Is JL best sub for the money?

It is hard to beat at any price.

Good to see you posting Chadnliz, I agree with Shadorne about hard to beat at any price.

I recently installed JL Audio subs in my system. This is the first time I've successfully integrated a sub for music playback.

After calibrating, the Fathoms disappear into the image of my main speakers. No hint of their presence except for the very deep bass that was not there before.

Albert-did you play with any subs when you had your soundlabs;just wondering as I have M2's.

Have to agree with Albert. The Fathoms are so flexible they do indeed seem to disappear. Tough to beat on price, too.

Might want to have a look at the Zu Audio Method subwoofer, too. In a recent article, the reviewer, who had previously sworn his allegiance to JL's Fathom F-112 quickly switched to the Zu after hearing it. Zu is slightly more pricey, coming in at 3200.

One thing for certain, though- you'll get far, far, FAR better customer support with Zu than you will with JL Audio. Zu cares. JL? Not at all. For me, with two subs that are fairly closely matched sonically, the kicker in which one to buy is which company is easier to deal with. In this case, that's Zu. By about a factor of a billion. And I own a JL sub. Go figure. Found them before I found Zu. Zu also will kick in their custom subwoofer cable at no extra charge, I believe. You've also got a 60 day return guarantee with Zu. Don't like it, they take it back for a full refund. See how that works out with JL Audio. It won't.

Check out this article for some salient commentary on both the JL and the Zu products:

http://soundstageav.com/onhometheater/20071001.htm

Albert-did you play with any subs when you had your soundlabs;just wondering as I have M2's.

Yes, had REL, Signet and Fosgate with Sound-Lab and the only way any worked were for LFE from home theater decoder.

It's very difficult to match subs with Sound-Lab because they are as close to perfect phase of any speaker ever made (in my opinion).

The big Sound-Lab may not even require subs. My U-1s went deep into the teens or 20 HZ region and with great weight and lots of air. If you crave more bass you could upgrade to big Sound-Lab for same or cheaper than cost of my two JL Audio Fathoms.

Just a thought.

Thanks Albert I was thinking about the TBI Magellan VIP Powered Subwoofers that are listed;I have been told they match well with soundlabs;thanks for your reply.

Might want to have a look at the Zu Audio Method sub woofer, too. In a recent article, the reviewer, who had previously sworn his allegiance to JL's Fathom F-112 quickly switched to the Zu after hearing it. Zu is slightly more pricey, coming in at 3200.

That's a great review, thanks for the link.

Note though, the review compares a single driver JL to a dual drive Zu. My JL Audio subs are the F212, meaning I have twin woofers like the Zu but retain the ARO feature for my music system.

I would like to hear the Zu based on the review, twin 15" can't be bad and at $3200.00 each, twin Zu come in at $5800.00 a pair less than Fathom F212s.

I love my JL but there are going to be a lot of people interested in Zu at that price.

I have 2 jl audio F113 in my 2ch system with my stats and they are the best subs I have even owned --they are seemless---- there is always a new guy on the audio block and what any reviewer says may not be what you would think --trust your own ears--I don't think you will be disapointed with the jl's -- more importantly they have bass timbre and are truly musical--good luck --Rich

The Zu subwoofer review is from a Wes Marshall, who uses ATC SCM50 speakers. If Zu integrates with ATC then it is indeed a "musical" type sub rather than a HT type. ATC bass is thin, precise and tight. ATC make a large 15" subwoofer but it is ugly compared to the Zu and more expensive.

I second Bob Reynolds: You basically have 66% of a pair of 2Wqs already inside the Quatros. Although the JL is a very impressive performer, I find that my 2Wq subwoofers work very well in two corners of my room with no EQ or bass traps. They blend seemlessly with my mains (previously Vandys, now a different brand). Also, they are extremely good at being invisible; they do not add bass where there is none, but cleanly and tightly deliver it when there is bass in the source material. And when they deliver that bass, it really sounds as if it is coming from your mains. YMMV, of course.

Hate to burst the JL bubble but many have sold off their JL's (some in multiples) after they experienced Mark Seaton's Submersive subs. I have a Submersive and just a happy customer with no affiliation with company. However, I do not have direct experience with JL. Different strokes for different strokes I guess. Louder, Deeper, less distortion, equally as musical are what I heard from those who tried both. Do a search and find out.

As a F112 owner I would suggest that the JL subs are fantastic and surely in the conversation of whats best. As for best for the money, I would guess no. THe bang for buck ratio is a non-linear one and the last 10% in performance costs 50% more money. Also I think the user needs to distinguish between HT and music. Mine is setup for HT where it shakes my house and is great. In a 2.1 music setup I think this results in a bit of boomyness. I am OK with this to get the theater the way I want it. I have tried it optimized for 2.1 and it was great, best I found.

so worth the money for HT - perhaps a bit expensive

worth it for 2.1 - I think maybe yes.

I've auditioned the better part of the JL line pretty extensively and - if carefully set-up - there's little doubt in my mind that they're terrific, probably among the best out there for most applications, music or HT. However, these products aren't designed for max value. They're luxury goods with beautifullly finished, compact cabinets.

If big, ugly (or at least, less pretty) cabinets are okay, you can get most of the performance for substantially less money. I use 12" Rythmiks which are about half the cost of the JL 12". They're bigger and won't hang with JL below 30hz or so, but for my music collection, they're awfully good performers. The SVS also appear to offer great value and will go very low in frequency.

Normally, I'd say that any of these will be between "enough" and "overkill" for music, but I'd say that about subwoofer-less Quattros, too.

Good Luck

Marty

Thanks for the kind words Albert.
I bought the F113 so should be here in a week, thanks for all replies!

The SVS line and the hSU line of subwoofers will give you the best bang for the buck. Axiom makes some excellent subwoofers over the $1,000 mark.

Greg