The Subwoofer I've ALWAYS WANTED! JL Audio 13W7AE Overview 

The custom box build video for the 13W7 is now live! Come see if I picked, ported or sealed! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-O3448ZMbvqU.html Thanks for watching!

I've always been absolutely obsessed with sound and music. I wasn't driving around setting off car alarms and annoying people, it was a really expensive well balanced system that took me 5 years to complete. I had a JL W7 12" in my car from 2001 to 2010.... Then, I sold my car. But I moved into music production and mastering, so I purchased 2 x JL Audio Fathom12s for my studio. My god.. that low end in a studio with sound proofing and corner absorption.. its like sitting inside a giant bowl of warm cream. The air becomes thick with perfect low end reproduction. Punch, clarity, beauty.. instruments have detail. Its not a cheap bass wobble, its an extension of the music. This is 20+ years old and took YEARS of research and development to make. There's been nothing like it before or since and has to be heard once in your life. There were so many arguments in the audio world when it was released.. oh "this is better, this is more powerful, this is cheaper and better value".. etc etc. Sure, there are wonderful subwoofers in the world. But, this is truly something special. And forever will hold a place in my heart. Yes, its ABSOLUTELY over the top in all regards, absurd throw and excursion. But that also means, incredible control at low and mid volumes. Where other subs would br topping out at that level, this sub doesnt even come close to breaking a sweat. I had many different subs before I bought this one in my car. Diamond Audio, Kicker, Focal, Soundstream, RF.. As a mastering engineer and music producer, I am very sensitive to frequency response and I really listen to music mixes.. The musicality of this sub is what sold me. Some subs seem "tuned" to HIT on certain frequencies, so R&B, Rap or whatever sounds really boomy. Not this one. First and foremost it is reproducing MUSIC. It just happens to be able to make your rear view mirror distort so much that its impossible to see anything. As soon as I heard it, I heard notes being played I didnt even know existed in the songs I was playing. I had to play them over and over again because I thought I was imagining it. Heres a test song for you - Basement Jaxx - Romeo. If your sub can prosuce all the notes of thst bassline, then youve got something special on your hands.. 😅

I bought one in 2014 and I used it every day for about 8 years and the sound quality is unmatched. Yes there’s louder subs out there but the quality of high, mids, and lows of the w7 are worth every Penny.

Yeah, some people want to have the loudest system and some people love listening to music loud. That being said I loved my 13.5W7 and my JL Audio 1000/1 slash series amp. Built the ported box to JL spec and set input sensitivity to 32hz and I tested at a bass comp and it hit 147.1. It was the loudest 1 sub 1000watt setup at the competition .

I love the design of the JL High Output enclosures for the W7 lineup. However, with so much output to work with to begin with, the SEALED enclosure sounds better and still hits really hard.

I cant lie, the W713.5 has been my dream subwoofer ever since I saw it YEARS ago. Just one in a really good custom box, a good amp, and good wiring/ electronics and that's all you need to bump good and loud.

My vote is for a sealed enclosure. I've always proffered the sound and space saving. It appears the spec sheet says this is ideal too. Especially for sound quality.

I met a guy from Craigslist in a Bestbuy parking lot 7 years ago and he sold me a JL 13w7ae and a JL HD1200 amp for $750 all in. No lie. I don’t know if he was mistaken about what it was or what. But he honestly sold me that system for $750. Unbelievable. It is still in my car til this day. In addition I’ve owned the Image Dynamics IDMAX15v4. Between the two, the IDMAX15 (really a 16” sub) is very, very much a noticeably cleaner sounding subwoofer. Every note from top to bottom is cleaner and tighter on the IDMAX, and kick drums are MUCH more snappy… but it’s also less “visceral”. So depending on your taste, you may want one or the other. I wanted both so I could swap them out as desired, but lately my 14 year old son has been crazy about listening to the sheer slam of 13w7ae so that’s what’s in the trunk as of late. Anyhow. Spend the money on these. You’re gonna die one day. The money you’re saving will be worthless to you at that point. You’re welcome lol

I put 2 of these with a Earthquake amp in my 2000 Lexus GS 20 years ago. I felt like king of the streets. Cant wait to see your project come in play.

you did not mention that the w7 was also 10 years in research and development..... so it is a 32 year old sub still dominating !!!!

I got a 12W7AE and an 8W7AE, and i can definitely tell you that they can really make some clean, accurate low frequency bass with very minimum distortion at full volume. I also love how nice it looks. It definitely has a premium look to it as well. Almost forgot, in regards to the sub box type. I think that a sealed enclosure would be awesome for the 13w7. Im thinking of doing something similar myself if i buy the 13w7s vs the kicker L7 Solo X subs i am also interested in. This was a wonderful video mark. Thank you so much for making it and giving all that detail of the subwoofer. This is one of the reasons i LOVE your channel. 😎👊

I've ALWAYS wanted a W7, BUT I just couldn't bring myself to pay that price, even though I consider JL to make some of the BEST sounding subs I've ever owned! I may get one, someday....or I'll continue to get my joy from installing them in other people's cars 😁

A couple of months ago I finally upgraded my system from my old Eclipse SW7200 to the JL 10W7AE and I can not say enough about how much I love this sub! The sound quality is superb, and the output is insane, especially for a 10". Can't wait to see what you build for the 13, and I vote sealed.

Congratulations! That's got to be a good feeling. Looking forward to the build.

These subs are a beast and extremely accurate in a sealed enclosure. I had one in my car for years in a JL factory box & HD1200. Now I have the home version, the “Fathom F113v.2” with a 3000W built in amp. Incredibly tight bass, not muddy or boomy at all.

I bought a used jl w7 12 with a ported box for $400 10 years ago. The spl may not be as good as the kicker solo baric or sundown, but the sq and clarity is unmatched. Yes they are very expensive but for $400 who can complain. Unless you're into spl competition, the jl w7 will do just fine.

At $1800 this is a little out of my budget. Glad you are able to finally own one! I'm sure it will last a lifetime. Ported for sure.

BRO THE DC SHOES IN THOSE PICS WAS HUGE NOSTALGIA! I'm glad you finally got your dream sub!

Dang that thing is a beast! Ported for sure!

Imo, sealed was always the best sound for me when it came to JL.

why not build both?? It will show us your designs for sealed and ported and you could even compare how the 2 boxes sound in a vehicle and can tell us which one you like better and ultimately which box you go with for personal use.

One of the best car audio channels. Love the w7 definitely a dream woofer for anyone

I have my W7 in a ported box. Got it from them. Sounds amazing. I vote ported.

legitimately happy , for you, and all of us, really. thats a nice sub

Yeah sealed is the way to go. Great video and can't wait to see it finished

I finally got a JL Audio 10W7AE in JL's sealed box with a JL Audio HD750/1! Sooooooooo amazing!

I still remember my 2-10” JL W0 I had in the trunk of my ‘93 Tempo. Sold me on JLs quality ever since. I vote for a sealed box, myself.

I bought an original 13w7 and reconed it for less than I paid for my 10w3. It is definitely my most favorite sub. The sound is amazing.

I had a JL w6 10. Omg. Bass for days. Tight and clear

I bought my first pair of jl audio subwoofers back 1992 put them in a sealed enclosure and the sound quality was amazing

It is a special moment when you finally get your dream subwoofer. I feel the same way about my Rockford T3

that is an amazing looking transducer.... I would love to see a ported box build.

Very informative vid!

Congrats man you earned it

Couple months ago I got myself a 10" JL in a box specifically made for it. It blows my last sub clean out the water. I had a 1st gen Kicker L7 12' that was super heavy to deal with. The new JL is half the weight and nearly half the size with the box. I'm running it on an Alpine M500 monoblock that I got at a second hand shop for $35 7 years ago. It hits so much harder and much cleaner sound than the Kicker using the same amp. It's in the back seat of my truck so I needed something smaller and lighter to deal with for when I need to pull it out to use the back seat. I thought I downgraded at first until I started using it.

I tried the 13w7 in sealed, vented and the 4th order. The 4th order is next level, its the best and cleanest bass ive ever head. There are more low notes and it hits so much more than sealed.

I think that JL always got a bad rap from a lot of “bass heads” there are definitely super high spl subs out there that would put them to shame but they are usually sloppy at best. W7’s have some of the cleanest, musical sounding bass I’ve ever heard

I have a 13w7ae that I have used extensively in both a ported and sealed enclosure. Let me tell you that the sealed enclosure sounded so much better than ported. The bass was much more accurate and controlled.

How about a sealed vs ported build and test?

You should make a ported enclosure tuned to 33 hz. Also add a second sub and 2 JL audio 1500/1 amps. Let’s get that 150 db score!

Dude I remember you from Kettering! Glad to see you’re out there killing it.

I had one of these that I bought at a garage sale for 30 bucks in a box (from one of my college professors, whose son had it stored there and didn't want it anymore...also bought the 1000/1 with it for another 30 bucks). I'm kicking myself for getting rid of it when i moved....I know the gentleman that bought it for $450 was overjoyed that he got to match it to his first 13W7AE. Ah the memories....

My first experience with a w7 was in a t line enclosure man I was blown away from the output that the one sub put out it was powered by the jl 1000/1

I love my 12w7 and slash 1000/1 v2 combo. It's in a quite large slot ported box and sounds great and hits super low. Ideally I want to double up and build a 4th order box blowing through the ski hatch. That's my little dream.

I tried and heard lots of subs… JL is my fav. Still rocking my 13w6v2’s

I loved my 12w7. It was hitting like a 15 in my single cab truck.

Its an $1800 speaker for anyone who was curious and not into car audio but happened to have this pop up in their feed.

Love JL going to order two of those one day

Great video.

Iv had a 12. And a 13. Remarkable dynamic sound quality simply unmatched.

HA! I was in the same boat. I started car audio when I was a teenager in the mid 80's as I was in it until 2005 and stepped away. I heard one of these in a car audio shop in California and I was sold on it. I purchased my 12W7 back in 2004 and spent almost $1000 for it and that sucker still works in 2023. I was using the slash amps for years on it. I had to replace the surround as it rotted out being that its been in Arizona for many years now. I agree this has been the best sounding subwoofer and I've tried dozens of subwoofers over the years. It's worth every penny. I had the car audio shop design it ported.

I got one in the trunk had it for a decade it still hits like a tank! My AGM secondary battery has went bad but my JL amp and sub have survived. I got the pro wedge with the 13w7 already in sealed box. I would like to get another and do 2 in a ported box! 2 would be nuts in this tiny car and clear!

I just got my 13.5 W7AE and it’s in a Gately Ported box made specifically for the 13.5W7 and it’s hooked up to the JL HD1200/1 it’s insane lol I love it

i recall seeing a W7 on a showroom floor decades ago.. it looked so futuristic, that it STILL looks modern, after all these years. that sub takes way too much space than i'm willing to give up.. but if i had a minivan or something, that would be the dream sub to install.

I've been out the game since early noughties. It's nice to see JL is still somebody.

Now that’s a subwoofer you can fall in love with 😍

Ported for sure!

Best looking subwoofer of all time!! Can’t believe the 13w7’s were my first subs in high school 🙏🏻

Had 2 13.5 W7s, loved them. Upgraded for SPL to some Fi Neo 3.5 18s that so many people said would have way better SQ than the W7s, they certainly dont, but they do sound good.

I always loved the sound I got from a vented box. It seemed like it hit lows better. To me, it's worth the space

definitely ported 💪

Always wanted one of these and the kicker L7 as well

Listening to you going over all the technical design elements reminded me of the classic Rockwell Automaton Retro Encabulator video. Except this time I mostly understood it all.

Great video. I love your explanations and the way you make it easy for anybody to comprehend No matter what there's knowledge level. My brother had the original 2001 13W7 on a Power T1000.1BD. Amazing sound

This was the first JL that I ever owned, back in 06. The 13 W7 with the Slash 1000.1. Amazing piece of equipment. Unfortunately, I ended up getting laid off and had my son in school. So, I ended up having to sell it off for a fraction of what I paid for it. I now have an 8 W3V3 and 4 C2s in my truck. Nice bump, but not a W7 😂. Side note, a Lil Jon song on this setup, in a sealed box, cracked the bondo on the roof of my truck that it was in.

I just got mine installed last week in a custom sealed center console sounds really good im still in the break in process im 8 hrs in of play time the shop that installed it for me recommended 30hrs of play time with the amp set low can’t wait to turn it up

Sealed box imo. I'm in love with JL audio subs. Specifically this one. Always wanted a set. I think that's my goal. Get a set of 13's in a custom box.

Ooohhhh my god you got one. That unit is a holy grail to me, and I desperately wanted 2 ever since I was 16 lol. But the amount of power needed to genuinely let it breathe is astronomical and usually involves an aftermarket alternator alongside your Thor Thunder amps.

Man, my first 'big' subwoofer was back in the mid 90s. I had a white 1988 Ford Escort GT, and I met a guy that was getting out of the audio competition lifestyle, and he gave me one of his unused Orion XTR 15 DVC subwoofers. AT the time I was working for a cabinet factory, and they let me use their CNC machine on my spare time to build a custom dual ported 4.5 cubic foot box (I had contacted Kenwood at the time and they gave me the approximate space I would need for that subwoofer an my amplifier at the time) that FILLED the back of that little Ford Escort, and it sounded amazing. I still remember that the ports were big enough to reach into, and were just the right length based on the specs. If you have the space for it, I'd go with a ported box personally. They are a little harder to tune properly than a sealed box, but knowing you, that won't be an issue at all, and the sound you'll get from it (in my opinion) would be worth the extra engineering! Before my Orion experience, I was using a lot of other things like budget 10" and 12" Pyle subs, (they sounded great for their $40-50 price and if they got broken or stolen they were easy to replace!) and moved onto much better things like the Orion, and after that, my pair of 12" Pioneer competition series subwoofers that a friend of mine helped me design a custom sealed dual-chamber box to replace the 'jump seats' in the back of a 1999 Ford Ranger XLT super cab and it bolted directly to the frame. That box was over-engineered and weighed close to 80 lbs before the subs went in, but it sounded amazing.

I never knew.. Always respected the jl but wow!

Ported most definitely!

I still have two 10W7 subs in storage. They'll go to my son when he starts driving soon. I upgraded to a pair of 15" Image Dynamics idmax running off a 3000w Zapco.

My all time favorite

W7 always has had the coolest inverted mounting aesthics with that massive magnet and beautiful spider+basket

18 years ago i was shopping for my first subwoofers. There was a jetta back in the shop with a 13w7 THUMPING the whole building. Never heard anything like it since

Love the old JL stuff! Still have a unused Slash v2 Series 1000/1v2 laying around.

JL subs are just incredible. I have installed a CP106lg-w3v3 in my car and nobody believes me when I tell them that its a friggin 6 inch sub.

This is my dream sub too!!!!!

I had one of these back in the day. Pairs it with a Jl audio 1000/1 and it use to set off car alarms lol

Best beauty sub ever made....and sound realy clean

I’m really excited for this build. I want to see what box you build and then what amp you pair it with.

Wow, crazy to think the OG W7 came out in 2001. Brings back memories of the "excursion wars," of which the W7 was king, beating out the Image Dynamics IDMax, the Adire Brahma, the RE XXX series... At a significantly higher cost, mind you. I had a pair of Infinity Perfect 12s that I sold to buy a 15" Adire Brahma MK1. It required over 3 ft^3 of air space for a sealed enclosure, which was all I could manage to fit in the trunk of my Pontiac Sunfire. But on 1200 watts with over 2" peak-to-peak excursion it moved a ton of air. One key feature of the W7 and other high Xmax subs of the era is the focus on linear excursion. Might sound like buzz words but there was an active effort to really advance motor designs, specifically to flatten the Bl curve of subwoofer motors. In layman's terms, trying to make motor strength consistent across the range of physical excursion as the voice coil moves through the magnetic gap. Traditional motor designs lose electromagnetic efficiency rather drastically as the voice coil leaves the magnetic gap. The W7 I believe uses a long coil, long gap design that mitigates that issue, hence the actual buzz words, "accuracy," "high sound quality," etc. Other technologies achieved similar results (Adire/RE's XBL2 motor) using more traditional parts to cut cost, whereas the W7 is pretty much completely custom-tooled. It really is an impressive piece of technology, which explains it's reputation and longevity not only in the car audio world, but the home theatre world as well (see the Gotham/Fathom subs)

my dream subwoofer

Definitely sealed !

What if you did a crazy bandpass box for a crazy speaker like that 🤔

I inherited my dads 13.5 w7AE in the wedgebox with the JL 1500/1 to power it. Put it in my 2016 Mercedes CLA250 and the sound quality is absolutely unmatched compared to any other system I've had in the past from Kicker & RF. The w7 is unmatched hands down that deep pound you get from it is unique.

I owned a 13w7 back in 2001, built a sealed 1.875 cu.ft. Sounded perfect on every kind of music. Lasted a month of daily bumping. I do remember that mine was the first one out of 5000 sold to be reconed.

I have a single 8W7AE in a ported box, Hertz Audio Mille PRO components (front and rear), powered by a JL 750/5 amp. Sounds loud and clean. A lot of people that sit in my car think there are two 10" subs in the car. Main key is the air space in the trunk when you are picking a subwoofer(s) - I had to pass on the 13W7AE, and the 10W7AE due to lack of air space in the trunk - the 8W7AE sounded just right with the perfect punch, and complemented the Mille Pro components.

Hi. Congrats on your new sub. On specs it's excellent. Do 2 or 3 boxes. Vented, closed suggested size and closed little bit larger. It will play lows very well but would like to know does it have punch and kickdrum ability. Subscribed and waiting for impressions.

my dream sub

I've always wanted to build a box using the shipping baffle.

10s are justas good in a sealed prowedge! JL I LOVE U!!

I got my 12w7ae one year ago but I wish I got the 13w7ae lol . I put it on a enclosure on a 2020 GMC on a jL amp /1000/1i, in the middle of the back seat, so now two people can sit in the back lol I don't mind that. Can't wait to see what you going to do with this sub...🙂

I’ve had a 12 for about 8 years and my 96 Chevy doesn’t have a enough juice to get the most out of it lol but regardless of where the limit is the quality of it is amazing. The 13 is in my future once I can figure out the problem with my truck.

For what they cost I would want all the output I could get, bandwidth and decibel. As good as they sound sealed, they sound even better ported.

I bought a w7 10 in a ho box used a 500/1 black slash series was great sounding sub

I have the 8' model and that thing is awesome. I can not imagine this one. Lets just say KABOOMMMM>>>>

Thanks for the information. I like to use BPM Supreme and Crate Connect.

Jl audio is my favorite audio company they have the cleanest sound I have heard from a car audio company so far

Just subscribed to your channel! You know your stuff that's for sure! I would like to see more for sure. My vote is to build the box ported. Also I'm putting a new system in my truck & wanna get some incite. I'm running one 15" to pick up the lows that an old school bass head likes. But am thinking of adding two 10" to pick up the higher range frequency. What are your thoughts, & thoughts of anyone else on the post.