ported box. It does not hit the highs or mid-bass notes very well (Ex: In the song by the big tymers "still fly" the sub does not hit the first round of high bass notes in the repeating sequence hardly at all). Also, the notes that the sub are hitting can be hard to distinguish between in songs with strong reverberating bass notes like Three 6 Mafia songs. However, it hits all of the low notes very hard very clean and very loud. And thats what a sub is supposed to do, am I right? My friends 12W7 did not quite hit the low notes as hard as this thing, so I recomend coughing over the extra $100 and bumping it up to the 13W7 (which is actual 14.25 inches wide).
In conlusion, this sub sounds great and is loud ad hell. I spent a lot for it, I know. But IMO it does not get better than this sub in sound quality, and in SPL I cannot see why the daily driver who just wants good bass in their car would want any louder than this, because it POUNDS! I could not be any happier with the sub and I highly recomend it for anyone who has the money, because price aside, I dont think their are too many people who can deny that this sub is up their for the best sub ever made. So that is my lengthy reivew of this sub in a ported box, sorry it was long but let me know your thoughts on this! (Hopefully I will pics and video soon...)
