Car Audio & Security is an Authorised dealer for JL AUDIO products
The W7 embodies JL Audio’s commitment to pushing the envelope of speaker technology, with six patented technologies and a completely unique set of component parts. Each W7 model has been meticulously engineered to reproduce sub-bass with extreme fidelity at any volume level, provided it is installed and tuned properly.
At first glance, you may only see a rather massive woofer, but as you begin to analyze the technology and the performance envelope of a W7, you will realize that they are much more than just another big SPL speaker. For us, designing a pure SPL speaker, with no regard to sound quality, would have presented a far lesser challenge than the one we chose to undertake with the W7 project. The goal was to design subwoofer drivers that deliver immense output with an extremely high level of fidelity.
It wouldn’t be enough for the speaker to sound great or be loud, it had to do both. This goal required us to develop a deeper understanding of the inner behavior of speakers, new and proprietary modeling systems and six new, patented or patent-pending technologies. We could have made a good-sounding, big speaker without going through any of this effort, but we chose to stretch our limits and devote the time and resources necessary to create a real breakthrough. Along the way, we encountered many obstacles and dead ends which affected our design direction. We considered countless solution sets and discovered, through modeling, experimentation and dozens of prototype generations, which ones would help achieve our goal (and which would not).
The final product is a completely original design from surround to back-plate, requiring a significant tooling investment for all of the component parts. Each W7 (8-inch version to 13.5-inch version) is a completely unique design and shares no major parts with its siblings. Each motor and each suspension system is specifically designed and tuned for each driver. If you consider the preceding, along with the fact that every part of every W7 (even the bolts and screws used to assemble the speaker), has been purpose-designed and manufactured to our specifications, you begin to get a firm idea of our commitment to this product.
Detailed information about several of the technologies found in the W7 line can be found in the W7 Technologies pages of this web site.
While we hope that you find these technologies interesting, we know in order to truly understand and appreciate everything a W7 is capable of requires experiencing a properly installed W7 in a well designed and tuned sound system. We are very confident that listening to a W7 will reveal an entirely new dimension of subwoofer performance... a dimension so satisfying that listening to lesser subwoofers will forever become an act of compromise.
W7 FAQ
1a) Why only a 3-ohm single voice coil version?
Because this configuration resulted in the best sound-quality solution for these drivers. We did not want to compromise performance.
1b) Don't you dummies at JL Audio realize that a lot of big amps want to see 1-ohm or less?
Yes, we do. But we were not willing to compromise sound quality.
2) Why a 13.5-inch speaker, instead of a 15-inch?
For the big W7, our engineers determined that the 13.5 inch would produce the best sound quality. Also, keep in mind that the 13W7 has equivalent piston area to a conventional 15-inch driver and 55% more displacement potential than a 15W3, so you can think of it as a 15 that fits where other 15's don't.
3) How do they compare to the W3v2's and W6's in terms of output?
10W7 has 90% more displacement potential than a 10W3v2 (5.6 dB)
10W7 has 114% more displacement potential than a 10W6 (6.6 dB)
12W7 has 158% more displacement potential than a 12W3v2 (8.2 dB)
12W7 has 166% more displacement potential than a 12W6 (8.5 dB)
13W7 has 55% more displacement potential than a 15W3 (3.8 dB)
13W7 has 144% more displacement potential than a 15W6 (7.7 dB)
4) How does JL Audio state Xmax for the W7's?
JL Audio always specifies Xmax as the one-way, physical overhang of the voice coil (the most conservative method). The W7 Xmax figures are specified in this manner.
5) How many off-the-shelf parts are used in the W7?
Four bolts. Every other component has been specifically
engineered and tooled-up by JL Audio.
6) Where will W7's be built?
At our factory in Miramar, Florida.
7) Are the W7's SQ woofers or SPL woofers?
Yes. Let's just call them "SQL" woofers.
8) Are these things really all that?
Yes... And then some.
Killer..I remember seeing this on the JL site...haha