JL 10W7 sub...

[triggah]

Hey, what's up guys...

I am new to this board and I am basically a newbie at this whole car audio world...

Anyways... I just bought a 2003 Accord coupe and I wanted to set up a sound system...

I went to three high end store here in Toronto and everyone kept biggin up the JL10W7 sub... Being new and straight up confused in this whole car audio thing I went along with what these sales guys were pitching at me...

So I bought 1 JL10W7 sub in the box and a JL 500.1 amp..., now my system is presently stock factory (speakers and deck) but I know what I like when I listen to music and I am somewhat not impressed with the 10W7...

Don't get me wrong the thing is a beast and pumps some crazy ass bass, but I can't say much about the quality of the bass... It doesn't hit every note, It just doesn't punch too well and doesn't sound too good... I get a lot of air but the bass quality seems a little distorted and not up to par to what I was expecting. Plus it is definitely not loud at all, I want to be able to hear this thing coming down the street and not only by standing a few feet away from it.

When monday comes along I'm going to talk to the sales guy and see what are my other options.

But in the meantime can you guys recommend me on what I should get... Remember what I am looking for most importantly is QUALITY, a sub or two that can hit EVERY NOTE crisply and that can be heard from a distance. Money is not really a big issue but Im not also trying apply for bankruptcy in the near future... So please give all your opinions...

Thanks ahead of time...

PEACE

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[nln327 10+ year member]

i hope u install was done by a well know shop. you gotta remember 10% equipment...90% install. did you see any of the work that the shop u bought it did??

there are a lot of creative ways to install a 10w7....and i know for a fact they are some excellent subs. In fact i almost went with 13w7's for my car.

You should check on how your box was designed....it makes a big difference.

I put some Eclipse Ti 12's in my car.....and they hit hard!!!!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif

 

[triggah]

I know, I believed all the hype, and I'm not dissing this sub at all, just that I don't think it's the one for me...

For example, I played the Dead Prez track "Hip Hop"... and the sub was NOT hitting all the notes at all. When I listened to it on my friend's 2 12" Cerwin Vega Vega's, it sounded sweet...

The shop I got it done is one of the best in Toronto, so I don't know if it was the install, but I am definitely going there on monday to get an explanation...

My second biggest beef was the fact that you can't hear the sub pumping from far at all, maybe it's cuz of the fact that it's only a 10 and not a 12, but it's just that I was expecting much more from a W series... For example I can hear my friend's system coming from a good two hundred feet, mine is not loud at all...

 

[Corsica 5,000+ posts]

Dude try a bigger amp!!!!!!!!!!1 That 500/1 won';t do **** to that sub!!!! Try a 1000/1 or a crossfire 2000d!!!!! Also check ur gains and eqalizer settings!!!!

J

 

[triggah]

Originally posted by Jmac Yeah, I would seriously go get an explanation from the shop ... W7s sound ****ing awesome when done right ...

 

As for output, you've only got one 10" sub with 600 watts on it in a sealed box with a fairly inefficient sub ... I wouldn't expect output to be astounding with that setup, even if done right ...

Oh I will, I didn't just spend 2GS canadian to get something I am not happy with...

I could feel that the W7 sounds awesome, driving back last night listening to some tracks i felt like I was strapped to the electric chair, but on 75% of my tunes, the bass just did not sound right, either way too much humming, or non-crisp punches, and sometimes just too much sound and not enough quality bass...

So for output I guess this is as much as I can expect? I figured that much, it's only 1 10", but it's too bad cuz I really wanted to have a system that can annoy the cars next to me and then some...

 

[MikeofTulsa Moderator]

in my personal opinion the w7 is higly over rated....it does have trouble reproducing some of the upper bass. freq.'s....so thats probably the problem ur having....then to top it off they are power hunger beast's

 

[saltyjesus 10+ year member]

Originally posted by Goddyd4me in my personal opinion the w7 is higly over rated....it does have trouble reproducing some of the upper bass. freq.'s....so thats probably the problem ur having....then to top it off they are power hunger beast's

word

plus they definately arent cheap... so many better subs

DONT SELL OUT

im sure most of us can name at lest ten other subs in the w7 class that are cheaper and better in so many regards...

but thats just me and a few others it seems. all the car audio mags have jls //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif shoved so far down their throught they dont know what they are doing. it seems 90 percent of installs i see feature jl....

sigh...

make that a SIGH....

 

[kmu 10+ year member]

The power you are giving that sub is all right... in fact that amp is just perfect for it... I've heard 2 10W7 powered by a JL1000.1 in a Camry and it sounded awsome... The only problem with that sub is that you need great mid bass from your components...

There are 3 problems that you can have.

1- You are using a factory H/U

2- The box is not right ( please give us box measurements)

3- Amp not tuned right (check out JL's homepage, it says exactly how to set up that same amp to the 10W7, if you set it up the way they say, and have the right box, you wil be rocking...)

just an idea...

 

[triggah]

Originally posted by kmu The power you are giving that sub is all right... in fact that amp is just perfect for it... I've heard 2 10W7 powered by a JL1000.1 in a Camry and it sounded awsome... The only problem with that sub is that you need great mid bass from your components...

 

There are 3 problems that you can have.

 

1- You are using a factory H/U

2- The box is not right ( please give us box measurements)

3- Amp not tuned right (check out JL's homepage, it says exactly how to set up that same amp to the 10W7, if you set it up the way they say, and have the right box, you wil be rocking...)

 

just an idea...

The 500.1 JL amp is exacly what I was recommended, it is optimal for the 10W7,

1- Yes I am using a factory H/U, please explain to me how that would interfere? (remember I don't know **** so dont mind my stupid questions). I just bought the 2003 Accord coupe and ****ing Honda built the H/U in a ****ed up design, the temperature controls are incorporated with the H/U, so as of right now because there are no kits available the H/U is the only way for me to go...

2- I the box is perfect, once again I don't know ****, but the box I got is directly made from JL especially for the 10W7 (or so I was told) I went on JL's website and it is the same box, it's actually quite a wide box for a 10, there was a smaller box, but I was told to go with the larger one... So I went along...

3- That's also a possibility, and I am actually gonna go do that right now, I let the audio store installer program it himself, so I ASSUMED he did a good job, but who knows right?

Thanks...

 

[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

It sounds to me like your biggest problem is the box the driver is in...

The W7 series are some of the MOST finicky drivers out there as far as box sizes go....

The 10W7 wants 1.25 cu. ft. AFTER displacement...

so basically, make it 1.35 cubes BEFORE the drivers displacement...

that amp is perfect for the sub..

Sonically, I'm not sure that there is a better driver out there.. (when its in the right enclosure)... However, dollar for dollar, there are better.... but price aside, its **** near the best (IMO....)

Rebuild the box before you get rid of it....

Also, http://www.jlaudio.com/enclosures/HO110R.html is that the box you have?

Measure your box... outer dimensions - JL recommends WxHxD of 15.5"x11.5"x18.25"

I'm sure once you get everything worked out, you will love the sub...

and Mike, its not made to play upper bass frequencies... its a SUBwoofer... decent midbasses should make this thing a complete package.... (and yes, decent midbasses are recommended for ANY subwoofer to sound proper.....)

Just my .02

 

[willis72 10+ year member]

im from tdot too. man, a 10w7 should hit mad hard still even though its only a 10. Youre sayin that want quality but you want to disturb dem cars beside you.

ok, the lows is what goes far, its them kind of notes that u hear in richmond hill when youre on yonge st. If it goes far it means its low, not louder. Youre sayin that the 10w7 is loud in the car but not outside, thats because its a 10 only. from what ur sayin, I recommend gettin some 12s. If you can afford it, get some 12w7s in a slot ported box but u would need another 500.1 amp. Ported is always lower and ur friend runnin vegas is porbably runnin ported. The other thing is you cant expect to be runnin a wicked system off a stock h/u and speakers and stock alternator. The most i would say you could run without upgrading electrical system is 1000 watts rms, which is alot but the install needs to done right (the right enclosure for the vehicle, the right port tuning). Also face the subs backwards and use alot of dynamat. Also think about getting a power cap, it always tightens up the bass and helps hitting lows.

dont let the sales guy talk you into sealed enclosures. Its true they can give better quality sometimes but if ported boxes are done right, they give you quality but more volume (3db louder). Most of the time they dont want to sell you a ported because its more work for them.

If you cant afford 2 JLs, get some brahma's, eclipse's, idmax, shivas, kickers, or JBL gti, They are all good brands. If you dont want to change amps, the easiest thing to do is to exchange the 10w7 for a 12w7.

 

[willis72 10+ year member]

Originally posted by Jmac Kind of agree with you except on this portion ...

 

1) A ported box is not always louder. A ported box will only be louder in the low-end if tuned low.

 

2) I don't think you can have a wicked system with stock head unit and stock speakers ... that's what you call a ghetto system (All money spent on subs and amps) ...

 

3) Power caps do not tighten bass nor do they help hitting lows. They stiffen voltage and they only stiffen voltage if the alternator can handle them in addition to the amp. And they only stiffen voltage if they're good capacitors, not the $200 pieces of crap you find in A&B Sound ...

 

4) Sealed boxes do have better sound quality. It's been proven time and time again ... Go to an SQ competition and ask them if they're using ported ... then watch them laugh in your face ...

 

5) They would probably rather sell you a ported box because they can overcharge you more for labour ...

 

Other than that, I agree for the most part ...

no doubt the ported box has to be built properly for it to sound good, sealed boxes have to be built good to sound too. but ported is louder, proven.

even though money spent is spent on only the bass, the sound coming out of a 2003 honda isnt going to be that bad. I agree, its still ghetto but a good start.

i agree caps only work if the voltage is being supplied by the car's electrical system but the end result is extra power for a split second for the sub to be able to respond to the change in notes or lows and the easiest way to explain that to someone that doesnt know anything about car audio is that it will help achieving better sound ie hitting lows

oh and there is only 4 main power cap manufacturers in the world and companies relabel them with their logo. Most of them will do the same job. You hook up a cheap lightning audio cap and right away you hear the difference.

I never said ported had better sq or that they used ported in sq comp but for someone that listens to hiphop, sound quality is something different. The sq you want when you listen to hiphop, you can get with ported and the volume makes it worth it. Ive messed with systems for a while and sealed boxes only do it for you for a while until you get sick of the "quality" sound and want what you really wanted in the first place, bass.

 

[willis72 10+ year member]

jmac, what are you running?

 

[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

Willis, if you look back at trigah's orignial post, he is not complaining about how hard the subs hit...

he is wanting to get BETTER SQ out of, more definition etc...

im telling you, it sounds like a box problem....

plus, with out lower midbass support, no sub will sound great... only good...

stick with the sub and amp that you ahve, they are some of teh best out there... HU upgrade would be a good idea, but if its not feasible right now, wait..

but the best thing you could do to help out your sub (aside from changing the box to the one i recommended) would be to help it out with some good mids inside the car... it will pull the bass together, and make it sound tighter. Garunteed.....

Check all connections, phasing, etc as well....

 

[willis72 10+ year member]

i agree a 10w7 should hit hard sealed but Triggah wants people to hear him from down the street and mess up the cars beside him. Youre telling me a single sub sealed is going to do that?

Dont you think at least some 12s are needed? and if youre only running a single sub, i would definately port it.

definately more mid bass is needed too.