JL Audio 12W7 Car Speaker

The design goals of the W7 subwoofers were daunting: To combine sublime sound quality and graceful linearity with raw output on an unprecedented scale. Creating a woofer that was simply loud would have required far less work, but it would not have been in keeping with the philosophy of "sound quality first". Many technical obstacles had to be overcome to make W7's a reality.

On the power handling front, two new (patent-pending) technologies were developed: a radially cross-drilled pole piece and a unique vented alloy frame that provides direct cooling to the top-plate of the driver. Combined with massive voice coils, these techniques deliver remarkable real-world power handling and prevent power compression effects from affecting sound quality during critical listening.

On the output front, the W7's push the envelope of high-excursion driver design to new levels, without sacrificing cone area. This is possible due to the patented OverRoll surround design which permits the use of a large roll without a cone area penalty. Peak linear displacement is at least 90% greater than a comparably sized W3 driver, resulting in absolutely dominant output potential.

The diaphragm design of the W7 takes an architectural approach to improving rigidity. A new (and patent-pending) W-Cone design achieves unprecedented stiffness and torsional rigidity without resorting to heavy metal or composite materials. It also isolates the diaphragm in contact with the listening environment completely from the pressure in the enclosure, further minimizing cone deformation at the extreme output levels that the W7's can generate.