# Old school JL fans.. W1 or W0..What would you choose?



## Buickmike

I was a huge fan of JL W1 series back in the day and of course the W6's ruled back in those days. I still have a 10w0 and for some reason I think the W1's sounded better, but I could be very wrong. I have someone wanting to trade my old 12W3 for a pair of 8W0's. I honestly don't like the W3 and would like some 8's. Should I go for this or hold out for some W1's?


----------



## Marky

I have four 8W0-4 and they sound like ass to me. I would trade it for a peanut butter sandwich. I need to do something with mine. They are just not good sounding woofers at all. 
I later bought some JL 8WV3-4 woofers and those things are incredible to say the least, especially considering I was pushing about 90 watts to them.

So yea my vote is dump it.


----------



## Buickmike

Thanks for responding. I really liked the W-1 line and thought they were miles beyond the W-0 series. I had a 12 and a pair of 8's in sealed and ported. The 8's in sealed hit so hard they hurt and in ported they were amazing. I still have a 10W0 and it sounds like crap to me. My 12W1's sounded fantastic in sealed and 4th order. Just wanted a second opinion. 

FYI I know the W3 series is much better than the W0 as i have a 12", but it is still no comparison for the W6's that came before it. I think I may put all my 2nd gen JL's up for sale.


----------



## vwguy383

Marky said:


> I have four 8W0-4 and they sound like ass to me. I would trade it for a peanut butter sandwich. I need to do something with mine. They are just not good sounding woofers at all.
> I later bought some JL 8WV3-4 woofers and those things are incredible to say the least, especially considering I was pushing about 90 watts to them.
> 
> So yea my vote is dump it.


I've got some PB sandwiches for you. Just tell me where to ship them. I loved my old 8WO's. People couldn't believe that I only had two 8 inch subs in my car.


----------



## Marky

vwguy383 said:


> I've got some PB sandwiches for you. Just tell me where to ship them. I loved my old 8WO's. People couldn't believe that I only had two 8 inch subs in my car.


Well I still have my four upstairs in their boxes. I'm sure we can work something out if you want to relive earlier times.


----------



## Buickmike

I never had an issue with SPL regarding the W0 line. They just have nothing to show for them in regards to good sound. The W1's were pretty amazing in the right boxes. My 12's in .75 sealed would hit hard in my hatch backs. The 8's in 0.5 sealed in an MR2 were brutally hard hitting. They literally hurt. Then I had them in 1.0 ported in a single cab Ranger. Clean and musical! Loud as hell too. Had them off a Hifonics Cupid. Put two 12W1's in a 4th order in the back of my buddy's Ford Festiva. Holy crap that was hard hitting and loud! Just never got any good results out of the W0 or W3 line like I did before.

Right now I would love a pair of 10 or 12" W1's for my GN.


----------



## JayinMI

We aren't talking the gray cone W1's are we? Cause those sounded like ass. OLD W0's were decent. Old W1's were decent. But those gray ones? Blech.

Jay


----------



## Buickmike

JayinMI said:


> We aren't talking the gray cone W1's are we? Cause those sounded like ass. OLD W0's were decent. Old W1's were decent. But those gray ones? Blech.
> 
> Jay


Nope. Talking about OG JL's.


----------



## jthicks1

I might be interested in taking them off your hands


----------



## wagonmaster

A little of topic. my first experience was with the w6 line. Still have the trio of 8w6s I purchase through the dealer program. plus another I picked up later. When I was first in the business 93-94. The normal install was a PPI A600 and three 10w6s in a sealed box. a PPI A404 to run the rest. Those 10w6s would rip your head off in the right vehicle.

Ever since I have been a fan of the JL Audios. had an original 12w3-6 in my Comp car. still have that too. Would love to find 2 more. 

Tim


----------



## JPOSEY

wagonmaster said:


> A little of topic. my first experience was with the w6 line. Still have the trio of 8w6s I purchase through the dealer program. plus another I picked up later. When I was first in the business 93-94. The normal install was a PPI A600 and three 10w6s in a sealed box. a PPI A404 to run the rest. Those 10w6s would rip your head off in the right vehicle.
> 
> Ever since I have been a fan of the JL Audios. had an original 12w3-6 in my Comp car. still have that too. Would love to find 2 more.
> 
> Tim


The original W6's had great SQ, if there is such a thing for a sub. When they introduced the W3's the W3's were louder given that they had more excursion, but I always felt the W6's sounded better.


----------



## Buickmike

JPOSEY said:


> The original W6's had great SQ, if there is such a thing for a sub. When they introduced the W3's the W3's were louder given that they had more excursion, but I always felt the W6's sounded better.


Exactly. The W6's were the high end line that existed at the same time as the W1's. Not as much excursion as the W3's and W0's that replaced them, but they sounded so much better! I just put my 12W3 in a 4th order box ported into the passenger compartment of my GN. Not my favorite sub, but JL's work really well in 4th order vs. other subs I've used. It fixed all the issues that I had with subs in the trunk of the car, but I am just underwhelmed with the sound quality.


----------



## SHAGGS

Just sold my minty 15W6 ( bought new, circa 1999-2000) this summer.
Knew I'd regret it, as soon as I let it go, but I just couldn't see myself ever having a use/application for it.
It was a shame to see it just sit on the shelf, waiting for the surround to rot.
So I found it a good home.

The first _*REAL*_ subs I bought were a pair of 12W1's (sealed) summer of '97. 
I was 17, and didn't even own a car. Just wanted them sooooo bad.
First summer job in high school, didn't have enough to buy a car, so I bought the next best thing. Car Audio!
Ran them in my bedroom, for 3-4 years, before selling them, with my 1st car.
Bought a pair of 12W3V2's summer of 2004. Sealed as well, just wasn't the same.
Since then, I've run a 10W3V2 (currently running) an 8W3V1, and a 12W7.


----------



## gumbeelee

I was always a w1 fan way back in the day, but that was when i absolutely knew nothing about car audio. So i would choose the w1


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Buickmike

Thanks for the pic of the W6. I forgot that generation had the smaller logos on the dustcaps. Now maybe I can search for some with ease.


----------



## 555nova

I really want to find a pair of the original half moon shaped micro subs.


----------



## Buickmike

Well, I finally scored myself a pair of W1 JL's. They are 10W1-8's to be exact. Still in awesome shape including the foam surrounds. I threw them in a sealed enclosure that is .75ft per side that I had laying around and tested them in the trunk of my Grand Marquis. All I can say is WOW! They are exactly how I remembered and miles better than my W0's. They are musical, play deep, hit hard, and are very efficient. I had the rear channels of an Xtant 404M pushing them and it did a decent job. Then, I put them in the trunk of my GN. Nothing has ever sounded good sealed in that car. These sounded perfect. Guess I'm going to be pulling the 12W3 out now. 

I'm going to play with ported and 4th order with these too. 

The mounting depth is pretty shallow at around 5", which makes them perfect for going under rear truck seats. They also like small enclosures if you listen to rock. At .75ft, these are deep as hell. I ran a 12W1 in this enclosure and it was the sweet spot for rock. I'll bet these work well in .65. I have a box that size and will test.


----------

