JL 12w3v3 replacement help

[malibuboats91 10+ year member]

I have a JL 12w3v3-4 subwoofer powered by a mtx x500d amplifier. I was at a local pawn shop today and saw a JL 12" w6 for $200. The sub looked brand new and didn't appear to have anything wrong with it. Would it be a good upgrade for me to buy that?Would my amp still power that okay? I looked on JL's website and it looked like my amp was in the recommended rms zone. If you think it's worth it, what do I check over to make sure I don't get ripped off on it? I think the store has a 30 day return policy. I have never bought used audio equipment so I figured I would ask experts before I decide to buy it. Any ideas??

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[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

W6 or W6v2? The two are quite different. If it's an original, it's overpriced considering that it would be coming up on 10 years old. If the latter, it would be a significant upgrade in sound quality and be about the same in output level. If the amp can run a 2 ohm mono load, it would work fine with the W6v2.

 

[malibuboats91 10+ year member]

It is a 12W6V2. How would I make my amp play at a 2 ohm load? Its a 2 channel amp but you can select L, SUM, or R with a switch. I'm going to try to get the speaker for $150.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

It is a 12W6V2. How would I make my amp play at a 2 ohm load? Its a 2 channel amp but you can select L, SUM, or R with a switch. I'm going to try to get the speaker for $150.

Ohms is a measure of resistance. In very general terms, its a measurement of how much resistance the speaker places on the amplifier. So the answer to your question is, you make your amp play at 2ohms by hooking up a speaker, or combination of speakers, that presents a 2ohm load to the amplifier. In other words, the speakers dictate the ohm load the amp sees. The 12W6v2 is a dual 4ohm sub (two voice coils, each being 4ohms), so wiring its coils in parallel will give you the 2ohm load you are looking for.

In short, your amp looks to be a pretty good match for the w6v2.

 

[malibuboats91 10+ year member]

Sounds good. Right now my w3 is connected to one channel and I have the selector on L which is the channel used. The only thing I see is the positive on my amp goes to the negative on the sub and negative on the amp goes to the positive on the sub. I'm not sure why but that's what my local car audio store did. Would I go from one channel + on amp to + on sub then - on amp to - on sub? Also what would be some key things to check on the sub to make sure its in good working condition? I don't know much about buying used stuff because I typically buy all new but this is such a good deal I cannot pass it up.

 

[rtiid22 10+ year member]

Go Here.

 

[malibuboats91 10+ year member]

I bought the subwoofer but am still confused about the hook up. Looking at the sub behind the positive there is a VC1- and a VC1+ pin then behind the negative there is a VC2- and VC2+ connection. From what I found out I would run a wire from the VC1- to the VC2- and a wire from the VC1+ to the VC2+ to make it 2 ohm. Is this correct? Then as indicated above they said run it in parallel, so would I just run a wire from one channel on my amp to the positive and negative on the sub? Sorry for all my questions.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

I bought the subwoofer but am still confused about the hook up. Looking at the sub behind the positive there is a VC1- and a VC1+ pin then behind the negative there is a VC2- and VC2+ connection. From what I found out I would run a wire from the VC1- to the VC2- and a wire from the VC1+ to the VC2+ to make it 2 ohm. Is this correct? Then as indicated above they said run it in parallel, so would I just run a wire from one channel on my amp to the positive and negative on the sub? Sorry for all my questions.

This will explain everything you need to know to hook up your new speaker in parallel: Series Parallel Speaker Impedance

 

[malibuboats91 10+ year member]

I bought the subwoofer but am still confused about the hook up. Looking at the sub behind the positive there is a VC1- and a VC1+ pin then behind the negative there is a VC2- and VC2+ connection. From what I found out I would run a wire from the VC1- to the VC2- and a wire from the VC1+ to the VC2+ to make it 2 ohm. Is this correct? Then as indicated above they said run it in parallel, so would I just run a wire from one channel on my amp to the positive and negative on the sub? Sorry for all my questions.

So do I want my speaker hooked up being a 2, 4 or 8 ohm load? It says doing the 2 ohm load damages most amplifiers and I don't want to damage mine. Right now I have the of the sub a wire going from VC1+ to VC2+ and one going from VC1- to VC2- I believe this is a 2 ohm load. Then I have + on the amp to + on sub and - on amp to - on sub. It sounds good but I don't know if its correctly set up.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

So do I want my speaker hooked up being a 2, 4 or 8 ohm load? It says doing the 2 ohm load damages most amplifiers and I don't want to damage mine. Right now I have the of the sub a wire going from VC1+ to VC2+ and one going from VC1- to VC2- I believe this is a 2 ohm load. Then I have + on the amp to + on sub and - on amp to - on sub. It sounds good but I don't know if its correctly set up.

It wont damage your amp, the amp is designed to run at 2 or 4 ohms, and in fact will only achieve maximum output potential when wired up to 2ohms. You can see your amp specs here: MTX X500D - Monoblock Car Amplifier, Power Amp - Sonic Electronix

 

[malibuboats91 10+ year member]

Thanks for the help! I went out and it looks like everything I did was correct. Now on my amp I did the tuning where you get a 50hz test tone and played my deck at volume 30 then did the equation to find the voltage my mutimeter should display. Correct me if I did this wrong. My amp is 500 watts rms and my sub is 2 ohm so I took the square root of 500*2 which equals 31.62. I tuned my sub untill that showed up and my gain is only 1/4 or the way up where with my W3 it was 2/3 the way up. I had to of done something wrong in my calculations. Any ideas?

 

[malibuboats91 10+ year member]

Thanks for the help! I went out and it looks like everything I did was correct. Now on my amp I did the tuning where you get a 50hz test tone and played my deck at volume 30 then did the equation to find the voltage my mutimeter should display. Correct me if I did this wrong. My amp is 500 watts rms and my sub is 2 ohm so I took the square root of 500*2 which equals 31.62. I tuned my sub untill that showed up and my gain is only 1/4 or the way up where with my W3 it was 2/3 the way up. I had to of done something wrong in my calculations. Any ideas?

Anyone???

I went out and was looking at everything and it indeed is set up specifically how it is supposed to be. When tuning it I had the deck at volume 30 (out of 35) the subwoofer level was at 15 (all the way up) and my bass was at +3 (out of 6 or 7). When I get it up o the 31.6 volts its about 1/3 of the way up and I cannot even tell that there is a sub in my car when sitting in the drivers seat.