JL Audio 13W7-D-1.5

[§treet_§peed 10+ year member]

I was also actually debating on getting 2 12w6's before I starting reading about the 13w7.

 

[Techmaster05 10+ year member]

2 12w6's will be louder and will sound better than 1 13w7. If you want something that hits crazy hard and yet still sounds good for half the price, Get an Fi Audio BTL. The btls come in 12, 15, and 18. I heard the 18 in person at half power and wow, it blew my 1 w6 out of the water, and the quality was great imo. However the btls put out a lot of power, so your going to need some batteries and a nice powerful amp. The 12" BTL does 2000 watts rms, Ive heard people running 4000 watts to the btls daily. very powerful but dunno if you would actually want to do that. I saw a pic of a guy getting 146.10 DB using one 18.

 

[Suicide Bobb 5,000+ posts]

But ya i agree, it's overpriced. But hey you get what you pay for, right?

What you said is totally contradictory. If you get what you paid for, then it's not overpriced. With JL, you get about 75% of what you pay for.

 

[Suicide Bobb 5,000+ posts]

I haven't seen JL hated to much around here, but you have been around longer than me. I do agree the subs are overpriced for the output that you get, but its because JL does extensive research to find really good parts and they actually have patents as well on some of their designs. They shouldn't be hated on though because JL is a good brand, they make really nice quality subs, just to expensive.

Looks like you didn't do your research //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I met up with a ex-JL employee who is still a fan (he quit, not fired). This guy knows more than anyone I have ever known when it comes to car audio. He is currently working for TC Sounds.

To my point...he told me that JL uses cheap Chinese parts to build their subs. This was more apparent in their previous lines, but is still prevalent in their current products. They are assembled well though, and some of the parts are half decent quality. It's their marketing that might make you think otherwise //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Just so you know, this is the same guy who redesigned the JL CleanSweep to work in BMW's and other European cars that have 3-way front stages (the original CleanSweep only worked with 2-ways). Maybe someone on this site knows Joshua Kelley...I know that he does occasionally browse this site.

 

[Suicide Bobb 5,000+ posts]

2 12w6's will be louder and will sound better than 1 13w7. If you want something that hits crazy hard and yet still sounds good for half the price, Get an Fi Audio BTL. The btls come in 12, 15, and 18. I heard the 18 in person at half power and wow, it blew my 1 w6 out of the water, and the quality was great imo. However the btls put out a lot of power, so your going to need some batteries and a nice powerful amp. The 12" BTL does 2000 watts rms, Ive heard people running 4000 watts to the btls daily. very powerful but dunno if you would actually want to do that. I saw a pic of a guy getting 146.10 DB using one 18.

For him, a Q would be a better choice (and more comparable to a W7). The Q12 probably costs half as much as a 12W7 and will do better as far as SQ goes and probably come close to it in output. If I were in his shoes, I would get a fully loaded FI Q 18".

 

[Techmaster05 10+ year member]

For him, a Q would be a better choice (and more comparable to a W7). The Q12 probably costs half as much as a 12W7 and will do better as far as SQ goes and probably come close to it in output. If I were in his shoes, I would get a fully loaded FI Q 18".

Yea the Q series is very nice as well, not as powerful as the BTL, but its the "right" power sub, if that makes sense. I didn't do a crap load of research, but I have been told they use good parts, and even have some of their designs patented. However, its different from reading something online than actually getting the truth from someone who worked their. Thats something you can't research. If what that guy told is true, than I don't understand why JL has to be so dumb as to overprice their subs. the 12w6 on the JL site is $540, I would NEVER pay that amount for the w6. I paid $300 for mine, brand new. Thats an ok deal but still...

 

[Imtjnotu 5,000+ posts]

I haven't seen JL hated to much around here, but you have been around longer than me. I do agree the subs are overpriced for the output that you get, but its because JL does extensive research to find really good parts and they actually have patents as well on some of their designs. They shouldn't be hated on though because JL is a good brand, they make really nice quality subs, just to expensive.

if u were here 2 years ago u would have seen it going on everyday...especially because of this guy that ran like 10" w6's with one 13w6 at the same time because he said waves are in 3d and it makes for a better bass response

 

[Imtjnotu 5,000+ posts]

2 12w6's will be louder and will sound better than 1 13w7. If you want something that hits crazy hard and yet still sounds good for half the price, Get an Fi Audio BTL. The btls come in 12, 15, and 18. I heard the 18 in person at half power and wow, it blew my 1 w6 out of the water, and the quality was great imo. However the btls put out a lot of power, so your going to need some batteries and a nice powerful amp. The 12" BTL does 2000 watts rms, Ive heard people running 4000 watts to the btls daily. very powerful but dunno if you would actually want to do that. I saw a pic of a guy getting 146.10 DB using one 18.

im going to have to disagree with getting a BTL.....if ur not going for spl or just stupid loud then go with either a Q or even a BL would be a better choice heck get 2 SSD's for the price of the W7....

but the the btl is for stupid loud and the dub 7 is for SQL....

 

[Suicide Bobb 5,000+ posts]

if u were here 2 years ago u would have seen it going on everyday...especially because of this guy that ran like 10" w6's with one 13w6 at the same time because he said waves are in 3d and it makes for a better bass response

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rotflol.gif.b453361716769b8110ddefc85ff03cd2.gif

 

[Suicide Bobb 5,000+ posts]

im going to have to disagree with getting a BTL.....if ur not going for spl or just stupid loud then go with either a Q or even a BL would be a better choice heck get 2 SSD's for the price of the W7....
but the the btl is for stupid loud and the dub 7 is for SQL....

I already told him this, he seems to really have his mind set on that BTL...

 

[Cruzer 10+ year member]

i agree that jl is overpriced, and ill never own it, but i have a question.

i have owned a dc lvl 3, it got loud and sounded decent(nothing impressive SQ wise)

i know the dc lvl 5 wont sound bad, but will the jl have better sq over the dc lvl 5?

a friend has a 12w7 and the sq is nothing special, so i would say u wouldnt notice a difference, just wondered on everyone's opinion

 

[Techmaster05 10+ year member]

i agree that jl is overpriced, and ill never own it, but i have a question.
i have owned a dc lvl 3, it got loud and sounded decent(nothing impressive SQ wise)

i know the dc lvl 5 wont sound bad, but will the jl have better sq over the dc lvl 5?

a friend has a 12w7 and the sq is nothing special, so i would say u wouldnt notice a difference, just wondered on everyone's opinion

I'm not sure, but when you get a JL, everything has to be perfect. The box has to be just right, and so does everything else. Thats what I hear anyways.

 

[§treet_§peed 10+ year member]

I've heard that same thing before myself. I want to be loud and it to carry, but I would like it to sound good at the same time. I think that's gonna be the hard part lol.

 

[§treet_§peed 10+ year member]

Well for me, I'd like it to be loud and carry good. But be clean at the same time. I hate distorted music more than just about anything. But thanks for the input guys. Keep it coming lol.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Most of the people that don't like the sound of the W7 series subs don't realize that its the lack of distortion that they don't like about it. It doesn't sound as loud as it is because of the lack of distortion. How a sub "sounds" is a subjective quality. Accuracy is an objective measure. The W7 is accurate to a fault.

To whoever was talking about parts quality, the lower series subs have been built from Chinese parts for some time but the quality has always been good and the designs are all proprietary. The engineering is done in house and the manufacturing outsourced. Almost all companies outsource manufacturing since US workers have gotten unrealistic about their self worth.