I Haven't bought them yet because they sound terrible in my jeep. I tested a HO box from Jl and also a custom ported box from my local shop. both of them were terrible. I called JL, and the tech I spoke to suggested that because of the type of car i have I really needed to have a down firing box.
Was his suggestion correct? I'm hoping so becuase otherwise I don't know what I'm going to do!
i just bought Jl 500/1 paired together with 2x Audiobahns 12's. It was great for two days when I was playing "Dirt Off your Shoulders" at max volume when my amped surge and i blew the fuse near the battery. The next day I replace the fuse to find I damaged one of the subs. How do i know if the sub is bad? On some songs like the latter it sounds perfect. Nice tight bass. Other songs( ie Freek A Leek ) sound terrible??? Alot of distortion. I'm sure it has something to with the freq of bass coming out.
I also think there is something wrong because I get a terrible pungent smell, ( burnt rubber ??? ) after playing the music through them...I roll down the windows because it really does stink!
So I now want to replace the set for one really nice sub. 12w7 is my choice. I wanted 13w7 but i didn't want to spend the extra cash since to power that sub well, I would also need to spend more $$$ on the JL 1000/1. HU, SUB, and now I need to save up for a another multi- channel amp and components.
I need recommedations from ya'll that ARE in the know. The soundbar i have stock can have accept 5.5. In my dash, I have some kind of rectangluar 4x7" (not sure what size). I've replaced those factory speakers 6 mothns ago because I blew them out. I have now Apline 4x7 there. What could I put into that space?
Still looking though. A decent amp for them is $400 and i'm looking @ the $200. Kappa REF or Quarts???
downfiring box, 500/1 for a 12W7 or 1000/1 for two of them. may want to go vented for those subs.
as for the audiobahn being bad.. it is. I can tell ya that. they all are.
also be sure the ports, and amp settings are all tuned properly with those subs and it should be good. also be sure you have a front stage that can keep pace with those subs or they can drown out your mids and highs.
Ah... I'm not sure what happened but I had my radio only set to 20 of 35.... I started to notice a really pungent smell, then 5 secs of distortion. Then nothing!!!!
I looked at my amp and it is getting power but the low Ohm indictator is flashing!!
smelled electrical? most likely something friend ... smell each part of the system ... even after a day or so, you can tell right of the bat where it comes from ... so go smell and see what smells funny ... i mean literally, smell the parts like 1 inch away ... like the subs ... the amp ... etc ...
hmm .. if the sub core is enclosed in the box, obviously take it out ..
Since he mentioned the volume at which he set it to. Jonathon or Glasswolf, is it a good idea to turn the volume past half way for extended periods of time assuming everything is set up correctly in the system, ie. everything is matched up. I have always believed that turning up speakers more than half way for long periods usually aren't very healthy for them. Is this true or am I just being crazy?
If in the right setup, it is not supposed to do that. I have a pioneer sound system in the car, and it's always 3/4 but nothing ever happens. It is to my belief that his amp would be clipping or something else...
have you thought of other "cheaper" subs other then the w7? brehama comes into my mind. you can save money or spend the same and get more out of your system. i've dealt with jeep wrangers in the past and they are a pain to work with to get bass because there isnt really much for the bass to reflect off of. a downfire box always gave me the best results with your car. how does everyone feel about a bandpass box instead? i never tried these in a wranger, noone wants to spend the extar money. may be worth the try
I tried lightly pushing in the speaker cone and it doesn't move much... Not even a centimeter... How much movement should there be?
I've consider just replacing the audiobahn that I had... and jsut leave it at that but... I want more bass! And from what I've been told a 12w7 should do the job...
Pretty good amount of movement, more than a centimeter, of course when in a box it will be harder to push the cone in because of air having to be compressed. 12W7 would more than do the job, downfiring it would give excellent results. Downfiring tends to work very well in trucks, Jeeps, and the like. One 12W7 vented is more than enough for most people's tastes. And about half volume above, IF your gain was set correctly, you shouldn't have any problems. You should break subs in for a minimum 20 hours, I usually do more, and not exceed half volume to start with usually. Of course, that JL amp is underrated while Audiobahn's subs tend to be overrated. That smell you have is from the sub, likely a damaged voice coil, especially saying your impedance light came on the amp. You probably blew a sub and shorted the voice coil.
the sub should move freely, at least a bit. no scraping, grinding, or noise when you push it. if the sub doesn't pop back to it's resting spot when you stop pushing on it, the sub is blown. the voice coil is shot.
