Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Heard a JL audio GOTHAM today...

These forums are so educational!

In this thread alone, I learned that you can insult a man's penis size..... but not the size of his subwoofer.... and that subs are now rated not by how much bass they produce in a listening room, but what's the furthest "rattle point" AWAY from the listening room!

Damn.... I gotsta order me some serious subbage!

I wonder how the Elemental Design A7 - 900 would do against the Gotham. It beats it in the weight catagory. Having dual 18" woofers means that it probably has more slam vs the dual 13" in the Gotham. But the amp in the ED isn't as large as in the Gotham. Furthermore, having the 18" woofers might make it so that it doesn't have as much bass definition. It would be a nice shootout though. I am definitely keeping an eye on the ED.

- Nick

According to what I've heard and read, the ED not only has tons of slams but also extremely good definition.

I think this is the same driver that they use in the gotham and fathom models:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECnRIeSab_o&feature=related.

The material surrounding the driver allows for extreme movement... so it pushes a ton of air.

Anyway- I am glad I am happy with ym ep500 (maybe i will add a second) and don't feel the need to drop 11k on a sub. Of course If I just had it to blow... that thing looks really friggin cool

With extreme movement like that, how does one control transient response?

Hmmm...I wonder if anyone has experimented with dual, independent drivers - one for compression and the other for rarefaction.

The Gotham is a lot like the sub that JL targeted as it’s main competition, the Velo Sig 1812. I have heard both now and say can they really are terrific looking and sounding subs that I can happily live without. We all make our own value determinations and for me those two (and several others) are over the top (sorta like Wilson Speakers).
I have gone through a lot of subs (12 I think) in the last few years. After the EP600 (which I loved by the way) I have had dual Velo DD18’s and now dual F113’s. I even had dual SVS PB13’s in for an informal shootout in my HT room last fall. The room is relatively large (3600 cf) and the room before this one was the same size but with large openings to the rest of the house. I was looking for the pressurized bass that I heard so many speak of. What I have now sub and speaker wise is probably about as good as it is going to get in my room.
This is a very subjective hobby and the Axiom subs are excellent. I am sure that I would be just as content with dual EP500’s or 600’s in my HT. They play very clean and can’t be over driven not to mention much better looking than the ED and Epik subs.

Yes, I believe the Gotham uses the same drivers as the W7 series. In the car audio world, the W7 series has been one of the top designs for years now. I've been running a 10W7 with a JL 500/1 amp for about five years. It sounds every bit as good as the day I installed it, and I've certainly put it through it's paces. Though I feel the JL home theatre subs a bit pricey, I would love to hear the Gotham sometime.

Yes, Mark, but for what the Gotham costs, you could reduce the suckage of your room considerably.

The driver in the Gotham and Fathom subs is based upon the W7 but they tweaked it for the Home Theatre market. They spent a lot of time on the engineering of their subs and it shows. It took JL two plus years from the initial unveiling of a prototype at CES to get the Fathom to Market and another year before they started selling Gothams. They (JL) told me that I would have better performance from dual F113's than a single Gotham. They are now stating the Gotham will do a bit better but the differences are small. BTW it is not difficult to find a pair of f113's for $5K. Not cheap but not too far from most of the competition and a lot smaller (if that matters to you). Ironically, I bought my f113's when my theatre was in the family room and I wanted to hide them under some end tables. Actually did this but then built out a new HT room where the sub size dosen't really matter . Who knows what the future holds?

here is a pic of the Fathoms and my receintly painted HT.

Here is a better pic showing the new room color


And the Revels with the A1400-8 in the cabinet (note blue light)

Very nice!