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JL Audio (ACS112LG-TW1) - Single 12TW1 PowerWedge+ with DCD Amplifier, Sealed, .25 Ohm

Description:

Amplified Subwoofer System with Single 12TW1-0.25 Subwoofer Driver, Built-In 400W Class D Amplifier, Black Carpet - Sealed Enclosure

In PowerWedge+ systems, the power is built right into the subwoofer system. Housing a proprietary Class D amplifier, this subwoofer system employs JL Audio's exclusive DCD amplifier technology to extract maximum output from its specially engineered, ultra low-impedance TW1 driver. By combining direct power conversion with an ultra-high current output section, DCD amplifiers are free of conventional switching power supplies, enabling them to generate remarkable power with unprecedented efficiency.

Harnessing the performance and insanely small box requirements of the TW1 subwoofer driver, this subwoofer system is designed to deliver amazing sub-bass from an enclosure that is only 6.625 in. (168 mm) deep. Its low-profile enclosure design has been carefully engineered to the optimum sealed enclosure alignment for the 12TW1 driver and has been fine-tuned through extensive real-world listening.

Integration to OEM and aftermarket head units is a snap thanks to a variety of input options and automatic turn-on capability (via signal sensing or DC offset sensing). Also included is a variable frequency low-pass filter (50-200 Hz), along with output polarity control switch. Adding an optional RBC-1 remote level control (sold separately) lets you control subwoofer levels directly from the driver's seat. A quick-disconnect power connector makes it easy to remove the subwoofer when you need the extra space.

Note: DCD amplified systems use very specific components. Never use a DCD amplifier or its companion subwoofer(s) with incompatible, non-DCD products. Doing so will void the warranty and may cause severe damage.

Finish: Black, high-grade automotive carpet with silver "JL AUDIO Built In USA" embroidery on front baffle. A steel mesh grille is included to protect the subwoofer driver.

Construction: CNC-Cut High-Grade MDF

Amplifier power: Built-in DCD Class D amplifier (400 W @ 0.25 Ohm) Nominal Impedance: 0.25 Ohm

Enclosure and Subwoofer Made in USA

Technology:

DCD Amplifier Technology

The most efficient subwoofer amplifier technology on the market delivers impressive power with minimal current draw and heat.

The conventional way to get high power in a car amplifier is to use a switching power supply. This increases the battery voltage from its nominal 12V to something higher-the more powerful the amplifier, the greater the required voltage. This power conversion is never perfectly efficient-about 10% of what goes into the amplifier is wasted and ends up dissipating into heat.

JL Audio's Direct Conversion Class-D Technology (DCD) innovates by eliminating the need for this power conversion step entirely. Because JL Audio is still bound by the laws of physics, the lack of a step-up power supply means they have to extract as much power as possible from the vehicle's 12V supply. If JL Audio were to connect a DCD amplifier to a conventional 4-ohm subwoofer with this limitation in place, they would only achieve about 25 watts, and we all know that powering a subwoofer requires a lot more power than this.

To overcome this obstacle, the DCD amplifiers have been designed to drive extremely low impedance speaker loads-as low as 1/4-ohm (0.25 ohm)! With these very low impedance loads, JL Audio can deliver up to 500 watts of clean power, subwoofer power. Those who know Ohm's law and that nothing is free realize that this will require a lot of current to flow, and that's exactly what DCD is engineered to deliver...over 50 Amps peak into a speaker!

To deal with these high current amounts, the special, very low-impedance JL Audio subwoofer drivers used with DCD amplifiers are engineered with unique voice coils and tinsel leads. Connections between the amplifier and speaker are made using special heavy gauge speaker cable, with special attention paid to connection integrity to deal with the high current output.

The benefit of all this effort is that DCD amplifiers completely avoid the losses associated with a switching power supply, allowing the entire amplifier to achieve total power efficiencies in the 91-94% range. This is very close to the theoretical limit for Class-D efficiency and results in very little heat being generated. All of this allows for a very compact, powerful amplifier that can fit in some of JL Audio's most space-efficient enclosed systems.

V-Groove MDF Construction

This advanced cabinet-building technique uses CNC-machining to create precise panel joints that make enclosure assembly more efficient and exact.

JL Audio begins with quality medium-density fiberboard, which is then machined on their CNC-controlled KOMO woodworking stations. These powerful machines are able to cut a wide range of features onto a sheet of MDF, with minimal waste and absolute precision. The KOMO machines cut out the woofer holes, terminal holes, cut dado grooves, create countersinks and most importantly, cut the angles at the edges of the panels that form the enclosure's main shell so that these panels fit together precisely, with no gaps or leaks.

Once the panels are cut, assembly technicians line them up in the correct order and glue their outer faces onto a long piece of carpet, creating a "wrap": a long series of panels, hinged temporarily by the carpet. In the next assembly step, their wood assembly teams fill the V-grooves between the panels and any dado grooves that receive dividers or secondary wraps with wood-glue. Once the glue is applied, the enclosure shells folds together along the V-grooves, capturing dividers in the dado grooves and secondary wraps, and evenly spreading the glue throughout the joints. One line of mechanical fasteners is applied to hold the structure together while the wood glue dries.

The V-groove technique greatly improves assembly efficiency, and also results in a far stronger and better sealed enclosure than the typical butt-joint construction found on imported enclosures. The quality of the MDF used in JL Audio systems is also vastly better than the typical "China-Grade MDF" used in the imported products.

Dynamic Motor Analysis - DMA Optimized Motor

JL Audio's proprietary Dynamic Motor Analysis system is a powerful suite of FEA-based modeling systems, first developed by JL Audio in 1997 and refined over the years to scientifically address the issue of speaker motor linearity. This leads to vastly reduced distortion and faithfully reproduced transients... or put simply: tight, clean, articulate bass.

Since 1997, JL Audio has been at the forefront of Finite Element Analysis-based modeling of loudspeaker motors and suspensions. This research is aimed at decoding what we refer to as the "Loudspeaker Genome"... a project aimed at understanding the true behavior of loudspeakers under power and in motion. A major component of this integrated system is DMA (Dynamic Motor Analysis). Starting with the 15W3 and the W7 Subwoofers in the late 1990's and early 2000's, DMA has played an important role in the design of all JL Audio woofers sold today, including their component woofers.

DMA is a Finite Element Analysis (FEA)-based system, meaning that it takes a large, complex problem, breaks it down into small solution elements for analysis and then assembles the data to form an accurate, "big-picture" solution. DMA's breakthrough is that it actually considers the effects of power through the coil as well as coil/cone position within the framework of a time-domain analysis. This gives them a highly accurate model of a speaker's actual behavior under real power, something that the traditional Thiele-Small models or other low power measurements cannot do. Because DMA does not rely on a steady-state model, it is able to consider shifts in the circuit elements being analyzed. These modeling routines are intense, requiring hours to run for a whole speaker.

DMA is able to analyze the real effects of fluctuating power and excursion upon the magnetic circuit of the motor, specifically the dynamic variations of the "fixed" magnetic field. This delivers intensely valuable information compared to traditional modeling, which assumes that the "fixed" field produced in the air gap by the magnet and the motor plates is unchanging. DMA not only shows that this "fixed" field changes in reaction to the magnetic field created by current flowing through the voice coil, but it helps JL Audio's engineers arrive at motor solutions that minimize this instability. Analyzing this behavior is critical to understanding the distortion mechanisms of a speaker motor and sheds light on the aspects of motor design that determine truly linear behavior:

• 1. Linear motor force over the speaker's operational excursion range
• 2. Consistent motor force with both positive and negative current through the coil
• 3. Consistent motor force at varying applied power levels

Engineered Lead-Wire System (U.S. Patent #7,356,157)

Carefully engineered lead-wire design and attachments ensure controlled, quiet lead-wire behavior under the most extreme excursion demands.

The payoff is reduced distortion, improved transient performance and stellar sound quality.

Managing the lead-wires on a long-excursion woofer is one of the trickier aspects of its mechanical design. To address this, many long-excursion woofers today rely on a simple solution that weaves the lead-wires into the spider (rear suspension) of the driver.

The biggest problem with this approach is that spider limiting behavior plays a hugely important role a woofer's performance. Lead-wires that are attached or woven into the spider material can alter the spider's "stretching" behavior. The tinsel wire naturally has less 'give' than the fabric material of the spider leading to asymmetrical spider behavior and non-uniform stress distribution around the spider circumference. The wire attachment points can also cause localized pulling and tearing forces at the spider's excursion limits. As such, longevity becomes a major concern and makes the woven-in design less than ideal for very long-excursion designs.

While a traditional 'flying lead' design does not compromise spider linearity or radial stability, it creates its own challenges on a long-excursion woofer. Managing the 'whipping' behavior of the wire and making sure it does not contact the cone or spider is one challenge. Another is ensuring that the leads do not short one another or the frame of the woofer.

To overcome these issues, JL Audio's engineered flying lead-wires work in conjunction with carefully engineered entry and exit support structures molded into the terminals and the voice coil collar. Some models also feature jacketed lead-wires to further reduce the likelihood of shorting and fatigue. The result is flawless high-excursion lead-wire behavior, with outstanding reliability and none of the compromises inherent to a woven-in lead wire system. Building woofers this way requires much more labor and parts complexity than the simpler woven-in approach, but the payoff is in reduced distortion, reduced mechanical noise and improved reliability.

Tab-Ear Frame Design

This frame design feature facilitates mounting the subwoofer driver in tight spaces.

By employing a tab-ear mounting system, the driver's overall outside dimensions are reduced, permitting it to be mounted in a space that is very similar to that required by the next smaller round woofer frame.

Concentric Tube Suspension (U.S. Patent #5,734,132 & #6,095,280)

JL Audio's patented Concentric Tube Suspension technology delivers unprecedented excursion in a low-profile woofer.

The biggest challenge in any low-profile woofer design is to create enough mechanical clearance for the speaker to generate enough excursion to meet its output and low-frequency extension goals. Since these goals were very ambitious in the development of JL Audio's low profile woofers, achieving them required development of a new suspension architecture.

JL Audio's patented solution employs a molded structure which spans over the edge of the motor system, supporting the spider on the outside of the motor's boundaries and the large diameter voice coil on the inside. The large diameter voice coil permits the magnet to sit inside it, rather than surrounding the coil as is typical in most woofers.

The concentric tube structure and the elimination of a conventional top-plate helps JL Audio place the motor system higher up into the cone body's space to further compress depth, while still permitting excellent mechanical excursion.

Precision Built in U.S.A.

JL Audio's Miramar, Florida loudspeaker production facility is one of the most advanced in the world.

At a time when most audio products are built overseas, JL Audio's commitment to in-house loudspeaker production continues to grow. All W7's, W6's, TW5's, TW3's, TW1's, W3v3's and some of JL Audio's ZR products. JL Audio also build their Marine Speaker Systems, Home Subwoofers, Stealthbox products and the vast majority of their enclosed subwoofer systems in Florida.

To pull this off in a competitive world market, JL Audio's production engineering team has created one of the world's most advanced loudspeaker assembly facilities. This commitment to state-of-the-art technology allows their highly skilled workforce to efficiently build JL Audio products to extremely high quality standards.

While it is also feasible to build good quality products overseas (and JL Audio does build some of their products in Europe and Asia), it can be challenging when the product's technology is innovative or complex. Since most of JL Audio's premium loudspeakers incorporate proprietary, patented technologies requiring specific assembly techniques, JL Audio prefers that the people who design them have close access to the people manufacturing them.

JL Audio - Ahead of the curve.

Features and Specifications:

• Amplified Subwoofer System with Single 12TW1-0.25 Subwoofer Driver, Built-In 400W Class D Amplifier, Black Carpet - Sealed Enclosure
• Continuous Power Handling (RMS) - Built-in amplifier 400 W @ 0.25 Ohm
• System Nominal Impedance - 0.25 Ohm
• Input Voltage Range @ RCA Inputs - 70 mV - 1.40 V RMS
• Input Voltage Range @ High-Level Inputs - 280 mV - 5.4 V RMS
• Recommended Copper Power / Ground Wire Gauge - 8 AWG wire
• Fuse Rating - 30 A (ATO or ATC)
• Enclosure Type - Slot-ported, Low-profile
• Finish - Black carpet
• Grille Included - Black Steel Mesh
• Filter Mode(s) - Low-Pass only
• Filter Slope(s) - 12 dB/octave
• Filter Frequency Range - 50 Hz - 200 Hz
• Output Polarity Switch - Yes
• Remote Subwoofer Level Control - Optional (RBC-1)
• UPC 0699440933353
• Color: Black
• Manufacturer's Limited Warranty - 2 Year(s)
• Sold: Each

JL Audio (ACS112LG-TW1) - Single 12TW1 PowerWedge+ with DCD Amplifier