JL Audio 12W3v3-4 - Customer Ratings & Reviews

w3 best sub ever

Just installed 2 in my car, hit super hard strongly recommend.

Amazing

I have two of these with a JBL 1200 watt Grand Touring amp and a capacitor. These subs hit HARD. Gotta dynamat the trunk with two of these. Complete requirement. Love them, sound great, gets some real attention (good and bad (5O)) and I will transfer them to every car i own.

The best subs I've owned.

I don't have these ones I have a pair of 12W3v2-4 that I bought from a pawn shop for $100 two years ago. I have them in a ported box powered by a 1100 watt class d Sony Xplod and they pound. Now if the sub doesn't say JL on it I won't buy it.

Deep, Clean, Kickin' subwoofer!

Alright now when I go to reviews, I want to know the variables (car make, box type, box size, etc.). Before I go any further this subwoofer is wonderful and a pleasure to listen to. Now i shall explain WHY it's a great woofer. First off the variables: I have 2 of these subs wired to 2 ohms to an Audioque 1200.1D (both subs are getting about 450ish watts rms, and I don't even know if it's even that because my gain is turned down a bit) in a ported box, one slot in the middle. I don't know the specs on the box exactly, but i do know that the box size and port size are selling the subs short. EVEN with a prefab ported box, these hit accurately, clean, pretty deep, and they don't flutter or boom too much. I have my subsonic on to try and decrease that. Have in mind guys I'm a guy that likes his metal, rock, and music with a kick drum. Hear me out! these subs play any type of music accurately, and that's in a PORTED box. That alone is remarkable to me. And it's a cruddy ported box too! lol. Get these subs! buy them, hug them, love them, whatever you gotta do. Also if you can, get a custom built ported box and get ready to be blown away. These kick. Now for some physical characteristics of the car. I just got them tonight so i haven't observed much but i do know that my rearview mirror is absolutely useless. when i try and readjust it, goes right back down within 3 seconds. I drive a BUICK REGAL year 2000 for your information. I know i packed a lot of info in this review, but i'm very picky, hard to please in certain areas. So being a reviewer, I want to give a review that I'd want to see. As a multi-instrument musician, audiophile, bass lover, and just an average guy trying to have some summer fun with a good set of subs, these are now my go to subs. I've owned or heard sets of Diamond D3 12, Audiopipe TXX-be12, Kicker CVR 12, Power Acoustik Fubar 12, Rockford Fosgate T1 12 (that was a single), 3 Image Dynamic 12s v2, Rockford Fosgate P2 12, Sundown E Series 12, Powerbass L12, Kicker Comp, Kicker L7 15 (single), and probably more that I can't think of, but these give every sub set a run for their money! And beat out 90% of the subs I've heard (majority of them are listed above). Just goes to show you don't need a set of 1000 watt rms subs to bump, you just need a set of these ;) Hopefully this helped. Take Care!

Best deal on the market

I have tried a lot of subs over the last 5-6 years since beginning to enjoy car audio. Some of the names I have used include Infinity Reference and Kappa, Sony GTR, Alpine Type R, Memphis M-Class and reference, and Kenwood Excelon. These are easily the BEST SQ sub for your money, and among the top subs on the market period. They are not going to make you an SPL champion, but they provide more than adequate low-end punch when powered properly.

Pros:

* Awesome quality - right off the bat you can see the time and effort JL puts into their products. Fit and finish is superb, and the clean look of the cone just made me fall in love. Installed in a box with black carpet and it is the stealthiest, sleekest looking thing you'll ever see.

* Superior SQ - the most accurate sub of any I have ever owned. Have a single 12w3 in a 1.3CI selaed box running off a Hifonics BRZ1200.1D (450 RMS output, 50W under RMS) and it does not miss anything. Nearly perfect bass reproduction in all varieties of music (I listen to anything from dubstep, to classic rock, to blues - very eclectic music style and this sub handles it).

*Untouchable value - you will not get quality and SQ like this anywhere else for 180 bucks. Period.

Cons:

*Not as loud as some others - to me, this is not a con. If you know what you are buying, this isn't an issue. This is made to be an SQ sub, and to me the SPL is absolutely adequate. Don't fool yourself, the w3 gets LOW, but it is not going to flex your trunk really hard or crack windows. In my hatchback, it rattles all of my mirrors as well as any change in the center console when turned up. It has even loosened the bolts inside my door skins that hold the hand rests to the door to the point I will need to take the doors apart and tighten them.


To sum it up, BUY THESE. A product doesn't get 4.9 stars on 39 reviews for no reason. Put the right amp on this product and you'll have a system that anyone from a complete beginner to a seasoned audio pro can appreciate. I have mine slightly under powered, in a sealed box and it is so amazing I wouldn't even bother with anything else. I never thought to try one until I heard them at a local shop and decided to research them a little more. Just as an estimation, I could probably give this sub 100-150 more watts and I think it would handle it perfectly fine.

JL has COMPLETELY outdone themselves, and this is far and away one of the top values in car audio history. No vehicle I own from now on will have anything but JL W3's in it.

ahhhh jl bass head

These things are beast i have 3 of them in a custom sealed box in a honda and let me tell you people here me for at least 5-10mins before i pull around the corner. I'm running a 2600 hifonics d class mono on them and they are eating the power with no problem.

Nice sub

Whatever i paid for the sub, was definitely worth it great sub. I dont even have a very strong amp powering it, i have a decade old cheap pyramid sub, and i still dont have this thing cranked up all the way. sound quality is good.

Good sub

Had two of these in a ported box and they hit hard. They cant really handle the real low bass notes but for all other ranges they handle it perfect. These subs can take a lot of power so hook them up to a big amp.

Awesome!

Great pricing and sounds excellent!

Quality product

I have had this sub for around 2 months now and i freaking love it. This sub hits so hard and is so loud. The sub is in a 12" slot port box. the box's volume is 1.8 and it is super deep in sound and hits every note. I have a friend with a type-r running at 1ohm and 1400rms and this sub is just as loud running at 4ohms and 500rms.

w3v3-4

Very clean and hard hitting. Gets a pretty good abundance of low-bass for a 12' subwoofer. Not the most stylish sub but... if your talking sound, its great.

JL is the best!

I have owned this woofer for more than 3 years now. The sound quality is unbelievable, the output is amazing and i think the look is clean and sexy. Nothing but good things to say about this woofer.

wow !!! the sound is truely a piece of heaven

Okay I've had numerous subs in the past few years from SPL to now SQ now to give this sub an amazing review I have to compare it to subs in its class . I bought a Type R three years ago from Sonic and I absolutely loved that sub but the problem I came into contact with was there was not a very good low bass note. I tune all my subs to specs of the manufacturer. The type are is awesome loud and can handle great power but I recently bought a w3 from a car audio shop in the area as im trying to with a sq setup to be honest I love this sub more than my Type R I have it tuned where JL says and have the perfect JL amp on it. To be honest this sub has hooked me into JL for life. My brother now has the Type r and it is still pumping which is impressive considering I had the subs on 800 rms on a cea certified amp. Yeah the sub is expensive for the watts but the sound that comes out of this sub is amazing it can play country rap rock and rock and will even hit the low notes from slowed down music ....if you want the best of both world sound quality and a sub that will punch you in the stomach get this sub I cant write enough about it !!!!!! JL you make amazing products keep it up I can't wait for my C5 components to come in and make my car an audiophiles dream !! *****

Hard hitting sub

Had two of these bad boys in a custom built box and couldn't be happier.. They hit every bass note with precision.. And as always no one can beat SonicElectronix prices!

JL Audio W3's

These are one of the best subs on the market. Thay can handle way more than their rated power. I haven't heard a sub that plays more clear than JL Audio.

Best value

The w3 have made my car audio what it is today. If it wasn't for them I could not accomplish what I have. I recommend this product to anyone who is looking for a great sound in their vehicles...

jl audio w3v3-4

my brother has 2 of these they will please so much. the best 12'z you could ever get two of these will make you smile one will to if u thought about stop think and get them.

Awesome

This subs are amazing... I have two in a probox and they hit hard. i would highly recommend this subs, yeah they are a lil expensive but they worth it.

tremendous sound

I have just one of these in a crappy looking box so people just laugh when they see it in my trunk. When i turn it on, i get cash offers on the spot. AMAZING for all types of music. If you can find them used, grab them, otherwise the price isnt too bad on them anymore.

Would never buy anything other than JL

Bought a w3 a while back for my chevy blazer. It hits hard and it has the cleanest sound of any sub i've ever heard. My friend has 2 12 inch kickers in his blazer and my 1 12 inch jl sounds just as loud. I listen to rock and rap and it sounds great on both. I would highly recommend this sub to anyone.

Awesome Sound!

I hooked up a Crunch P1400.2 amp to 2 of these and they are the best so far!

great quality, no joke.

OUTSTANDING

I have two of these and they are the best speaker i ever owned. Clean clear and deep. Just bought a JL Audio 500/1v2 and can't wait to hook it up.

Very good speaker

1. Very good sound quality
2. Too expensive
3. 300 Real RMS power
4. same good for sealed and ported enclosure

Great Sound Quality

I have 2 of these subs hooked up to a JL Audio JX1000/1D and they sound amazing. Without a doubt they are the cleanest subs I have ever heard. When comparing it to my friend's Alpine Type R, the W3 is noticeably not as loud, however, it is noticeably cleaner and goes deeper on all songs.

Crazy Good

I have previously owned Kicker L7's and CVR's and i got two of these and they sound better and SLAM! Really glad i purchased these.

Great seller

Shipped fast. Great sound. Would buy again.

great subs

my friend has "had" 2 kicker comps. But after hearing the shear awesomeness of mine. she switched to JL

jl 12w3v3

I love my jls, couldn't have been happier, pump them all day long, never hear a pop!

Always loved JL

Have Two in my 07 silverado Crewcab. Hits the lows amazing. Have these housed in a sealed downfiring box custom built to spec. Definitely going to need to dynamat my roof to get more SQ.
overall great sub well built and clean bass

Full Excursion

I just bought 2 of these beasts an put them with a kewnwood 1,000 watt 2 channel amp that i also bought off of here and i put them in the back of a 1995 blazer an they hit. I was heard almost 1 an 1 tenth mile away great buy

Amazing

This sub is outstanding, it hits very clean, very fast and bumps hard. It does a good job of rattling off my mirror with just one in my car!!!

Great Sub for the Price.

First of all, I LOVE it. For one of the medium to lower-line subs in their collection, JL Audio has outdone themselves. Sub emits clean and hard pounding (But not overpowering) bass even with just one sub. I highly recommend picking this up if you want clean and balanced overall sounding bass rather than having loudness to showboat :P

Notorious

This sub hits HARD! I have it powered by a zx500 amp in a sealed enclosure.

When I talked to the sales department at sonic, they called this sub "notorious" for it's hard hitting and clean bass. They were right (as usual). So glad I went with the best. The w3 really is the best out there.

INSANE

I have three 12 inch JL w3v3's in a custom ported box with a JL audio A1800 amplifier on them. Best brand and speaker out on the market, period.

awsome subs

these are the best subs ive ever bought. ive had countless subs in the past and nothin has compared to these especially for the value.the bass is clean and they dont take a whole lot of power, i have mine in a cab through box in a 96 silverado and it pounds!!!!

INSANE BASS!!!

My friend just installed two of these 12inch W3's in his truck underneath the seat, and let me tell you these things can bump. He only has the amp turned up half way and you can not even see out of his rear view mirrors. Get these if u do not have much room. YOU WONT REGRET IT !!!

JL Audio 12W3V3-4

The JL audio 12W3 is simply an impressive sub, it looks great with its simple yet modern design. The push terminals were a breeze to use yet held the wire in place firmly, and as for sound, That’s the subs most impressive feature, You get an abundance of low bass from a fairly small speaker & enclosure using minimal power. The sub hits hard and clean.

Great!

This subwoofer is EXTREMELY reliable and one of the cleanest sounding subs I have ever heard. But trust me..with enough power this subwoofer will SLAM. I have 2 hooked up to a 2400 Watt MTX amp and It flexes all the metal on the car. Its great (:

This is what bass sounds like

I purchased two of these subs and put them in a Dual 12" Turbo Pro Box and these JLs bump!! The bass comes out clean and crisp in any genre of music. I'm running two JLs off a Kenwood 1000 watt amp and they pound!! Great buy!!

I am very pleased with this product

I recently built my own subwoofer with the JL 12W3v3-4. I was impressed with how easy it was to drill the holes using the outer ring.

It looks great and sounds absolutely terrific!!

Totally Awesome

These subs are amazing. Their always crisp and rebound immediately, no matter what I throw at them. Having the JL Slash V2 powering them is the way to go, as its designed specifically to push 2 of the JLW3's.

Hip hop, rap, reggae, rock, drum and base: these subs enhance anything and everything.

High Quality, but Little Power

I owned two of these subs and must say that the quality was of these subs were pretty amazing. I wanted them to play kinda loud too, but didn't have enough capacity to do the job. I'd probably spend money on something else that can hold more power and have louder sound.

Quality sound + extremely loud

I had a Rockford Fosgate P3 before I had this sub. The rf was a 10 inch in a sealed inclosure. I built a ported box for this w3v3-12 sub according to the specs on JL's website. This thing absolutley slams. I have it hooked up to a kenwood 7205, running at 500watts rms. I have yet to come across anything that hits the low notes as clean as this sub does.

To put this in perspective, i played wiz khalifa's song, on my level, It has some pretty nasty low notes that not many subs can hit. The low notes are so low that not many people can hear them, Well, let me tell you, this sub hit it with a passion, nice and loud.

WOW

I previously owned a 12w1v3 and that was pretty good..but this 12w3v3 blew it away...it is what bass, reverb, eq, and music is supposed to sound like!!!!!

Tremendously Awesome Subwoofer

JL Audio makes nothing but top-of-the-line equipment, and this 12w3v3 is no exception. I have two 8w3v3's in the doors of my 2005 Mustang, and those are so much better than what I was expecting as well, so I decided to get the 12" W3. I built a custom vented box made out of 3/4" MDF with double thick MDF on the front side with about ~2 cubic feet of air space. Believe it or not, I built this for Home Theater Use with a BASH 500W amp powering it, and wow. I LOVE THAT VISCERAL FEELING!! JL Audio fan for life. Thanks, SonicElectronix, for also having the lowest price!

These Things Are Smooth

My Cousin recently purchased a w3 and man these things hit hard and are very tight and smooth even at higher volumes. Barely any distortion at all when at high volumes.It also takes deep notes VERY well for a 12 inch woofer. I totally recomend this if you want a smooth sounding woofer for everyday use. I plan to buy 2 of these very soon.

Durable

I'm replacing my existing JL Audio 12" W3 subwoofer with this model. Why? The original is 17 (yes, seventeen) years old. It pounded out incredible bass until its last day. Anyone else have that kind of quality experience?

By Jim on November 4, 2017 Verified purchase

Love it

I love jl audio their brand is the best clean and loud it pounds I definitely recommend these

Great subs for the money.

Used two of these in a bandpass. Dimensions are 2.5 ported, 1.5 sealed. XD 1000/V2 amp pushes them. They pound.

By ryan on April 19, 2017 Verified purchase

Can not handle 500 watts RMS

Have owned two of these 500 watt rms 4 ohm SVC subwoofers. Both were tuned with an SMD DD1. Both were receiving 500 watts rms from my Kenwood 500 watt RMS amp at 4 ohms. Voice coil burnt out on both of them. Subwoofer sounds good but can't handle rated power at all. I have contacted JL Audio in Florida to have their techs recheck the specs of this subwoofer in order for people to be made aware. Oh yeah, the subwoofer was in a custome-made ported enclosure built to JL Audio specifications.

Sounds good I guess

I haven't had time to tune the sound for the sub. But my initial impression is the sub is quite good. I have them hooked up to a JL JX500/1D amplifier in a single sealed box. They hit hard even at 300W RMS, and can get quite loud.

By Corander on October 21, 2015 Verified purchase

Great product!

If you like tight and clean bass this is the way to go.

Clean bass

I have these I didn't buy from sonic,but these are clean sounding subs. If you want SQ then this is the way to go. They can go over in the SPL a little but SQ is were they shine. I have mine on a phoenix gold tantrum 1200.1 2 of them in a 2003 gran marquis with spec built box sealed and they sound awesome! !!

LOVE JL!!!

JL Audio is a brand that everyone has heard of and even though they are priced higher than a lot of other subs on the same level the Quality and Experience of a premium brand is something JL Audio Excels in and it shows .. Would Highly recommend to anyone who wants Quality.

By Charles on January 31, 2020 Verified purchase

people make no sense

first off this is not nearly as clean as my image dynamics or even my stillwater kicker subs this is not that impressive and for the price dont buy this at all dont let reviews fool you buy a sundown sa trust me its not that amaxing clean or loud very dissapointed veryyyyy

Great subs

Bought two of these subs put them in a sealed box they hit hard with great sound

By Anonymous on March 7, 2019 Verified purchase

JL Audio 12W3v3-4

The sub runs at 4ohms so my amp doesn't draw as much power as it would at a lower ohm. This makes less of a strain on my electrical system. This sub takes up less trunk space and is very clear with no distortion. I went from two 12" Memphis mojos to one 12w3 and I am very impressed.

Premium

Really nice high quality speaker. Sounds so much more premium than the W1 series

By Michael on July 6, 2022 Verified purchase

Great sounding bass that's tight !! Love it!

JL audio has always been a name you can trust when it comes to audio. This 12" subwoofer is no exception wether you install it in a sealed or ported box. I've used both and with the Belva 1.5 sealed box from Sonic Electronix this single subwoofer thumps at any volume. I have a JL audio HD 900/5 amplifier powering a set of Jl components up front and JL coaxials in the rear with the single 12W3V3-4 subwoofer in the trunk, and it's one of the best sounding syatems and my car is 20 years old. I would recommend this subwoofer to anyone that likes tight, crisp lows, with audiophile quality.

By David on June 15, 2023 Verified purchase

Awesome subwoofer. Tight, hard hitting bass.

This JL Audio subwoofer hits hard and sounds great no matter what type of music you listen to. Sonic Electronix had the best price and great customer service. It's always a great combination when buying automotive audio electronics.

By David on May 20, 2023 Verified purchase

Haven't got em hooked up yet but....

Still gotta get 2 of these installed in my Maxima... Replacing (2) W1's and also upgrading my amp to the JD 1000/1 from the 500/1.... Just from handling these, I can tell they will be a major improvement! Will update after installed but it's JL Audio so I'm not expecting to be let down!

By Matt on January 8, 2023 Verified purchase

Boom

Great speaker, installed a pair of them in my 19 Scat Pack. Hits great with the JD1000 powering them.

By Joe on September 1, 2022 Verified purchase