its really funny to me hw each time, some thing involves JL gets a huge and passionate response from people, some against, some for.

from my end, and this is my opinion only:

1. there is absolutely nothing "wrong" with JL, they make good products up and down their range in all the product selections.
2. their stuff is decently built, well designed, and performs pretty good
3. becuase of their name, they do (and should) charge a little more compared to other, lesser known brands who may offer similar if not superior products at a given level.

So i dont think one should call trash or superduper, they are osmehwere in between. How i see JL, IMO, is that it is a good brand for customers who dont know a lot or dont care alot about the deeper side of car audio, and specifically Sound quality. again, not saying JL cant offer decent SQ, but there are better stuff out there

get a well installed JL system, using all their top range euiqpment, will yield a pretty nice sounding system, for sure....and without having anoither brand to compare it against, 99 percent of the people would be satisfied.

onec you go deeper into the car audio hobby, you may soon find that take the budget you used on the all JL system, you can in all likelihood, equal or surpass it interms of sound quality with less money, or definetly surpass it in SQ with identical money.

so, i think what may annoy some of hte more experience car audio heads on the forums when people are stuck on JL, is that they feel that they are doing those OPs a favor, by directing them away from JL, and suggesting stuff that offers a better performance/dollar ratio...some just come off more harsh than others

so thats the end story, my advice to the OP, do you think you will find yourself enjoying a better sounding system or not, if so, maybe you can take some advice from a few of us here, and in the end, get a better performing system for equal or less money than a full jl build?

i dont want to chime in with any suggestions, if you ar einterested in waht i suggest, just PM me.

i will say this though, if i opened up a real shop again, i would deifnetly go get JL, dones matter what you say, JL is a big money maker for a brick and motar shop

 

First of all the word is ignorant not iggorant. I think its pretty ironic for you of all people to go around calling other members ignorant when the community had to listen to you cry for months as you ragged on another member (Rickdogg) about how he "tricked" you into buying wheels that would not fit your big brake kit when all along you had absolutely no clue what you were talking about. Yet I digress this is not what this thread is about.

I love how you come out of left field and make a statement on my opinion on of JL equipment. I for one could care less what you put in your car. I don't care if you don't use the same audio equipment that I have in my car. In fact I will go on record as saying I DON'T want anyone to use the same audio equipment I have in my car and I don't expect anyone to have the same setup as me. You will never see me come into the thread of another member who has completed their audio build using JL equipment and make negative comments about it.

This is specifically what the OP asked...

...so I supplied my opinion on JL Audio. I don't expect anyone to agree, hell even Adam has a different view than I do and we agree on most things.

I feel the way I do about JL's products well because I can. I will admit that at one point in time I did not know any better and I also thought that JL Audio was the best of the best as far as car audio was concerned. Luckily through a lot of research and through meeting a lot of good people and listening to some really nice car audio systems I have come to form a completely different opinion on JL products (I am referring to their subs and speakers, an amp is an amp. It is very difficult for most people to hear the differences in sound created from one amp to another).

Lastly in response to your comment...

...I hate to be the one to break it too you, but if you run your life what that sort of logic then I'm surprised that you have made it this far. I think Bing's post addresses this comment perfectly.

 

I have two sets of JL's component ZR's and I am completely satisfied. For the money they are great. The only ones I would get that are nicer than them are the focal utopia berylium(spelling?). But they are $4.5k a pair. Good luck with everything.

 

 

Thank you for your contribution to this board.

 

I don't have a response for a cry baby. You have your opinion, and I have my opinion.

 

I have all APC kits on my car and i am extremely satisfied, for hte money they are great, the only ones i would get that are nicer than them are HKS stuff, but they are a ton of cash...


not saying you arent entitled to your opinion, but your statement is about as accurate in the car audio realm as mine is in the performance side

but its not suprising i guess, Focal has basically become the high end equivalent of JL over the years IMO againt, not saying either JL or focal is not good, just saying they have gained a reputation and a name for themselves that i think they are charging a bit more for their performance than many others.

b

 

APC kits?

 

Hey 16psibrick, what is the blue stuff you used in these kicks for the outer edge to flush mount the speakers?

 

low temp plastic

 

OK, I'm total audio n00b, but what gets me about all these threads is that everyone is very quick to say "Oh JL/Pioneer/Infiniti/etc. isn't the best, there are better options out there...". But no one ever goes on to say what the superior options are, so why is that?

 

Alot of the other options have been discussed in threads countless times . But it's often hard to offer any specific recommendation, because rattling off a bunch of names does no one any good. It's like asking "what's the best coilover". That question nets nothing but a list of brands, nothing more. In order to answer with specific recommendations, you have to ask a specific question, with specific requirements, and from there the decisions tend to make themselves

 

^werd, thanks for clearing that up.

On a totally unrelated note, do you have any experience with GT Spec products?

 

Finally setting the arguments aside, I'm glad that everyone has a solid point to make here. The verdict, as I see it, has revealed itself to be this:

JL Audio is an excellent brand and manufacturer of decent, if not slightly better than decent speakers, subwoofers and amplifiers. However, as I said before and as a lot of other experts in this thread have also stated, there are manufacturers out there that make better speakers, better subwoofers, etc.

Personally, I'd love to have a set of Morel Elate components, but they are expensive - I am also not a Morel dealer. This is why I went with JLs, which provide me with less but still exceptional performance.

Also, when you get into the higher end components like the Elates, Utopias, ZRs, Kappa Perfects, etc, at that point it's all a matter of opinion. Everyone's ears are made differently, believe it or not. While one person may like the way the Utopias sound, another might like the ZRs, etc.

What's my point? Good question... I guess my point is that it's a good idea to listen to some impressive systems before you buy.