JL Audio 13W7 Review
Following our popular JL Audio 8W7 review, here comes the 13.5-inch monster 13W7 subwoofer from JL. The 1,500-watt 13W7 has an 8.38-inch magnet and weighs a staggering 52 lbs. This subwoofer is a beast. There are a handful of reviews out there, some done by the most respected experts so we will approach this review as a summarization of what people have been saying plus some points that we would like to add in the end, so read on.
What people are saying…
“This gives an all round performance of such high quality on every level that bettering it will be very hard to achieve. The reward for this entire endeavor comes in the audition. Bass is tight, fast and musical at whatever sound level you choose. It really does pack the punch and easily shakes the walls, but never sounds out of control. If you want quality and quantity and have the ancillaries to support it, the 13W7 or its smaller brothers will take you as close as it currently gets to ultimate bass.”
Peter Hawkins, Total Car Audio
“Listening to recordings of acoustic bass material leaves us with no wishes for improved reproduction and large organ pipe notes reveal a low bass that could not possibly be any fuller. The 13W7 reproduces rock and jazz with merciless precision, bass drums have the correct size and perfect impact, and these qualities are not diminished as volume is increased. Hard techno beat attacks really bring the 13W7′s special dynamic qualities to light, even fat, brutal synthesized bass blasts cannot exceed this woofer’s reserve capabilities.”
Cars & HiFi
“The 13W7 delivers a very impressive sense of power that’s absolutely addictive on this type of material. It’s a totally seductive and completely absorbing engulfment in bass. It has more peak-to-peak linear suspension travel than any subwoofer I’ve tested so far—more than 3 inches. The motor also has more stroke than any other subwoofer I’ve tested—26.3 mm, which is over 2 inches peak-to-peak.”
Tom Nousaine, Mobile Entertainment
Car Audio Buff
The 13W7 is a woofer which has it all. Not only are its ingenious technical solutions impressive, but also its sonic abilities which leave no desire unfulfilled. We all already know and consider the W7 series as one of the best woofers of all time, and the 13W7, the largest of the group, makes it sound like an understatement. It hammers out whatever you feed it, in a very accurate and composed manner. We failed to push the 13W7 to its limits with anything and any situation we put it in. Be it a small sedan, to a large van in a wall configuration.
We recommend wiring the 13W7 also to JL’s extraordinary 1000/1 amplifier as it will feed the perfect amount of power and the cleanest signal to the subwoofer. It can reach 150 decibels with ease, but depending on what type of bass you prefer, you can play around with the box setup. But for something this big, it would be ideal to go ported. Tune it 29.77 Hz for starters and take it from there.
The 13W7 does not come cheap considering you need to shell out another $600-$700 for an amplifier, but for this level of sound, we consider the subwoofer very appropriately priced. And, although there are other monsters out there pumping out more decibels for the true bass fanatics, the 13W7 wass made for people who cannot escape the fascination of a truly exceptional loudspeaker.
JL Audio 13W7
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