About the JBL Arena 12
The voice of experience
The voice of experience
For over 70 years JBL has brought its experience and expertise to bear in fields ranging from home entertainment to stadium systems, and car audio is no exception. Their Arena subwoofers' innovative features and proprietary design puts them at the top of their class.
Wiring flexibility
Arena subs feature JBL's patented Selectable Smart Impedance (SSI) technology. You can choose 2-ohm or 4-ohm impedance with the flip of a switch, giving you an easy way to configure the Arena for your changing needs as you expand your system. Its dual 2.5" voice coils are suspended in separate magnetic gaps, allowing them to apply extra force at low and high sound levels. A vented pole piece helps dissipate heat when the sub is working hard.
The cone zone
The Arena uses JBL's proprietary Symmetrical Field Geometry design to ensure accuracy at any volume level. The sub's composite paper cone and nitrile butadiene rubber surround punch out the lows with accuracy and power, while the vented cast-aluminum frame dissipates the heat generated when the sub is rocking. A progressive spider helps the cone bear up under the load and keep things on track.
Plenty of power
And when we say "power," we mean 800 watts RMS (2400 watts peak), so be sure to feed this sub with an amplifier that can drive it to its fullest extent. Its gold-plated terminal binding posts make sure that all the signal gets to the speaker so you get all the output you're sending to the speaker. So crank it up, and enter the Arena for an audio experience like no other.
Product highlights:
- 12" component subwoofer
- Selectable Smart Impedance (SSI) lets you switch between 2-ohm and 4-ohm impedance
- composite paper concave cone and dustcap
- nitrile butadiene rubber surround
- vented cast aluminum basket
- dual 2.5" voice coils
- power handling: 800 watts RMS (2400 watts peak)
- frequency range: 29-1500 Hz
- sensitivity (2.83V/1m): 87.5 dB
- top-mount depth: 6.75"
- cutout diameter: 11.286"
- sealed box volume: 2.33 cubic feet
- ported box volume: 2.33 cubic feet
- grille not included
- warranty: 1 year
- Our 60-day money-back guarantee
- MFR # JBLSUBAR12AM
What's in the box:
- One 12" Subwoofer
- Screw cover trim ring
- Adhesive-backed foam gasket
- Eight 1-1/8" Screws
- Owner's manual (English/ French/ Spanish/ Russian/ Chinese/ Indonesian)
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More details on the JBL Arena 12
Features & specs
| Size | 12 -inch | |
| Impedance (Ohms) | 2, 4 | |
| Cone Material | Composite Paper | |
| Surround Material | Nitrile Butadiene Rubber | |
| Ideal Sealed Box Volume (cubic feet) | 2.33 | |
| Ideal Ported Box Volume (cubic feet) | 2.33 | |
| Port diameter (inches) | 3.54 | |
| Port length (inches) | 15.75 | |
| Free-Air | Yes | |
| Dual Voice Coil | No | |
| Sensitivity |
87.5 dB at 2.83 volts | |
| Frequency Response | 29 - 1500 Hz | |
| Max RMS Power Handling | 800 | |
| Peak Power Handling (Watts) | 2400 | |
| Top Mount Depth (inches) | 6 3/4 | |
| Bottom Mount Depth (inches) | N/A | |
| Cutout Diameter or Length (inches) | 11 5/16 | |
| Vas (liters) | 38.72 | |
| Fs (Hz) | 31.1 | |
| Qts | 1.012 | |
| Xmax (millimeters) | 11 | |
| Parts Warranty | 1 Year | |
| Labor Warranty | 1 Year | |
Product Research
Features
Selectable Smart Impedance (SSI): A switch on the input terminal allows you to easily change the woofer's impedance between 2 and 4 ohm settings. (The connected amplifier should be off when changing the impedance.) The power handling is the same for either setting; 800 watts RMS/2400 watts peak.
Terminal: The spring post terminals will accept bare wire up to 8 gauge.
Sealed Box: JBL recommends a sealed enclosure with an internal volume of 2.33 ft³. Sealed enclosures provide the most control over a woofer and provide accurate sonic reproduction, making them suitable to all types of music.
Ported Box: JBL recommends a ported enclosure with an internal volume of 2.33 ft³ using one 3.54" diameter x 15.75" long port, resulting in a tuning frequency of 25.1 Hz. They also recommend using a sub-sonic filter. Ported enclosures typically provide better overall efficiency above the tuning frequency than sealed enclosures, so they are suitable for use with smaller amplifiers, giving you more bass output from a given amount of power.
Free-air Mounting: In addition to being compatible with sealed and ported enclosures, the woofer can be used in free-air applications. A free-air subwoofer is designed to be mounted on a baffle board, which separates the front of the speaker from the back. For instance, you could mount this woofer to a board attached to the rear deck or placed in the trunk against the rear seat. The trunk acts as the enclosure housing the subwoofer. Because there is no specific volume of air to stiffen the suspension, the free-air power handling is approximately half that of the woofer in a box, in this case 400 watts RMS.
Thiele-Small Parameters: Because the woofer has two impedance settings, there are two sets of Thiele-Small parameters:
| 2 ohm | 4 ohm | |
| DC Resistance (ohm) | 2.16 | 4.26 |
| Inductance (mH) | 1.265 | 0.621 |
| Vas (liters) | 38.720 | 41.446 |
| Qms | 11.669 | 5.914 |
| Qes | 1.108 | 1.311 |
| Qts | 1.012 | 1.073 |
| Fs (Hz) | 31.1 | 30.9 |
| Radiating Area (cm²) | 510.71 | 510.71 |
| Xmax (mm) | 11 | 11 |
| Motor Force Factor (TM) | 9.726 | 12.201 |
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