JL Audio 13W3v3-4 - Subwoofer Test Report

by CAE , Feb 24, 2009     40    3    17  

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Listening

Folk RockTracy Chapman "Heaven's Here on Earth"After giving the 13W3v3 the typical four hours of break-in time, I started with one of my favorite discs, Tracy Chapman's "Heaven's Here on Earth." I was immediately impressed with the image location of the bass instruments. They were solidly forward, without any pull to the rear of the vehicle. The bass drum impacts were quite physical as were the bass guitar plucks and notes. Musically, the 13W3v3 sounded dynamic, clear and low in distortion. I heard no blooming in the upper bass frequencies. Overall, it was well controlled and sounded great.Score: 7/10

Jazz InstrumentalHerb Alpert "Passion Dance"Herb Alpert's jazzy CD Passion Dance was the next selection that I listened to. The 13 1/2" cone of the 13W3 really energized the air space within the truck. I like large-format subwoofers because they are just so much fun that way. Listening to "Slinky" and "Route 101," the two primary tracks that I audition with, the 13W3v3 was tight, aggressive and it delivered a good punch, but the note-to-note detail was not as polished or detailed as its all-conquering W6 brethren that I reviewed about a year ago. Of course the 13W3v3 is about two-thirds the price, so I can't complain too much.Score: 7/10

RockLenny Kravitz "Believe in Me"To get a better picture of what the 13W3v3 would do with layered bass-lines I slipped in Lenny Kravitz' album Lenny, track 5 "Believe in Me." The opening bass kick drum was fast and tight. It was well delivered and when the bass guitar came in with other percussion, the instruments stayed individual and did not blur into one instrument. This song is jump'n fun and I really hit the JL Audio with all the power the Crossfire amplifiers could pour out and the 13W3v3 took it without complaint. The sub never gave me a sense of going into power compression either, it just got louder and louder as I pushed the volume control to higher levels. Very impressive.Score: 7/10

ClassicalBach "Air from Suite 3 in D"Checking out the JL's performance on classical music, I pulled out the DTS Classical Collection - Bach Classics, the DVD Audio disc and listened to "Air from Suite 3 in D." The shifts in the notes of the string bass were well defined; their plucks were taut and properly reproduced. The bowing details were rich and steady, with good note delineation. Here, the W3v3 was very much like its big brother the W6.Score: 9/10

R&BUsher "Confessions"Wrapping up I put in Usher's Confessions album and crank up the "Intro" track and "Yeah!" The "Intro" track is mostly acoustic instruments with super dynamics and at 0:23 seconds into it, the W3v3 kicked the bass line in a tight and energetic style. The engineers at JL Audio must have had controlling overtones high on their list of goals when they worked on the design of the 13W3v3. All the way though the testing, I never heard the bass-line move to the rear of the vehicle. This was very impressive.

The advantages of the larger cone size proved itself again when "Yeah!" started up. The interior of my truck came alive from the modulation of the air by the 13W3v3. The build quality on the JL Audio speakers is impressive as always and I have to hand it to them on creating a fantastic all-around subwoofer again!Score: 8/10

Subjective Score Chart PointsPossibleJL Audio 13W3v3-4Overall Sound Quality5037Tonal Balance1007Low Frequency Extension1006Clarity at Low Volume1008Clarity at High Volume1009Impact1009Total Subjective Score10076

SPL in car measurement at 2.83 volts, 1 meter - with Bruel & Kjaer Type 2231 Level Meter set to; Un-weighted, SPL and Fast.20Hz94.3dB40Hz96.6dB80Hz96.6dBMax SPL128.9dB

If you are an avid reader of these tests, you will know how often the enclosures called out in the owner's manuals and the enclosures that I am told by the manufacturers to use do not coincide with one another -- some aren't even close. Getting the really skinny up front is great and I have to congratulate JL Audio for doing their homework and putting together a terrific owner's manual.

OK. So my phone call to Manville was completely useless. Maybe next time I will just read the owner's manual first. Unlike Manville, it taught me a ton of good stuff. The manual recommended a sealed enclosure at 1.5ft3. As usual, I had my guys at the Speaker Works assemble the test enclosure. Master installer Patrick Holdaway commented on the fact that the 13W3v3's are going to need custom enclosures in most installs because of their unusual size. So if you are a DIY'er, you will need to keep in mind that you will have to either modify a pre-made enclosure or build one from scratch. He also commented that he did like the one-piece frame gasket that came packaged in the box.

To power the JL Audio 13W3v3-4, I used two Crossfire VR1000d amplifiers with a bridging module. These two amps running into the 13W3v3's single 4-ohm voice coil will produce over 1,000 watts of RMS power, which is more than enough to cook this 400-watt RMS driver if I get out of control. The front half of my reference speaker system consists of a pair of USD Audio B-72pro WaveGuide separates. I am powering these with a Zapco C2K-4.0X amplifier at 100 watts per 4 channels. The built-in crossovers and subsonic filters were bypassed. The Alpine PXA-H701 processor was used to set levels and to actively divide the frequency range to all of the speakers.

Conclusion

Wow! JL Audio has done a fine job with this all-new W3v3 line. The 13W3v3-4 pumps out the volume and it sounds very good. Because this subwoofer is 13 1/2", it will need a custom enclosure in most cases and it is a few bucks at its retail price of $325. But JL Audio's impeccable quality, service and support and the fact that these are still proudly Made in America, I have to give them my highest recommendation. Give these a try, people -- I think you are going to like them.

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