JL Audio Fathom F110v2 Subwoofer $4000
(15.64h, 12.92w, 17.27d, 71 lbs, 10” W7 woofer, 1100w Linear Power Supply Amp)
JL Audio has refined its 10” Fathom series sub to a version 2 (v2). It offers a remarkably sophisticated subwoofer that can SCULPT your bass, to fit your wing speakers and your room.
For openers, the monolithic W7 driver construction used in all JL Fathom subs, simply wouldn’t fit into the box of almost every tower out there. The driver is too broad and deep. JL has no apologies for that by the way!
The W7 is built by JL, in its own factory in Florida, to eclipse the performance of its competition. Again, please note, JL builds its own drivers, it doesn’t buy them from vendors. That’s how JL can build woofers made like the Rock of Gibraltar.
JL subs are sealed. Subs that use ports or passive radiators cannot attain the endemic tautness of JL. If you’re serious about deep, controlled, ACCURATE bass response, JL is the way to go.
All Fathom sub drivers are bolted into the front plate of the sub, not screwed into an MDF baffle. The rear portion of driver is secured to the back baffle as well. You’ll find virtually all JL competitors screw their woofers into a soft, MDF front panel with a few screws- in China. While this woofer is shaking its brains out playing bass, the arse end of it is flopping in the breeze within the cabinet. That’s not the case with JL. The woofer is dang near cemented into the cabinet, front and rear. This rigidity is vital to JL definition.
JL uses a remarkably clean crossover network in Fathom (& the E Series). This crossover is sonically neutral which allows it to be used in several configurations.
If you have a home theater, you can run sub out of your prepro straight in.
If you have a preamp or integrated with pre outs, you can run straight in.
For maximum effect in an edge of the art system, you can run pre out into the JL crossover, and then crossover out to your power amp. This way JL plays the deep bass and high passes the rest of the information to your R&L or “wing” speakers. In this configuration your wings don’t see any deep bass and will sound better for not being asked to play that information. Most subwoofers won’t work acceptably in this config because their crossovers will muck up the high freq info. I’m telling ya that with JL, you will hear no insertion loss or additional color.
If you own Magnepans in particular, you owe it to yourself to consider Fathom subs.
Fathom power amps are monsters run by Linear Power Supplies. They don’t switch. While SMPS offers a fine value and acceptable solution in budget designs, it won’t fly with JL. Part of F110V2’s great performance is its 1100w Linear Supply on board amplifier.
JL Fathoms have a secret weapon in their back pocket called DARO. DARO is JL’s Digital Automatic Room Optimization engine. DARO will read the character of your room and DSP control the subwoofer to deliver a flat response. DARO DSPs at 18 bands and comes with a lab grade microphone- not a toy like surround receivers include.
Without DARO, virtually all subs purvey some level of booming due to the bass power nodes in your room. With DARO, you get the bass without the sludge.
A good argument can be made that NO SYSTEM can be full range without a fine subwoofer.
You simply can’t get the bass JL provides without getting a JL sub, even if it is D110 or E110.
Many of our customers START planning their systems around a JL sub, which allows their wing speakers and subsequent amplifier to be more affordable- because you’re relying on JL for the heavy lifting.
F110V2 is much smaller in person than you’d infer from reading the specs. Given its sealed cabinet, speed, deep bass and DARO circuitry, you simply can’t find an easier to integrate sub for wonderful wing speakers. As I mentioned above, if you have Maggies we need to strong arm you into an F110v2 or two.
F110v2 is a great addition to any fine stand mount speakers, or towers with less than prodigious bass. In a nutshell, F110v2 is amazingly sophisticated solution that will appeal to listeners who typically think they’re allergic to subwoofers.
