JL Audio's Latest Powerhouse Subwoofer

JL Audio has announced the new dual-driver Fathom® f212. Featuring two 12-inch woofers and an integrated 3000-watt (peak short-term RMS) switching amplifier. The subwoofer includes JL Audio’s Automatic Room Optimization (A.R.O.) technology, which measures and analyzes the response of the f212 in the listening space and corrects it with an equalizer for “optimal bass quality” using a supplied laboratory-grade calibration microphone. The f212 includes stereo balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs, as well as a balanced output for daisy chaining multiple subwoofers.

JL Audio’s Web site describes the A.R.O. system as:

“The A.R.O. system self-generates a series of calibration tones, measures the response at the listening position, analyzes the shape and magnitude of the primary response error, and configures an appropriate filter to tame it.  The system effectively allows for smooth, well-balanced sub-bass from a variety of locations that may have been less than ideal without A.R.O.”

The sealed-box subwoofer has a frequency response from 20 Hz to 97 Hz, measured anechoically to with +/- 1.5 dB deviation, and a -3 dB drop at 110 Hz.  There are two level modes included: fixed gain for calibrating the levels in your processor, or variable running from full mute to +15 dB over reference gain. The low pass filter mode can be defeated or can use two slopes (12 dB per octave or 24 dB per octave) with a frequency range from 30 Hz to 130 Hz.

The 220-pound, 31-inch tall Fathom f212 will be available in October 2008 for $6,000 (in a satin black finish—add $100 for high-gloss black).