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 10W1v3-4

by John Pollard

Legendary JL Audio engineering

The affordable W1v3 subwoofer incorporates patented features developed by JL Audio for their legendary W7 subs. Special venting keeps the W1v3 sub running cool for trouble-free performance, while extensive research in cone bonding and motor assembly construction keeps its cone movement linear for precise, dependable output. The cone interlocks with the dust cap for superior rigidity, and a sophisticated suspension system keeps internal parts aligned properly when you're jamming hard.

These subs look as good as they sound.

Solid bass made for compact boxes

The low-profile 10W1v3-4 10" subwoofer works best in compact enclosures, so you can put quality bass in smaller and hard-to-fit vehicles. It features a polypropylene cone with an embossed JL Audio logo for a look that stands out as much as the sound. The removable, customizable trim ring lets you put a personal touch on your system, and makes optional grille installation a snap. This punchy W1v3 sub works well with moderate power, delivering impressive performance without costing a fortune.

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Highlights:

10" 4-ohm subwoofer
polypropylene cone with nitrile-butylene rubber surround
power range: 75-300 watts RMS
peak power handling: 600 watts
frequency response: 25-250 Hz
sensitivity: 84.2 dB
top-mount depth: 4-5/8"
sealed box volume: 0.55 cubic feet
warranty: 1 year
Our 60-day money-back guarantee

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...	10 -inch
Impedance Loading...	4 ohms
Cone Material Loading...	Mica-filled polypropylene
Surround Material Loading...	Rubber
Ideal Sealed Box Volume (cubic feet) Loading...	0.55
Ideal Ported Box Volume (cubic feet) Loading...	N/A
Port diameter (inches) Loading...	N/A
Port length (inches) Loading...	N/A
Free-Air Loading...	No
Dual Voice Coil Loading...	No
Sensitivity Loading...	84.2 dB at 1 watt
Frequency Response Loading...	25 - 250 Hz
RMS Power Range (Watts) Loading...	75-300
Peak Power Handling (Watts) Loading...	600
Top Mount Depth (inches) Loading...	4 5/8
Bottom Mount Depth (inches) Loading...	N/A
Cutout Diameter or Length (inches) Loading...	8 7/8
Vas (liters) Loading...	43.41
Fs (Hz) Loading...	26.15
Qts Loading...	0.446
Xmax (millimeters) Loading...	11.4
Parts Warranty Loading...	1 Year
Labor Warranty Loading...	1 Year

Product Research

What's in the box?

10" Single 4-ohm voice coil 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

Woofer: The JL Audio W1v3-4 subwoofer features an injection-molded, mica-filled polypropylene cone with an embossed metallic JL Audio logo and a rubber surround for added durability, woofer excursion and bass response.

Dynamic Motor Analysis (DMA): DMA is JL Audio's proprietary method of improving dynamic motor behavior. As a result of DMA optimization, W1v3-4 motors remain linear over a long excursion range, and also maintain a highly stable fixed magnetic field in the gap over a wide power range. The result is 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: The Vented Reinforcement Collar (VRC) is a composite structure that addresses two issues related to reliability:

Stress Relief: By reinforcing the critical junction between the cone, voice coil and spider, the VRC greatly reduces failures due to glue breakdown or material weakness. It does this by increasing adhesive contact area and providing stress relief to the spider material at excursion extremes.
Air Flow: The VRC also features slots that facilitate air flow directly onto the voice coil windings, thus reducing thermal compression effects and enhancing reliability.

Insert Molded Suspension/Coil/Terminal Sub-Assembly: The W1v3-4 features a unique spider, coil and terminal subassembly, assembled prior to installation in the speaker frame for optimum alignment and glue-joint integrity. This type of assembly ensures precise lead wire length, lead wire entry and exit angles, and coil/spider alignment.

Elevated Frame Cooling System: The elevated frame design of the W1v3-4 delivers cool air 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.

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 an optional grille mesh insert specifically designed to fit into the inner diameter of the trim ring (item number 136SGR1031, sold separately).

Enclosure Compatibility

Recommended Enclosure: JL Audio recommends a sealed enclosure for the 10W1v3-4. A vented enclosure is not recommended. The optimum sealed box volume is 0.55 ft³.