User talk:Bcousin1/JL Audio

JL Audio, Inc. is a small high end audio electronics company employing approximately 300 people at two facilities; one in Miramar, FL and another in Phoenix, AZ. JL Audio has been a world wide leader in audio electronics engineering, with authorized dealers in 58 countries and has been granted 14 U.S. patents. JL Audio has won numerous awards for innovation and sound quality. JL Audio, Inc. product line includes mobile, marine and home audio products.

History
JL Audio was founded in 1975 by audio enthusiasts Lucio Proni and James Birch during a surge in demand for quality after market car audio. Proni and Birch chose the name JL Audio by using the initials from their names James and Lucio. Their first line of products under this name were, actually, home speaker systems.

In 1977 Proni and Birch opened an audio component retail store, Speaker Warehouse, from the profits of their successful line of home speaker "kits" in Florida. In the early 80's JL Audio began their journey into car audio by developing complete car audio systems they called PowerWedges, following their original idea of home speaker kits, but these would be specifically designed for the automobile environment. It was in the car audio field that JL Audio began to make a name for themselves. They focuses on developing the best speakers that would accurately produce low end (bass) frequencies, an area that was severely laking at the time.

It was this dedication that led to the development of their first subwoofer, an 8 inch driver, which would be known as the 8W2 and was installed in their line of PowerWedges. The 8W2 performed very well and Proni followed with 10" and 12" models.

In 1987, Lucio worked on designing a subwoofer that could handle more power and produce a higher output. This led to the creation of the W5 series, which came in 10", 12" and 15" diameter drivers . The 15" had an RMS power handling capability of 250watts. The W5 line was a huge success.

It was during this time that Speaker Warehouse began building demo vehicles and was competing in International Auto Sound Challenge Association (IASCA) competitions in the Florida area. In 1989, seven Speaker Warehouse vehicles qualified for the first annual IASCA Finals in Tempe, Arizona and took home 4 first place finishes for JL Audio subwoofers. This greatly increased the demand for JL Audio products all over North America and led JL Audio to market their products nation wide.

With the help of Alan Wenzel and Manville Smith as Sales Manager and Technical Director respectively, JL Audio began setting up authorized dealers around the nation.

Their success continued in 1990 with 5 first place finishes at the IASCA finals and exhibiting the W2 and W5 lines at CES in 1991.

Design breakthroughs continued with the development of the W1 series in 1991; the ground breaking W6 series in 1993, which set the bar for power handling, sound quality and low end frequency response from a small enclosure; the W4 and IB4 infinite baffle (no enclosure required) subwoofers in 1994 and also the introduction of CS-3 component speakers, a first for JL Audio.

In 1995, JL Audio began introducing premade fiberglass enclosures called Stealboxes, which were enclosures molded to fit seemlessly into specific models of cars and used specifically chosen JL Audio subwoofers. This also was the year JL Audio brought back the PowerWedge and introduced the ProWedge and MicroSub systems.

1998 brought the W3 subwoofer and the Evolution line of component speakers and coaxials.

2001 brought the successor of the W6 as JL Audio's top of the line driver, the W7. Development on the W7 began shortly after the release of the W6 in 1995 and became the new reference for what a subwoofer should do. The final product resulted in 6 U.S. Patent awards. The most unique, and patented, feature of the W7 was the "OverRoll" surround. The OverRoll surround expanded the typical surround over the mounting flange to increase the surround surface area allowing far greater excursions without sacrificing cone area, which is key to producing loud volumes at low frequencies. The W7 line came in 8", 10", 12" and, an unusual, 13.5" drivers. The 13W7 can handle a monstrous 1500Watts of continuous power and has a Free Air Resonance (Fs) of 23.5Hz, with an excursion travel of 1.25" (one way) giving it the capability to accurately reproduce even the lowest of frequencies audible to human hearing undistorted at very high levels.

In 2003, JL Audio continued expanding their line by introducing the e-series amplifiers and audio interconnecting components all equaling in the standards set by JL Audio.

2004 saw the introduction of JL Audio into the home audio market with subwoofers. The subwoofers featured the W7 in beautifully aesthetic enclosures, matched with equally impressive amplifiers. These subwoofers are meant for the extreme high end of home audio enthusiast with money to spend. The Gotham, which has 2(ea) 13W7 drivers and an advanced A.R.O. system that will automatically adjust its output for the room it is in, has an MSRP of $12,000.

In a never ending determination to push the limits of subwoofer design, in 2007 JL Audio introduced their newest subwoofer line, the TW5. These woofers feature an unheard of 2.5" mounting depth . At a time where larger magnets and deeper baskets were being sold by other manufacturers to satisfy the demand for beyond extreme linear excursions, JL Audio decided to go in the exact opposite direction to provide a driver that would increase the possibilities in vehicles where larger drivers simply won't fit.  This decision may have come about through JL Audio's own personal experience with small vehicles designing two demo vehicles using 1961 Austin Mini's.  Both of the demo vehicles required the removal of the back seat to fit the large W6 and W7 drivers used in the vehicles.

JL Audio continues to push the boundaries with a complete line of car audio and marine components, along with their new step into home audio.