JL 13W7 Review

[Guest]

The Van Gogh delivered the best all around mix of everything- it also maintained the most musicality on the 13W7 than any other amp- even though ultimately, again, distortion got the best of the W7 at super high volume as soon as the bass went low-low... Still, the Van Gogh made the JL come to life at all volumes- it sounded very musical and actually noticably more accurate - You can listen to the bass line on U2's "with or without you" and actually hear the notes turn flatter or sharper in the intro of the song depending on how good a box you build, the amp you use or any number of factors. Again- I'm gonna say it loud and clear: THE 13W7 IS NOT A SOUND QUALITY SUB- IT IS VERY MUCH AN SPL SUBWOOFER!!!

In terms of SPLs, clearly the 13W7 delivers- although the distortion it exhibits at hi volumes is disturbing- no matter what kind of power you throw at it. There are a few other things I'm not crazy about- the mounting system for instance, it is neat- and certainly clean- but you have to be careful about doing it- the screws are actually beneath the surround- you need to remove a trim-ring to access them- the surround is foam (not Butyl- THIS really upset me, on a 750 dollar sub!!!) and so you have to be cautious working with a screw gun that close to the surround, especially when you need to kind of peel it back to get to the screws.

Also, aside from the fact that the sub requires a MASSIVE enclosure, whether ported or sealed, the bottom line is this thing requires ALOT of watts. None of the amps I've listed could be called "cheap" in fact they're all MSRP'ing way over 500 bucks- street prices are around 550 to 700 for the amps I listed, so by the time you factor in building a box, installing the amp and getting everything set up, this simple subwoofer addition is going to be a 1500 to 2000 dollar project... I gotta tell ya, unless you competing for SPLs, there is NO REASON any logical person interested in SQ would opt to buy this sub- aside from the fact that it doesn't deliver SQ as I've written above, it's VERY EXPENSIVE and VERY short on value...

Its tough to try and stick a "stars" rating on this sub- in terms of uniqueness and ingenuity it's a 5 1/2!!! In terms of SPL its easliy a 4 1/2 ir not a 5 (call it 4 because of the distortion issue- just because a machine doesn't measure it, my ears do -and for christ's sake, I like my music LOUD! Lastly, in terms of Sound quality, I'd be hard pressed to give this any more than a 2, because with all the bells and whistles and ingenuity built, I'd expect a HELL of alot more- and this is considering I put good power on the sub, I can only imagine the dissapointment of someone who throws 400 or so mediocre watts on the inneficient power-hungry beast of a sub- I would be REALLY upset if I just paid that much to get that little...

Again- it's a very tough call to give a recomendation to this sub- It depends on your purposes and your wallet- for half the price, you could get 2 W6V2's and power them more easliy, get better sound quality and all the usable volume you'd ever need... NOT TO MENTION 2 OF THEM WOULD TAKE UP ABOUT THE SAME ROOM AS 1 W7!!!! How clear of an argument do you need? In closure, I'm gonna say this is a niche sub- strictly for those who compete and make money and trophies by making more DB's - but in terms of listenability and sound quality, this one's not getting any raves from me! Again- ALOT od consideration should go into buying this sub. Hope this helps you make a good choice- whether you opt for or against it...

Recommended:

No

Amount Paid (US$): 750.00

[HandoEX]

Ha, IMO, $750 is just plain way too expensive for one subwoofer anyways. And the darn thing requires soooooooo much power!

[weshole]

I couple of years ago, I woulda spent that kind of $$$ on such things. But, there's absolutely NO WAY I will now. My musical tastes have taken back seat so-to-speak to just having the convenience of saving space and running smaller and cheaper subwoofer/amp combo. I guess I'm getting too old to cre as much.

[Guest]

I hope this little review will show some people that the most expensive equipment isn't necessarily the best.

[Jim]

Yeah but its pimp when you have them in your trunk

<--- im a ricer

[LT1]

well good thing i didnt go with the 13

[treimche]

It sounds like if you compete in SQ competitions, you don't want this sub. However if you want it LOUD, then get it. Of course the W7 isn't for everyone, but some people like LOUD bass! I personally like them a lot, but I guess I'm partial to JL. This guy obviously is impartial to the W7. And honestly there aren't that many people that are in it for the sound quality. Hell most people just want BASS, and they want it loud, so they buy the biggest, baddest, loudest thing they can find, no matter what it sounds like. That was a very in depth write up.

[RidinRails]

w7's are good....but overpriced....there are way better subs around for 2-300 bucks less.

[ichibankilla]

tjamz wrote:
I hope this little review will show some people that the most expensive equipment isn't necessarily the best.

try telling that to a high schooler.

[Guest]

treimche wrote:
It sounds like if you compete in SQ competitions, you don't want this sub. However if you want it LOUD, then get it. Of course the W7 isn't for everyone, but some people like LOUD bass! I personally like them a lot, but I guess I'm partial to JL. This guy obviously is impartial to the W7. And honestly there aren't that many people that are in it for the sound quality. Hell most people just want BASS, and they want it loud, so they buy the biggest, baddest, loudest thing they can find, no matter what it sounds like. That was a very in depth write up.

I'm not disputing what you have said here either and the last thing I want to do is starting a pissing contest over who makes the best equipment, music is VERY much a personal issue and JL does make some very nice equipment. I'm a big fan of the W6 V2's as they offer a good mix of SQ and SPL capabilities while being great at neither. The problem is that, IMO, not many people have heard a good sound quality sound setup even though they "think" that they have, so they base their opinions of good sound of what their buddies car sounded like...with an MP3 as the reference material.

I wasn't posting this to discourage anyone from buying JL, just thought that they should see a well written, indepth analysis of the sub that JL has refered to as their "flagship" subwoofer line. Its just sad that SPL has overtaken SQ as the "high end" of nearly everyones product lineup.