Overall best subwoofer I've owned
Written: Sep 28 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound Quality: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
|
Pros: Massive excursion and output, underrated power handling, tons of low end output, great sound quality
Cons: Stamped steal basket, cheap spade lug terminals
The Bottom Line: JL Audio lives up to their reputation again. This sub simply delivers. Don't hesitate to buy.
|
|
|
| dipitydoo's Full Review: Jl Audio 15W3-D2 Car Subwoofer |
JL Audio has been providing innovative subwoofers since the 80's. Back in the early days of car audio, JL Audio's subwoofers dominated the sound off competition circuit for their renowned sound quality. Their W1 subs were the most popular at the competitions. When they introduced their W6 series subs, it set a new standard, as other companies tried to mimic the long excursion capabilities and the dual 6 ohm voice coil configuration. I've owned just about every subwoofer line that JL has every come up with. The newest offering (besides the upcoming W7's) are the W3 series. These subs offer even more improvements over the W6's. They are offered in 3 different voice coil configurations, all utilizing dual coils. The D2 model is dual 2 ohm, the D4 is dual 4 ohm, and the D6 is dual 6 ohm. I purchased a pair of the dual 4 ohm vc versions, since I wanted to wire them in series/parallel configuration for a 1 ohm load, since my amp puts out max power at that impedance.
This sub is big and heavy. Its magnet size is considerable, though I have know idea what it weighs (and this shouldn't really be important either), and mounting depth is considerable at just a tad over 8", so if you want to use one of these, make sure you have enough clearance. While I have loved JL Audio subs, one thing I don't like is their use of stamped steel baskets and cheap terminal clips. While this is acceptable for entry level subs, this one retails for $400, and I think JL should use them. While a cast basket doesn't really offer improvement in performance, it does allow for a bit easier way to mount the basket tighty to the box without airleaks, and it also improves the overal aesthetics. And those spade lugs for the input leads is really sad for a sub in this price range. They are prone to breaking. Other companies use binding post type terminals, some of them even on their low end models, and these make installs much easier and quicker. I know JL concentrates on performance over looks, but they are also using cheaper parts to save money. Anyway, this subs is capable of some severe excursion. In general, for sealed boxes, more excursion means more air moved, which translates to more output. JL rates the 15W3's xmax at 17.1mm, which is the highest I've seen on a 15" sub. While there are plenty of subs that boast huge excursion on their subs (like 2 or 3 inch 'peak-to-peak'), JL has always been either right on the money or very conservative with their specs, so I believe 17mm xmax is accurate. Power handling is rated at 400w rms (no 'peak' or 'max' power rating is given, yay). Again, JL has always been conservative with their power ratings, an these subs will take a lot more than that. Carsound magazine has tested this sub and found it to increase output beyond 1000w. The sub uses a 2.5" diameter voice coil, wound around a Kapton former. JL Audio uses an updated version of their VRC collar, which joins the spider, coil former, and the cone. It is supposed to increased excursion and thermal power handling. The cone is made of stiff poly, and upon pushing on it, it doesn't seem to flex easily, which is good. The surround material is a form of treated foam. JL has always used foam on all their subwoofer surrounds, stating better 'performance'. While this is questionable (and they admit to that), foam is generally less durable than rubber under extreme wheather conditions, especially in direct sunlight. I have had problems with JL surrounds in the past. My 10W6's have the surrounds discolored a bit, over time. My old 8W1's had their surrounds stiffen up looked like it was about to crack soon. And, one of my 15W6 surrounds cracked along all the outside edges. During one winter, extreme cold whether apparently froze them up good, and playing them must have cracked them. I personally like rubber's better reliability in extreme weather. I did speak to JL Audio about the foam surrounds, and they said they have improved its durability on the W3 series. Upon inspection, they do 'appear' more durable, but I guess only time will tell.
Now, for the fun part. I had a premade dual 15" box that I used on my Hollywood Excursion 15's, so I decided to drop them in there. The box is sealed, with each chamber separated. Each side has about 2.25cf of airspace, which is right near JL's recommendations. JL recommends 1.5cf to 2.75cf in sealed boxes, and 2.5cf to 4cf in vented boxes. I generally favor sealed boxes, mostly for their smaller size. Those are minimum and maximum ranges they give for at least decent performance. Deviating significantly from these may cause performance to suffer. For best SQ, they recommend 2.125cf, and with the speaker displacement, my box was right on. Other box size and type can also be used, with varying performance differences, depending on what the user is looking for, such as sound quality, output ability, low end output, etc. Additional informatin can be found at JL Audio's website (www.jlaudio.com). I put both subs in the box, screwed them in, and threw them in my car. I wired the pair to a Crossfire CFA1000d (1200w at 1 ohm), so each sub was receiving about 600w. My initial response was that these subs were quite frankly, down right scary. Output was simply outrageous, and the low end was simply awesome. When I put in some of my techo CD's with some heavy bass output, I got pounded with deep strong bass. Other music was great as well, including pop and rock. Then I decided to really test theses babies out with some bass music CD's and test tones. When I ran a sine sweep on this sub, the lowest octaves simply blew me away. My car was shaking like crazy, and I couldn't sit in there for very long. Throughout the entire testing, the sound quality remained excellent on almost everything I heard. A few rock songs did appear to sound a tad bit boomy or muddy, but that could be due to my box size, and I hadn't eq's anything. Or, perhaps my crossover point was a bit high, at 80hz. I would have liked to have lowered it, to perhaps around 65 - 70hz, but my mids don't do too well crossover over that low. And these subs sounded clean all the way to the limits of my amp. My old Hollywood Sound Labs 15's sound good up to near their limits, when it began to sound bad. But these kept on playing clean. Wonderful. I have hear one other sub that sounded better, and they were Infinity's Beta 15's. Those were the best subs I've ever heard, but they were very limited in output compared, especially compared to these, due to their limited excursion capability.
In conclusion, I would have to say that overall, these are the best subs I've used. It had the best and cleanest low end output, got the loudest (pretty much similar to the Excursions), handle tons of power without complaint, and it sounded great on almost everything. Negatives include the aforementioned stamped steel basket and the spade lug teminals. Also, it does require a bit of space to work with. While 2cf isn't large for a 15" sub, JL's old 15W6 subs worked great with only 1.25cf, which is tiny. I value my trunk space, so this is important to me. I wish the 15W3 worked in a smaller box. Besides these minor points, these subs rock. It gets my highest recommendations.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
dipitydoo
|
|
Member: Jay Yoon
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 4 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.