What's a component sub and why would I want one?

A component sub is simply a speaker that's designed to reproduce bass once it's installed in a compatible enclosure. Think about the impact of a movie soundtrack in a big theater or even in your own home HDTV setup. A component sub can add the same kind of power to the music in your car. And a car sub is not all about the boom that you hear on a street corner (although that's cool too) - you can pair a component sub with your choice of enclosure to get bass just the way you like it, from tight and punchy to fat and loose. And once you experience music in your car with a well-tuned subwoofer, you'll never go back.

Our take on the JL Audio 13W3v3-4

by Dominic Devito

Remarkably realistic bass

JL Audio designed their W3v3 subwoofers to deliver powerful, accurate bass with a medium-power amplifier. Their extensive motor assembly research resulted in a design that ensures smooth, precise cone movement at any power level. Exclusive cooling features shunt heat away from the sub's internal motor structure for long term durability and reduced distortion. The W3v3 sub works well in a sealed or ported enclosure.

Well-rounded performance

The 13W3v3-4 subwoofer boasts a 13.5" mineral-filled polypropylene cone with a distinctive metallic JL Audio medallion. A patented design eases the stress felt by the rubber surround during cone movement, for increased reliability and consistent bass output. The removable, customizable trim ring accepts optional JL Audio grilles, and can be painted to enhance your installation.

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Highlights:

13.5" 4-ohm subwoofer
mineral-filled polypropylene cone with nitrile-butylene rubber surround
power range: 150-600 watts RMS
peak power handling: 1,200 watts
frequency response: 20-200 Hz
sensitivity: 87.9 dB
top-mount depth: 7-5/8"
sealed box volume: 1.5 cubic feet
ported box volume: 2.25 cubic feet
warranty: 1 year
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Priced per speaker

Hands-on research from the Crutchfield Labs (what are the Labs?)

Features and specs chart | What’s in the box? | In-depth notes

Features and Specs


Size Loading...	13.5 -inch
Impedance Loading...	4 ohms
Cone Material Loading...	Mineral-filled poly
Surround Material Loading...	Rubber
Ideal Sealed Box Volume (cubic feet) Loading...	1.5
Ideal Ported Box Volume (cubic feet) Loading...	2.25
Port diameter (inches) Loading...	N/A
Port length (inches) Loading...	N/A
Free-Air Loading...	No
Dual Voice Coil Loading...	No
Sensitivity Loading...	87.9 dB at 1 watt
Frequency Response Loading...	20 - 200 Hz
RMS Power Range (Watts) Loading...	150-600
Peak Power Handling (Watts) Loading...	1200
Top Mount Depth (inches) Loading...	7 5/8
Bottom Mount Depth (inches) Loading...	N/A
Cutout Diameter or Length (inches) Loading...	12 3/8
Vas (liters) Loading...	135.74
Fs (Hz) Loading...	23.66
Qts Loading...	0.435
Xmax (millimeters) Loading...	15.5
Parts Warranty Loading...	1 Year
Labor Warranty Loading...	1 Year

Product Research

What's in the box?

Download owner's manual

13.5" Subwoofer
Black plastic trim ring
Owner's Manual

Our Product Research Team

At Crutchfield, you'll get detailed, accurate information that's hard to find elsewhere. That's because we have our own in-house Product Research team — they open the box, verify contents, check the owner's manual, and record dimensions, features and specs. We stay on top of new products and technologies to help people make informed choices.

Features
Enclosure Compatibility

Features

Dynamic Motor Analysis (DMA): DMA is JL Audio's proprietary method aimed at improving dynamic motor behavior. As a result of DMA optimization, W3v3 motors remain linear in motor force over a very long range of excursion, and also maintain a highly stable fixed magnetic field in the gap over a wide power range. The result is vastly reduced distortion, faithfully reproduced transients, and tight, clean, articulate bass.

Floating Cone Attachment Method (FCAM): JL Audio's patented FCAM technology is an innovative method of bonding the surround/cone assembly to the voice coil/spider assembly. This assembly technique ensures proper surround geometry in the assembled speaker for better excursion control and dynamic voice coil alignment.

Vented Reinforcement Collar (VRC): The Vented Reinforcement Collar is a composite structure that addresses two issues related to reliability. By reinforcing the critical junction between the cone, voice coil and spider, the VRC greatly reduces failures due to glue breakdown or material weaknesses. It does this by greatly increasing adhesive contact area and providing stress relief to the spider material at excursion extremes. the VRC also feature slots that facilitate air flow directly onto the voice coil windings to reduce thermal compression effects and enhances reliability.

Spider/Lead Wire Assembly: The W3v3 features a unique spider, coil and terminal subassembly which is assembled prior to installation in the speaker frame for optimum alignment and glue-joint integrity. The spider is insert-molded into a composite carrier tray which also incorporates the terminal assembly and lead wire strain relief features for enhanced reliability and optimal alignment of parts. The flying lead wires are carefully controlled and strain-relieved without resorting to woven-in lead wires, which can degrade spider performance.

Elevated Frame Cooling: The elevated frame design of the W3v3 delivers high-velocity air flow through slots directly above the top plate to the voice coil of the speaker. This not only enhances power handling, but also sound quality by minimizing dynamic parameter shifts and power compression.

Surround Stress Relief: By creating a radius feature on the edge of the cone, stress is relieved from the surround material at maximum forward excursion, resulting in longer life and more consistent surround behavior.

Customizable Trim Ring: The woofer comes with a removable ring made of black ABS plastic which can be painted to match the installation theme and create a personalized look. You can purchase optional grille mesh inserts which are specifically designed to fit into the inner diameter of the trim ring.

Enclosure Compatibility

Recommended Sealed Box Volume: The sealed box size recommended by JL Audio is 1.5 cu/ft. A diagram is provided in the owner's manual for a sealed box with external dimensions of 16" W x 16" H x 14.625" D, assuming 3/4" thick material. (If you are using 5/8" thick materials, you should subtract 1/4" from each dimension.)

Recommended Ported Box Volume: The ported box size recommended by JL Audio is 2.25 cu/ft. A diagram is provided in the owner's manual for a sealed box with external dimensions of 23.75" W x 17" H x 16.625" D, assuming 3/4" thick material. (If you are using 5/8" thick materials, you should subtract 1/4" from each dimension.) A slot port is recommended with the following dimensions: