Subwoofer JL Audio 113v2 vs 112v2 vs 110v2

[Denosaur22]

My brother is looking to sell me his JL Audio Fathom 112v2 and we would try to find a second one used. We were also considering a used pair of Fathom 110v2 and 113v2 from a reseller.

Our current space is 155 inches by 116 inches by 96 inches (ceiling height). Though, our next space would be bigger. We're planning for a space that would be roughly twice the size. So part of what we are considering is future proofing.

We are not sure which of the three would meet our needs now and in the future. We don't want to get something that is more than what we need or pay more than we need to.

Use case examples for each would be helpful. It would give my brain an idea of their differences and give me an idea of their use in different situations and spaces.

Any advice?

 

[Keith_W]

I used to own a pair of JL F110's, but mine were V1's. That taught me a valuable lesson: don't use small subs and expect it to produce enough volume to fill a large space. Always go for the largest subs you can afford / fit into your space, and preferably go with 2 of them. The 10" subs on my JL's made a "flappy" sound when they hit the limit of excursion, which was often - because I had to turn them up to get decent volume.

I switched to Rythmik subs. I have 2x 12" drivers per sub, and I have two of them. My room dimensions are slightly less than double of yours, so I have almost 4x the volume. These are "sufficient" for me, but there are people who have listening rooms the same size as mine and use even bigger subs. I use my subs for classical music, where I need a little bit of bass to fill out the bottom end. I don't use it for HT which requires loud booms and sustained high volume - if you need that, then you need even bigger subs.

 

[Chrispy]

Not a JL fan particularly myself but in that small a room sealed subs like that could work well enough. bigger room later on, hard to know. Finding used stuff to match can be hit or miss, too. How much does he want for it?

 

[Mr. Widget]

Not a JL fan particularly myself but in that small a room sealed subs like that could work well enough. bigger room later on, hard to know. Finding used stuff to match can be hit or miss, too. How much does he want for it?

I've heard quite a few and am generally not unhappy with them, though I don't have any myself.

To the OP:
Subs do not need to match. Why not get the 12" JL from your brother now and add the appropriate similar or larger subs later when you have a larger room that requires the upgrade. With proper placement I would assume a single 12" Fathom will adequately pressurize your room. If the room has pronounced room modes then you will want to add sub(s) to mitigate them.

 

[Chrispy]

I've heard quite a few and am generally not unhappy with them, though I don't have any myself.

The "hearing" of a sub is kinda meaningless without details of how your subjective experience came about. They're sealed subs, with fairly pretty boxes and fairly potent for their size/footprint but generally overpriced and not particularly exceptional otherwise. YMMV.

 

[Descartes]

Had a JL F113” and after five years the sub rubber ripped! They wanted $3000 to replace the driver?

 

[rynberg]

JL subs are well engineered but the primary design goal was small size, not performance. Although nicely sized for a small room like your current one (~13x10), they aren't a good choices for much larger rooms. When you say double the size, do you mean double the cubic feet or do you mean the new room will be 26x20? That's a HUGE difference.

A single Rythmik FV15HP blows a JL F113 out of the water in terms of output and distortion performance. If you want a smaller footprint, a Rythmik F18 (sealed) still has significantly more output and better distortion performance than the F113.

 

[GXAlan]

Had a JL F113” and after five years the sub rubber ripped! They wanted $3000 to replace the driver?

Is this in the US? At least presently, they do $350 woofer and $500 repairs flat fee for the f110 V1. You pay shipping there. They include shipping back.

 

[GXAlan]

JL subs are well engineered but the primary design goal was small size, not performance.

+1

Same with the Velodyne Digital Drive line which is even smaller than the JL Audio.

I have both the f110 and DD10.

A single Rythmik FV15HP blows a JL F113 out of the water in terms of output and distortion performance.

Agreed. Besides Rhythmik, Power Sound Audio is putting out very impressive modern subs which include some small 15” ers.

The Monolith line prioritize sound over “small size” and are great bargains in subwoofers.

 

[Chrispy]

+1

Same with the Velodyne Digital Drive line which is even smaller than the JL Audio.

I have both the f110 and DD10.



Agreed. Besides Rhythmik, Power Sound Audio is putting out very impressive modern subs which include some small 15” ers.

The Monolith line prioritize sound over “small size” and are great bargains in subwoofers.

Small size in a sub is merely a restriction.

 

[Descartes]

Is this in the US? At least presently, they do $350 woofer and $500 repairs flat fee for the f110 V1. You pay shipping there. They include shipping back.

That’s not what they quoted me!

 

[Denosaur22]

Not a JL fan particularly myself but in that small a room sealed subs like that could work well enough. bigger room later on, hard to know. Finding used stuff to match can be hit or miss, too. How much does he want for it?

He's willing to sell it to me for a really good price. A thousand or so. But it will be challenging to find a second for a good deal.

 

[Denosaur22]

JL subs are well engineered but the primary design goal was small size, not performance. Although nicely sized for a small room like your current one (~13x10), they aren't a good choices for much larger rooms. When you say double the size, do you mean double the cubic feet or do you mean the new room will be 26x20? That's a HUGE difference.

A single Rythmik FV15HP blows a JL F113 out of the water in terms of output and distortion performance. If you want a smaller footprint, a Rythmik F18 (sealed) still has significantly more output and better distortion performance than the F113.

It probably won't be an exact one to one doubling in size by length/width. But it would be closer to that size than our current room.

 

[Mr. Widget]

The "hearing" of a sub is kinda meaningless without details of how your subjective experience came about.

I see your point, as every system is just that, a system comprised of room acoustics, placement, electronics, set up and integration with other speakers etc., however my point was that having experienced them in multiple rooms in multiple systems over many years, they have always seemed at least competent and not worthy of negative criticism.

Small size in a sub is merely a restriction.

True, but some times small size is the difference between having sub(s) or not.

 

[FrankF]

If going with JL Audio I would look at the E112 to save money. The DARO on the Fathom is good but if you're using room correction you won't be needing it. The Fathom does not have much output above 80 hz. I've had my Fathoms for 10+ years and JL is a great company to deal with. @GXAlan is correct about US pricing for repairs. Not sure if this will change since they were bought out by Garmin.

Manufacturer	Model	10 hz	12.5 hz	15 hz	20 hz	25 hz	31.5 hz	40 hz	50 hz	63 hz	80 hz	100 hz	125 hz
JL Audio	F113	x	94.5	99.7	104.3	108.5	112.8	117	119.5	119.9	119.2
JL Audo	E112	x	90.7	95.6	100.5	106.2	111.6	115.4	117.7	118	116.7	115.5	114.5
Rythmik	F12	x	x	95	97.6	100.7	107.5	112.3	113.1	114.4	113.6
Rythmik	E15HP2	x
Rythmik	F18	93.7	97.4	102	106.2	110.9	114.3	117.1	119.1	120.5	121.2	121.4	121.4

 

[Denosaur22]

I am not familiar with Rythmik. How do they compare to JL Audio? I like the prices much better and could buy new, instead of used!

I've read JL Audio subwoofers are smaller but were engineered to sound larger than their size (ie. 13in sounds like a comparable 15in). Is this true?

 

[Denosaur22]

If going with JL Audio I would look at the E112 to save money. The DARO on the Fathom is good but if you're using room correction you won't be needing it. The Fathom does not have much output above 80 hz. I've had my Fathoms for 10+ years and JL is a great company to deal with. @GXAlan is correct about US pricing for repairs. Not sure if this will change since they were bought out by Garmin.

Manufacturer	Model	10 hz	12.5 hz	15 hz	20 hz	25 hz	31.5 hz	40 hz	50 hz	63 hz	80 hz	100 hz	125 hz
JL Audio	F113	x	94.5	99.7	104.3	108.5	112.8	117	119.5	119.9	119.2
JL Audo	E112	x	90.7	95.6	100.5	106.2	111.6	115.4	117.7	118	116.7	115.5	114.5
Rythmik	F12	x	x	95	97.6	100.7	107.5	112.3	113.1	114.4	113.6
Rythmik	E15HP2	x
Rythmik	F18	93.7	97.4	102	106.2	110.9	114.3	117.1	119.1	120.5	121.2	121.4	121.4

This was very helpful. Thank you. We do have room correction. Dirac Live with the mini DSP Flex Balanced. It would be TRS to XLR.

The subwoofer my brother is looking to sell me has a very minor crack in the external plastic casing. It's all cosmetic. No damage to internals. Works and sounds the same. They quoted him $1650 for repairs. I could buy a new sub for that.

 

[stren]

Yeah some good feedback in this thread. JL are decent subwoofers that focus on volume efficiency. The Fathoms IMO are particularly overpriced, perhaps because of the upcharge for their built in room correction. The E112 in particular is a good performing sub that makes more value sense (relatively for JL). Being a brand that is sold in audio phile stores they will never be high value particularly compared to online sellers like rythmik, svs, rsl, arendal, psa etc etc. I have a D110 that is decent for it's size, but if I was doing it over I would have bought something else. There are a lot of good options these days, and good data - go review sweetchaos's spreadsheet if you haven't.

 

[GXAlan]

Small size in a sub is merely a restriction.

I like the phrase “constraint”.

I've read JL Audio subwoofers are smaller but were engineered to sound larger than their size (ie. 13in sounds like a comparable 15in). Is this true?

Half true. The JL Audio line is almost 20 years old. Over time, “everyone” has gotten small woofers to do more.

But look at Monolith 13” vs JL Audio f113.
29.1" x 20.3" x 23.8 vs 19.75" x 16.5" x 19.25"

The JL Audio enclosure is also pretty small.

 

[Denosaur22]

Yeah some good feedback in this thread. JL are decent subwoofers that focus on volume efficiency. The Fathoms IMO are particularly overpriced, perhaps because of the upcharge for their built in room correction. The E112 in particular is a good performing sub that makes more value sense (relatively for JL). Being a brand that is sold in audio phile stores they will never be high value particularly compared to online sellers like rythmik, svs, rsl, arendal, psa etc etc. I have a D110 that is decent for it's size, but if I was doing it over I would have bought something else. There are a lot of good options these days, and good data - go review sweetchaos's spreadsheet if you haven't.

Sweetchaos' spreadsheet is amazing! I did not know this existed. Thank you for recommending and sharing.