Is there a better sub than the JL Gotham V2?

[cameron paterson]

If price was not an object is the JL Gotham V2 sub the best you can buy?

 

[Pogre]

Honestly I don't know the answer to your question but I sure am curious to see if you're buying one!

 

[ski2xblack]

The subs you already have can probably exceed the JL sub in sheer output. The JL is an example of small (relatively), sealed subs' brute force approach, which requires costly drivers and copious power, which is an expensive value proposition overall. That hardly makes them "the best, cost no object" subs.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd rather have JTR, Funk, Deep Sea Sound or Seaton...

 

[shadyJ]

The Gotham V2 is a very nice subwoofer but it is not the best subwoofer. If you don't need something pretty or with all the bells and whistles of the Gotham, a JTR Captivator RS2 or Deep Sea Sound Mariana 24 will surely outperform it in every imaginable metric. If you do need something pretty, a Funk Audio 24.0 or 18.2 will also majorly outperform the Gotham.

 

[shadyJ]

I'd rather have JTR, Funk, Deep Sea Sound or Seaton...

yeah, what he said!

 

[cameron paterson]

What about sealed enclosures not rolling off as fast at low frequencies? The Gotham can hit 19hz at 3db down so a ported box would probably need to be tuned at 15 or 16hz to keep up with the Gotham at 19hz. And what if someone bought more than 1 of the Gothams?

 

[shadyJ]

What about sealed enclosures not rolling off as fast at low frequencies? The Gotham can hit 19hz at 3db down so a ported box would probably need to be tuned at 15 or 16hz to keep up with the Gotham at 19hz. And what if someone bought more than 1 of the Gothams?

All the subs I listed are sealed subwoofers, and almost certainly have less of a high-pass filter than the Gotham. And they all have far more displacement capability as well. I would be very surprised if the Gotham has a true 12dB/octave rolloff that a typical sealed sub has, but all of the subs that I listed very much would.

As for ported subs, where a Gotham outperforms ported designs depends on the ported sub you are comparing it against, since different ported subs have different tuning frequencies. Some ported subs are tuned at 30 Hz, some around 20, and the JTR Captivator 4000ULF is tuned to around 10 Hz. Porting can be a huge boost in efficiency, as much as quadrupling output around the tuning frequency.

And yes, you could get the Gotham to outperform another sub, if you get enough Gothams. But that is true of any sub.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

What about sealed enclosures not rolling off as fast at low frequencies? The Gotham can hit 19hz at 3db down so a ported box would probably need to be tuned at 15 or 16hz to keep up with the Gotham at 19hz. And what if someone bought more than 1 of the Gothams?

Sure it’s -3 @19Hz but at what output level?

For that price I’d buy six fv25’s, or even four and locket the rest, and STILL have much better bass.
I remember seeing measurements not too long ago, and wasn’t too impressed. It’s a nice sub to be sure, but that’s stupid money for what you get.

 

[NINaudio]

I'd take one Mariana 18 SD over the JL Gotham V2 at a quarter of the price. Well, I'd probably take two of them and pocket the savings!

 

[cameron paterson]

What if someone bought 3 or 4 Gothams. I wouldnt want more bass than that in my room.

 

[Pogre]

What if someone bought 3 or 4 Gothams. I wouldnt want more bass than that in my room.

What are you getting at? Seriously? Yes, if you buy 4 Gothams they will have more bass than one or two. talk about diminishing returns tho... Why would you want to buy 4 of those instead of 2 of the others?

 

[ryanosaur]

I'd take one Mariana 18 SD over the JL Gotham V2 at a quarter of the price. Well, I'd probably take two of them and pocket the savings!

I’d take 4 Mariana 18SDs for the cost of one of those Gotham’s!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

What if someone bought 3 or 4 Gothams. I wouldnt want more bass than that in my room.

You must be bored lol.

No way I’d give the same money I could buy a truck for for those. Not at full retail.

Why not buy 3 or 4 fv25’s? Or fv18’s?

Not sure where you’re going. That’s just stupid money for what you get.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

This silly thread sent me down memory lane towards Bill Fitzmaurice DIY Designs. Unfortunately, his site is down for some reason and the plans for his subs are/were commercial only.
If someone curious, do check out his site archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200210040823/https://billfitzmaurice.info/
About Tuba HT:

20Hz: 114dB at 4.5% THD. I did not push any further, as the panes in my windows were moving about 1/16" at the time. I think they would have broken if I went further. Above 20Hz, you can get damned near as much as you want dB-wise, all clean. Basically, from 16 or so Hz on up, you have strong bass, from 20Hz on up, INSANE bass. I designed the system to give me great sound at -10dB from reference (with Dynamic EQ frequency correction to account for equal loudness curves), which it does with flying colors flat down to around 16Hz before dropping off. Useful output down to 12Hz. All at less than 5% THD. In a sweep and distortion test of a $9950 sub, the Genelec HTS6... the Genelec runs over 10% THD at 115dB. This is significant, in that a sub almost 20 times less expensive to build can seriously compare with one of the best subs available.

 

[shadyJ]

One nice thing about the Gothams is how much performance you are getting for the footprint. It doesn't eat up a lot of space but will provide a lot of firepower for the space that it does occupy. Still, the MSRP is sky-high for the performance that you are getting. I get it though, getting fixated in something super nice that is unobtainable. I am currently going through the same thing with the Lexus LC500. I can't stop thinking about it even though I will never be able to afford one.

However, in the world of subwoofers, the Gothams are not the end-all and be-all. The Funk 18.2 sub will smoke it pretty hard. If these were cars, the Gothams would be something like an Aston Martin but the Funks would be Koeniseggs.

 

[lovinthehd]

This silly thread sent me down memory lane towards Bill Fitzmaurice DIY Designs. Unfortunately, his site is down for some reason and the plans for his subs are/were commercial only.
If someone curious, do check out his site archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200210040823/https://billfitzmaurice.info/
About Tuba HT:

Looks like Bill is still active in his forums, saw a post dated a coupla weeks ago....

 

[JerryLove]

If price was not an object is the JL Gotham V2 sub the best you can buy?

139db (142 if you allow for compression) down to 37Hz.

I give you: the orbit shifter

Orbit Shifter Pro

A horn loaded subwoofer with a 18" driver.

jtrspeakers.com

 

[ryanosaur]

The Funk 18.2

*sighs wistfully

 

[shadyJ]

139db (142 if you allow for compression) down to 37Hz.

I give you: the orbit shifter
View attachment 34977

Orbit Shifter Pro

A horn loaded subwoofer with a 18" driver.

jtrspeakers.com

That has a huge amount of output, but it won't have much in the way of extension and, given the horn-loading, I would also bet the response isn't quite as pitch perfect as the JL Audio subs. It is exceptional for what it does, but it is not ideal for home audio.

edit: oops, I forgot this was actually measured by Josh Ricci, results can be seen here.