Like the title says, why are they so damn expensive? Are they really that much better than the W6's? Anybody have a W7 yet?

 

They are a private company, and you gotta pay for the name. They are awesome speakers, but you can do almost as good for much less.

 

Yeah....technology costs $$$$...and the subs are worth it.
If you want more economical bang for your buck look at
the W6v2 or even the W3v2...also great subs.

It all really depends on available sub amp wattage....sorta akin
to killing a fly with a 12ga or hunting a goose with a flyswatter..
( both methods work one's overkill while the other will take some time
if it even works at all)...gotta use the right tool for the job.

"......lick da toad"

 

My friends got a W7 in the highout put box, and he swears its the best thing in the world, i guess the price just becasue it is JL and they put "millions" into the development of the speaker. It Does sound great for being 1 speaker pushed to 1000 watts, but so will 3 12s with a much cheaper setup.

 

The real reason why it costs that much.....because people will pay for it. It's real simple...supply & demand. If no one bought them, the price would drop. They sell, so the price stays where it's at. Consumers percieve their value to match the price tag.

The reasons that JL can justify it....well they have 10yrs of R&D into it. They've been marketing this line like crazy, and they can't be cheap to manufacture. Regardless, I'm sure they are cutting a HUGE margin on them.

 

HUGE margin is an understatement. those things are about 70 to 80% profit. Nevertheless they are the best subs I have heard EVER. While I am one of those lucky enough to not have to pay full retail price for them I still think they are worth every penny. They are the only subs I have heard that have a perfect balance between volume and clarity. They are some of the cleanest subs I have ever heard and with the right power can be some of the loudest subs you will ever hear. We put a 10hz note through a 10w7 with 1000 watts on it at work the other day and it didn't miss a beat. I don't know of many other 10" subs that can put out a 10hz note and not fry themselves trying.

 

Most subs use off the shelf parts. The JL motor and basket are completely custom designed. I am sure R&D costed a bundle, but the parts are probably about the price of any others to produce. Until someone else can compete and force it's price down, we have to pay

There are many stellar examples for half the price though like brahma, RExxx, and better audio. They all use xbl^2.

 

i have one 10W7 pushed by a 500/1 JL mono amp in a sealed box (jl specs)
after the approx. 2 week break in period, this 1 sub kicks ****.
after i got the settings on the amp right, and the break in...omg

i got a deal on my setup because my cousin works for the good guys...or used
to atleast...but i must say, if i had to do it all over again..i would have probably
gone with the image dynamics IDMAX sub (12 inch sub handles 1000 watts RMS)
since you can get them on ebay for like 300 each and theyre probably not a
b*tch to mount.

 

If you want to know why....go pick one up and feel how heavy it is. It probably weighs as much as 3 12" subs put together. The thing is amazing, but if you want something comparable....get the W6V2 or W3V2.

 

what does its weight have to do with anything?

 

because the bigger the magnet the better the speaker, therefore the more expensive

 

LoL... please hit whoever told you that

 

Why??? are you telling me that a speaker with a 2" magnet is going to be louder and better than one with a 4" magnet, especially a W7....I don't think so

 

What he is telling you is that a terd with a big magnet is a terd with a big magnet. Nobody is knocking JL. But magnet size is not the only thing that goes into determining the quality of a speaker.

 

part of the cost is the name
recently heard two cars running mmats subs and amps....personally I think its just as good as JL if not better...plus its cheaper than JL

 

I know that....but I'm trying to tell you that this sub is of JL quality with a huge freaking magnet. It bangs so much harder than any other sub I've heard.

 

But there were a lot of other design decisions that they made along the way to influence that too. EX: The cone area is larger on the sub because the surround connects to the outside edge of the basket. Due to its design it can have a large surround and a larger cone area.

To answer the original question, The number one reason why JL's are so expensive is that they have built enough name recognition to be able to get people to pay that much for their product.

R&D costs money. They have a good product. But the number one reason that I see is that people will pay for their name.


[Modified by 1BlackHatch, 9:28 PM 3/10/2003]

 

I completely forgot about this thread since I rarely check the audio/security section. I still think the price is pretty steep. I've heard W6's that sounded perfect and I can't imagine how it can get any better than that. I'm gonna have to hear this sub out for myself. Thanks for all the informative feedback.

 

You can pick up a 10w6v2 off an online store for $289 shipped and I think that is a hell of a deal. You get at least 9/10 the performance of the w7 at about half of the cost. Although this is all second hand knowledge, I have yet to hear a w7 personally (only heared about them). I did have older w6's though and they were great.

I am going to be building a system here in the near future and I think the 10w6v2 will be my sub of choice.

 

Now dont get me wrong, i have the first W6 12" w/ 540 watts and it beats like all hell. and is a year or two old! But the W7 is ****** GOD!!!!!!!! If you dont have the money, then dont play with that rank of audio delight! Itll break your windows with the deepest hardest slam you have ever heard/felt or it will replicate the vibrations of a rumble of thunder! There is no equal substitute! The next two best things are the flame series audiobahn and as always an orion hcca comp.

Have you thought about lookin on ebay? Buy it now 450 or less!

thought my 2 cents wouldnt hurt! (at least i didnt make fun of anyone!)

 

They are way overpriced woofers. With 1100w to each 12 I have tried several woofers that are louder and sound equally or near equally as good. For 1/4-1/2 the price. I have a ported set up though, I never had a chance to audition them in a sealed box, I had them for a week, got them to turn a profit on them. The woofers that were louder that I tried were:

Planet Audio Big Bang 12
Digital Designs 9512d
Bostwick DCL Drag r

 

How much are the dd 95xx's?

 

What are the W6v2's? Are they the newer W6's or something?

 

Yeap, version 2.

 

This is exactly the reason. I think they are actually cheaper than you think to produce. They are making a huge profit along with the retailers. As more companies enter this market prices will fall. I don't really see this happening though because the stereo market doesn't seem to be a big as it used to be. I think this is partly because the racer market and people are just tired of getting their sh** ripped off. So smaller market means higher prices.



[Modified by nsxxtreme, 8:54 PM 3/11/2003]