Listening
Okay, moving on to my listening session, I connected the CP108LG-W3v3 subwoofer system into my reference system and after adjusting the subwoofer level accordingly, I sat down to do some listening. Beginning with Robbie Robertson’s “Somewhere Down the Crazy River” I was immediately impressed with the JL system’s output level as well as the tonal character of the bass. The system sounded clean and well-controlled, without any ringing or boominess sometimes associated with small woofer systems. Switching to Thomas Dolby’s fantastic “The Key to Her Ferrari”, I was again pleased with how well the JL Audio system handled the fast dry bass notes, and articulated the bass runs. Just for giggles, I connected a very good 10-inch 4 ohm woofer in a sealed enclosure and switched between them. The 8-inch PowerWedge system from JL actually had more output than the larger woofer in a much larger enclosure! Focusing once again on listening to the JL system, I played all kinds of music from heavy rap to full orchestral passages, and the little CP108LG-W3v3 subwoofer system never missed a beat. I got on it a few times, just to find the power handling limits, and I have to say that by the time I’d reached them the system was at very high levels. You don’t need a ton of amplifier power for this system- most enthusiasts would do fine with a 150-200 watt amp. In fact, I enjoyed the sound of the woofer so much that I let it play all day as went to other work in the lab.
Tech Specs
After I was done listening, which also served to exercise the woofer before I measured the parameters, I let the woofer cool overnight, and then moved it into the lab for measuring.
Since the woofer is already in an enclosure, there was no need to measure driver Thiele-Small parameters, and besides, every time I measure a JL woofer, my results are always very close to their already published specifications.
Instead, I was curious to learn more about the enclosure, so I measured the interior dimensions, and after subtracting volume for the bracing and the woofer itself, I arrived at a net volume of about 0.35 cubic feet. With such a small air volume to work with, I was curious to see the response of the system at 1 watt of power, and check out an impedance plot of the system so I could find out at what frequency the vent was
at resonance.
As it turned out, the response plot showed a smooth curve, which is just the way the system sounded, and the impedance curve indicated a vent tuning frequency of around 33Hz.
Conclusion
If you have a limited amount of space for a woofer system in your car, but want deep bass with excellent sound quality and great overall efficiency, you need look no further than this series of woofer systems from JL Audio. They continue to prove they have the experience and products to get the job done, even when you have only a little jingle and even less space.
