# JL AUDIO 10 TW3



## boricua69 (Oct 14, 2009)

Outstanding upfront subwoofer installation. Very good performance in very small enclosure. I have been waiting for some 10"sub that can fix in front and pound like a 12" in 0.52cft. I hated trunk enclosure, excess vibrations and time alignment. Now everything match and pure organic music can be appreciate.

The installation is not finish yet. Some raw pics.
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## Brian_smith06 (Jan 31, 2008)

Very nice. Been wanting to upgrade the sub in the stealthbox in my center console.


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

This is the exact subwoofer I'm looking to get. Looking forward to your review.


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## Topdown (Aug 12, 2009)

I picked up a set for my Jeep not long ago... amazing sub for a shallow. Running off an HD 900/5 (250w to each 10) they are tight, musical and sound great. in my install (down firing in the back of a plastic-topped jeep) they dont dig super deep, but they are a fantastic subwoofer - cant wait for your review


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## soundqdoug (Jul 1, 2008)

I love this woofer. Definitely my favorite in the shallow category...I replaced a Helix E8 with one of these, and the difference was astronomical! Nice grille too, for those who care...


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

I used one of these in an up front sealed enclosure in my mazda 3 as well. They have very nice impact, however, they sacrifice a little on the low frequency extension. With a 0.5 cubic foot airspace, I replaced the JL 10" tw3 with an SI BM mkIV 12" in the same 0.5 cube and it totally walks all over the JL in terms of clean, low frequency sq performance. Just a tremendous subwoofer. And I believe similarly priced as well.

Soundqdoug and boricua69, if you love the 10tw3, give the Si BM mkIV a try. You'll be shocked at how low this thing can play in a half cube.


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## boricua69 (Oct 14, 2009)

captainobvious said:


> I used one of these in an up front sealed enclosure in my mazda 3 as well. They have very nice impact, however, they sacrifice a little on the low frequency extension. With a 0.5 cubic foot airspace, I replaced the JL 10" tw3 with an SI BM mkIV 12" in the same 0.5 cube and it totally walks all over the JL in terms of clean, low frequency sq performance. Just a tremendous subwoofer. And I believe similarly priced as well.
> 
> Soundqdoug and boricua69, if you love the 10tw3, give the Si BM mkIV a try. You'll be shocked at how low this thing can play in a half cube.


Very good! Fs is much lower! where can i found one of those for a test. What is the price?
Thanks for the information.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

No problem.

You can find them and purchase them here: BM mk IV 12″ Subwoofer | Stereo Integrity


There's also a nice thread here on the site started by the designer: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/general-car-audio-discussion/167399-bm-mkiv-price-reduction.html


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

Dropped off the RX 350 off today to get it installed. It'll be done by tomorrow. Excited. Yaay! Anxious to hear what this little wafer can do. It's unfortunate that I won't be able to see this little guy at work as it will be a down firing/corner loading sub. Should give it a very good sound.


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

Another day...


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## 92blacktt (Dec 18, 2008)

interesting, how high can these subs extend?


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

92blacktt said:


> interesting, how high can these subs extend?


They're not exactly the lowest distortion subs out there so I wouldn't expect them to be mated up with a small midrange. How high are you looking to have them play?


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## 92blacktt (Dec 18, 2008)

captainobvious said:


> They're not exactly the lowest distortion subs out there so I wouldn't expect them to be mated up with a small midrange. How high are you looking to have them play?


around 250hz, I have room in my doors for a 10"x5" (2 door gt car with massive doors), measured internal volume to over 1.5ft^3


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

I wouldn't recommend it up to 250hz. Maybe 100hz


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

92blacktt said:


> interesting, how high can these subs extend?


This from JL...

(JL Audio)
Jan 15 09:19
The frequency response is 20 to 150HZ. If you are having a box built, I suggest doing one with an internal air space of .6cuft.


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

Progress!! A pic of the raw 10" .50 cu ft box. It'll be here till Saturday. Excited.


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

Yaay!

OK, installed and I'll do a review of it by this time next weekend.


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## diy.phil (May 23, 2011)

^hmmm.. that means you're rocking a new JL sub now!!! (?)
(I was nearby there again today a few buildings away.)


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

diy.phil said:


> ^hmmm.. that means you're rocking a new JL sub now!!! (?)
> (I was nearby there again today a few buildings away.)


Yes. I don't want to give to much away but "rocking" is maybe stretching it. Let's use the word...sublime or sq.


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

I've had this sub for couple weeks now and has given me time to explore various genres of music. Powering this is my JL Audio XD 600/1 Ned D amp. Installed in a 2009 RX 350 my options for placement were limited. Looking hard I decided to opt for the removal of a the container tray that held a scissor jack and other tire exchange tools. In it's place was put the .05 cu ft subwoofer that measured approximately 6" high x 21" Length x 12" wide. Installing this had other benefits such as lessening road noise that's notorious in any "cabin" like SUV, stealth install and IMHO aesthetics.

In picking music your only going to get good if you give good. My first choice was the stellar CD by Papa doo run run "The California project" by Telarc. Flat out outstanding natural reproduction of kick drums and cymbals I've heard.










In the opening of the third track "Don't worry baby" one hears the solid crisp hit of the kick drums that the sub reproduces meticulously. Snappy, clean and full. This track gives the mid, mid woofer and sub a good indication of where they stand. 
On "California girls" the sub comes alive a notch and really shakes the floor board of the SUV with it's solid drum beats. 
But the deepest base on this track has to be "Surfer Girl". A VERY low beat of the drums. I'm no drummer but sound like the ball is of the kick drum was perhaps covered by a "pom" to allow a lower resonance and a softer hit. Excellent sound.
Get this CD. Well worth the $.

Next up. Bassotronics. 
On the album Bass mechanix presents Bass control
On track self titled album "Bass control" the opening piano is a prelude to some deep bass. Unbelievable bass. Immediately one hears 20+ kHz this sub effortlessly brought forth as the music steps down to lower frequency in steps. The kind of resonance almost on the edge of not being audible yet there. Yes you have the boom at 40 then 30 then this sub flexes it's true muscle & you hear a DEEP flutter as it reached down the lower hz. Absolutely amazing for a 3" sub!

Some songs with good base.*

Genre "Prince like" with better base.
Artist Leland
Song Aware

Genre EDM/electronic
Artist Autoerotique
Song EKG

Genre EDM
Artist Deadmau5
Song Sometimes things get, whatever

Genre Radio
Artist Hugo
Song 99 Problems

I'd highly recommend this sub and if I were to draw a parallel to another it would have to be JL own sub. While it easily surpassed the W3's it' fell below the W6's in sheer power and falls somewhere in between. This is a 3" sub. Amazing. A review wouldn't be complete without mention of the amp. I'll keep it brief. In my hour session at med to high levels not once did this amp clip or misbehave. Small amp & a powerful punch.



*During the test what was funny to me is as I was running the sub through it's paces and taking notes again I was thinking it was delivering pretty good bass. Then mother nature decided to make an entrance. SHE decided to drop some bass of her own that spanned miles, was deeper, and more ground shaking than my dinky 10".* A thunder storm came through that dropped bass repeatedly over my objections. I mean after the fifth or sixth boom "I got it". I turned off the car went inside and sat dejectedly waiting for the storm to pass. Pretty funny.*

Mother nature 1.

JL Audio 0

Thanks for the read.


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

More pics...reupholstered the beauty shelf with a black rose vinyl. Didn't care for the other fabric.
Pics of the raw box the 10Tw3 is housed in. Will reupholster that too next.


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

Pics of the wine holder. For the missus when we go on long trips so as to have a nice chilled wine when we get to our destination.


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

Review to be continued. Back to work after long vacation. I'll give an insight how this sub does on the road taking into account as bumps,road vibration ( which takes some of the "impact" away from the sub) wind and so forth.


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

On the freeway at 70 mph the JL audio 10Tw3 exhibits a softer more rounded quality than one tooling around town doing errands at the same volume. 
While the sub was able to vibrate & shake the RX 350 in town, on the freeway it quickly became apparent that wouldn't be the case. Basses such as the music I had listened to before became blended within the music. *_But some of this I attribute this to the VERY HIGH db inside the cabin that at times reaches 82 db on concrete freeways and 75db on asphalt road._
On songs that had impact before now filled the cabin with a softer one due to the roughness and vibration of the road. Anyway, this db noise will be addressed several weekends from now and I suspect better results acoustically. Odd that a "luxury" vehicle such as a Lexus exhibits so much noise.

Another note. While one CAN turn up the bass knob to get more impact but the point of this review was to listen at the same volume around the city as the freeway. Damn noisy SUV....


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

How will this compare to the Alpine or the EQuake shallow subs?


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

Alrojoca said:


> How will this compare to the Alpine or the EQuake shallow subs?


I personally can't say for sure. Having asked the employees of the shop I bought from they didn't hesitate to shake their heads "no" on the Alpine. In fact they stopped selling that sub. One of the guys has the big W7 so I figure he knows about subs
As for the Earthquake only experience I have is one in my brother in laws Charger. Does fine for what he needs. He doesn't want to shake the block. Win competitions or go up against other guys with 12's. I won't tell you that it sounds like two 10's because it doesn't. Sounds like one 10. Same as mine. But clean, tight bass and quick on musical passages on attacks and returns. Nothing really bad to say about it when kept in it's parameters.


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## rxonmymind (Sep 7, 2010)

Well folks it's been couple of months now and this sub has had a real fair chance to break in. The verdict? Absolutely fabulous sub. For a lack of better terminology the subs piston or "stroke" has really pushed bass to another level. So much so now when I go down the road at 75 the impact and oomph in the chest is coming through the seat. Part of this was the discovery of having turning the gain knob/bass knob DOWN while turning up the volume which then resulted in better tighter bass. But that alone can't be responsible for it. It's just plain loosened up.
Truly I wasn't expecting this from a 3" shallow subwoofer and when purchasing it sort of rolled the dice. Now having said that I'm not 100% confident that this sub would have the same impact in say a huge Chevy suburban vehicle if placed way in the back. Within the confines of a relative medium SUV such as my Lexus RX 350 I'd highly recommend this sub. Anything larger I might think twice. As in two of these.
Cheers!


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

thank you for review I wanting to try one due to space that be left over from factory sub box. or the tw12 or tw13!!


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## 61ragtop (Jun 12, 2012)

optimaprime said:


> thank you for review I wanting to try one due to space that be left over from factory sub box. or the tw12 or tw13!!



I too am looking into the TW line. I have decided on the 12TW3. JL actually told me that for the extra money the TW3 is better bang for my dollar than the 12TW3.

He said to go with .6 for the 10tw3 and .875 for the 12tw3, they are actually trying to get the marketing dept to change the specs as they have found them to perform much better with these specs. (those specs take into consideration the volume of the sub fyi)


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