tpg Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I have searched a long time for a sub that fits exactly what I want, and I think I finally have it. I've tried DIY and had pretty good results (my last sub was REALLY powerful) but there was always something missing. I had difficult criteria: immense slam for home theater; punch for rock music; and smooth, invisible bass for classical music and soundtracks. It is very difficult to find something that does all of this... My solution was going to be to buy two of the new TC Sounds woofers and throw them in a slightly-too-small sealed box and EQ them to be nearly flat to 20Hz. But, this was going to cost a fortune and require me to build something again (I am a very poor carpenter). So, I started looking at Paradigm, Velodyne, Klipsch, SVS, Sunfire, etc., etc. subs. On a whim, I went to my local dealer and they had just received... JL Audio Fathoms and Gothams. Naturally, the Gotham was out of the question because of cost. But, the Fathom F112 (12" model with 1500 watt amp) was at the upper-upper end of my price range (the end that I really didn't want to go to unless it was absolutely necessary). Once I saw it, heard it, and learned about its features, it was necessary to let the budget go. The JL website tells about all of its features, for those who are interested. It sports a 1500 watt amp that I am told is very similar in design to those of the Sunfire subs that powers a 12" woofer that possibly has nearly 4" peak-to-peak excursion (no one knows for sure). The woofer is a redesigned version of the W7 that was made specifically for home use. It also features an automatic room equalization circuit, master/slave feature that lets you control more than one JL sub from one location, variable crossover at 12dB or 24dB per octave, ELF Trim (which cuts the bass below 25Hz for music if the bass seems muddy), and completely variable phase to match seamlessly with your mains. I briefly contemplated purchasing the 13" version of the Fathom, but now that I've had it home, I can honestly say that the 12" is more than capable. It weighs in at around 115 pounds and comes packed in a thick cardboard box with large plastic feet on the bottom as shock absorbers, I suppose. The sub was wrapped in a black felt bag instead of the usual plastic of other audio equipment I've purchased (the bag is somewhat visible beneath the grill in the pictures). This was a very nice touch. You also get the room-EQ mic and a very long cord. The amp plate on the back of the sub takes up the whole back and never gets warm. The power cord is absolutely huge- almost 1/2" in diameter it seems. For the first few days, I ran the sub in Defeat mode (defeats the room-eq) since I hadn't run the room eq yet. It sounded great. For classical music, it was smooth and transparent and never drew attention to itself. Then, for rock music, it had slam and showed its raw power. I still haven't tried it out with movies (lack of time), but I imagine it is great there as well. Earlier today I ran the auto-EQ, which was very simple to do. This smoothed the frequency response out even more and it now blends even better than before. I can definitely recommend these subs to those who want a lot of power that still sounds very musical. I can imagine that the sub will only get better with time as it breaks in. Now for a few pictures... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thxsubwoofers Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Super nice Wow! Thumbs up![Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Very nice looking subwoofer and it sounds like the EQ is a very nice feature too. ........thanks for the clear picture......[H] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 So they finally came out with it after I believe a year of showing off..... Looks good, how much and how much was the gotham??? Also is that surround rubber or foam, it looks like foam in the picture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpg Posted July 12, 2006 Author Share Posted July 12, 2006 Another interesting thing about my particular sub... according to the serial number it was the fifth F112 made. [] My dealer said that JL has just decided to raise the prices. I think he said the F112 will now retail for $2600, the F113 for $3000-ish, and the Gotham for $9000. And, the surround is foam. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 dang thats a lot ofg $$$$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 I can imagine the foam making a lot less noise at the higher excursions and it looks like they build those drivers to be easily refoamed in the future - though aren't they using something fancy now to make them last longer? I guess only time will tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 chemicals to prevent rot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAS Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 That's an impressive sub. It looks like you get your money's worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Congrats tpg on finally finding a sub that meets your needs. And not to diminish your sub or your happiness in any way, but while reading your post I couldn't help but hear in my mind some Klipsch engineer saying, "Yeah....and just wait until folks hear what the new 12d will do." You know.....with this sub and the new DD subs from Velodyne and the new 12d from Klipsch and other similiar design subs......anyone else seeing a pattern here?? Again - glad to hear tpg of your satisfaction. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 pattern? They need to find a way to make 15" woofers stiff enough to handle the crazy insane excursion [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Congrats on your new sub TPG ! I just got my Velodyne DD 18 a few weeks ago and am very happy with it . In fact on some material it seems to be in another class than my Belles ! Summer 2006 , the season of the sub !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 SUNBURN; nice set-up.............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkside Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 Is it just me or does the driver on the fathom look like a 12w7? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 it is a w7...... they made no hiding it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkside Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 Yeah, I thought so, just the small logo on the cone says JL and not W7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 its their hometheater line, its made to sell the whole system not the speaker itself like in car audio. They use a modified W7 for home use. The Gotham uses two JL 13W7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkside Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 Yeah, I realized that AFTER i had made my posts which was before I read the first one, so my mistake of the pointless observations[:S] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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