JL Audio W7, 13W7D15 User Manual

Owner’s Manual

An Introduction

250W 500W 1000W 2000W 4000W125W

Thank you for purchasing a JL Audio W7 subwoofer driver. The W7 embodies JL Audio’s commitment to pushing the envelope of speaker technology, with eight patented technologies, a design patent and a completely unique set of component parts. Each W7 model has been meticulously engineered to reproduce sub-bass with extreme fidelity at any volume level, provided it is installed and tuned properly. Please review the information in this document carefully so as to maximize your enjoyment of the W7’s capabilities.

Two enclosure recommendations are listed for each model, one sealed and one ported. The sealed enclosure design will, in most cases, give you the best overall sound quality and take up the least space in your vehicle. The ported enclosure design will deliver additional output over the sealed enclosure (about 3 - 4 dB more) and will also maintain excellent sound quality, but it will require significantly more space to install. The recommended ported enclosure is not designed for peaky “competition SPL” performance, it is designed for music listening. It will be very loud and sound extremely good when set up properly.

In addition to the enclosure recommendations, we also provide recommended amplifier settings for JL Audio amplifiers used with W7’s. Some of this information is also applicable with other brands of amplifiers (like crossover points and slopes), some is not (like the voltage levels specified for input sensitivity settings). You will notice that our recommended settings do not include any bass EQ boost... this is because W7’s rarely require any equalization to produce smooth frequency response. If you have an equalizer in your system (or one is included in your head unit or amplifier), defeat all bands below 125 Hz before dialing in your new system settings. Please turn off all sound processing that would affect the subwoofers (loudness circuits for example).

For optimum sub-bass performance, the amplifier input sensitivity must be adjusted to avoid excessive distortion (clipping) of the amplifier output. With W7 subwoofers, a clipped amplifier output will

manifest itself audibly as a low-level “mechanical” sound coming from the speakers. Proper input sensitivity setting will avoid this problem. Overly high input sensitivity settings result in no additional clean output but will result in poor sound quality and reduced speaker reliability.

Please consult the input sensitivity setting information on page 14 of this book.

RECOMMENDED CONTINUOUS RMS POWER RANGE FOR ONE SUBWOOFER DRIVER:

GREEN MINIMUM:

From a reliability standpoint, this zone represents a very comfortable operating power range for each driver. This level of power will not stress the woofer but will not extract all of its performance potential, either.

Use of less than the minimum power level will not damage the woofer, but may result in unsatisfactory per formance.

When designing systems with W7 drivers, it is very important to achieve a good power match between the subwoofer amplifier and the subwoofer driver's capabilities. The power levels listed in the above chart represent continuous (RMS) amplifier power per woofer and assume that the user will regularly make full use of that power without drastically overdriving (clipping) the amplifier(s). Make sure you factor system impedance and the total number of subwoofers into your calculations. Adhering to these power recommendations will result in systems that are both reliable and enjoyable.

YELLOW OPTIMUM:

This zone represents the best balance between long-term reliability, high output and low distortion performance. In this zone, you will be taking full advantage of the woofer's optimum, low-d istortion performance range without undue risk of failure.

RED MAXIMUM:

In this zone, low-distortion output and long-term reliability will be compromised (especially by an aggressive user). Slightly more SPL will be gained by pushing the power into this zone, but typically not more than 2dB, compared to the yellow zone. The closer you are to the black zone, the higher the likelihood of driver failure. Operate with caution.

BLACK WARRANTY VOID:

We do not recommend operating woofers at this level of power. In this zone, there is a very high probability that the driver will fail due to excessive heat and/or mechanical stress.

Subwoofer d rivers operated at these levels of power are NOT covered under warranty.

W7 Technologies

1 - OverRoll™ Surround

(U.S. Patent #5,687,247 and #5,949,898)

By utilizing space wasted in conventional speakers, this

ground-breaking innovation controls the W7’s massive

excursion without sacrificing precious cone area.

2 - W-Cone™ (U.S. Patent #6,496,590)

The W-Cone™ is a unit-body cone assembly that delivers

astonishing cone stiffness with minimal mass. The shape

also provides incredible torsional rigidity, which is critical

to maintaining voice coil alignment at the suspension

limits.

3 - Floating-Cone™ Attach Method

(U.S. Patent #6,501,844)

Our newly conceived assembly technique ensures proper

surround geometry in the assembled speaker for better

excursion control and dynamic voice coil alignment.

A small detail that means a lot when you’re pumping the

cone to the excursion extremes the W7 is capable of.

4 - Plateau-Reinforced Spider Attachment

(U.S. Patent #6,118,884)

A derivative of JL Audio’s famous VRC technology, this

bulletproof suspension attachment relieves stress from

the spider material at high-excursions for enhanced

reliability.

5 - Radially Cross-Drilled Pole Piece

(U.S. Patent #6,243,479)

This innovative venting system greatly enhances

thermal dissipation and power handling by directing air

flow onto the voice coil former, working in conjunction

with technology #6.

6 - Massive Forced-Air-Cooled

Aluminum Alloy Frame (U.S. Patent #D472,891,

#6,219,431 and #6,229,902)

The elevated frame design of the W7 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.

7 - Highly Linear, DMA-Optimized Motor System

DMA is JL Audio’s proprietary Dynamic Motor Analysis

system and is aimed at improving dynamic motor

behavior. As a result of DMA optimization, W7 motors

remain linear in motor force over an extreme range

of excursion and also maintain a highly stable fixed

magnetic field in the gap over a wide power range.

This leads to vastly reduced distortion and faithfully

reproduced transients... or put simply: tight, clean,

articulate bass.

8 - Huge Diameter, Progressive-Roll Spider

Arrived at after intense computer analysis and

optimization, the W7 spiders provide precise control

and motor/voice coil alignment without prematurely

limiting excursion.

9 - Co-Extruded Double Lead-Wires

The extruded casing and carefully engineered

attachments ensure controlled lead-wire behavior under

the most extreme excursion demands. Two conductors

are used per connection for ample current carrying

capability.

10 - Ultra-long Voice Coil

To allow extreme linear excursion, phenomenal power

handling and control, control, control.

In addition to the patented technologies listed above, multiple U.S. and International patents are currently pending.

WARNING: Prolonged exposure to high sound pressure levels can lead to permanent hearing loss. W7 subwoofers are

capable of reproducing sound at extremely high sound pressure levels. Please exercise restraint in the operation of your

system in order to preserve your hearing and your long-term enjoyment of this product’s sound quality capabilities.

W7 Mounting Guide

Please review the mounting procedures thoroughly before attempting to remove the speaker from its shipping baffle. The W7 mounts like no other speaker and care must be taken to follow these instructions precisely.

Step 1: Your Tools

When you remove the W7 from its shipping carton, it is attached to an MDF baffle board. Make sure you keep this baffle board and all the packing material in the unlikely event that the W7 ever needs to be shipped back to JL Audio for service.

Two tools are required to install a W7: a large flat blade screwdriver and an electric screwdriver with a #2 Phillipshead bit.

2a 2b

Correct

Step 2: Remove Clamp-Ring

Gently insert the tip of the large flat-head screwdriver between the shiny aluminum clamp-ring and the foam surround (picture 2a). B e careful not to push the screwdriver too far down or it will wedge behind the hidden O -Ring (picture 2b). Gently twist the screwdriver to “pop” the clamp-ring off of the O-Ring and frame (picture 2c). This should require little effort... if you are encountering high resistance, pull the screwdriver up a bit to make sure it is not wedged behind the O-Ring. Once you have released the tip of the clamp-ring, a gentle push with your thumb in the direction of the speaker circumference (picture 2d) will separate the clamp-ring fully (picture 2f ). Do not pull up on the ring until it is completely removed (picture 2g).

Wrong

Step 3: Remove O-Ring

Once the clamp-ring is removed, the steel O-Ring is exposed. Gently lift this O-Ring up and off the speaker with your fingertips and set it aside.

Step 4: Remove Screws

Once the O-Ring is out of the way, the surround is completely free of the speaker frame (no glue is used to secure it). Lift the surround up and fold it back inside the speaker frame (picture 4a). This exposes the mounting screws (picture 4b). The surround should be folded back and in towards the center of th e speake r (pict ure 4c). D o not pull it up (picture 4d) or invert it (picture 4e). While holding the surround back with two fingers as shown, back the first screw out using your electric screwdriver (pi cture 4f, 4g). Repea t this proce ss ele ven mor e time s (ther e are twelve screws o n a W7) u ntil you have separat ed the s peaker

from the shipping baffle-board. Before you panic, be aware that the surround and cone materials are rugged and will not be damaged if you follow the procedures shown. Only careless acts like picking the speaker up by the surround or creasing it by force will cause permanent damage.

Correct

Wrong

Step 5: Ready to Install

You are now ready to install the W7 into its enclosure. The parts are shown below.

Step 6: Connect the speaker wires and place the W7 into the enclosure

Connect the positive wire to the red terminal and the negative wire to the black terminal of the W7 (picture 6a). The 13W7 (not shown) has dual voice coils and must be wired with its coils in series or in parallel. Once the speaker is wired, gently lower it into the enclosure (picture 6b). This is

difficult on a vertical mounting surface (because of the speaker’s

weight) so you should enlist the help of a second person. If you

need a better grip (or are afraid of smashing your fingers)

you can grasp the inside of the speaker’s mounting flange

(remember, the surround moves out of the way). This tip

is particularly useful with the 13W7.

Step 7: Screw it in (12 times)

Line up the screw holes of the frame with the holes that you have predrilled in your enclosure (you did pre-drill the holes, right?). The W7 should be attached with heavy screws such as the ones supplied with the speaker. This will necessitate predrilling. The use of inferior hardware (i.e. drywall screws) may lead to disastrous consequences, so don’t do it. While holding the surround back with two fingers (picture 7a), screw the speaker into the enclosure (picture 7b). Once all twelve screws are in place (you did use all twelve, right?), place the surround back over the outside of the speaker frame (picture 7c).

Step 8: Attach O-Ring

Next, take the steel O-Ring that you removed in step 3, and place it over the outside of the surround. Push it down evenly (do not seat one side

first) to make sure it seats the lower

lip of the surround down to the

frame (pictures 8a, 8b).

the clamp-ring is “pointing” towards the front of the speaker. The clamp-ring is only designed to work in this orientation.

Be sure that the beveled edge of

“click”

Step 9: Attach Clamp-Ring

Place the seam of the clamp-ring where it will be least visible in the installation (usually at the bottom of the speaker). Start one end of the clamp-ring by pressing i t in firmly (pictures 9a, 9b). Then work your way around from that point around the speaker, pushing the clamp -ring inward and in the direction of the circumference of the frame (pictures 9c, 9d). If you have achieved a tight fit all around, the seam will be small when you reach the starting point again (pictures 9e, 9f). Check the entire circumference for a tight fit just to be sure.

That’s it!

You’ve just installed a W7!

+ 11 hidden pages