Dave’s Faves – JL Audio D-110 Subwoofers

JL Audio D-110 Subwoofers $1300ea = $2600 Per Pair

13.4h, 12w, 15.86d, 39 lbs, Black Ash
(10” Enormous Cast Frame Subwoofer with 750w amp)

JL Audio, built in Florida (!), is a strong proponent of running TWO subs, not one. A pair gives you a more balanced, weightier sound in the room. JL is right. If you can swing it, run a PAIR! But don’t accuse us of being greedy. Even running a single D-110 is a thing of joy. The beat and impact of live music is absolutely part of the “being there” experience. A single D-110 will delivery a nice dose of that message to your living room.

At first blush D-110 looks like any other subwoofer. At $1100 it comes in black ash, which is just fine with me. If you want GLOSS BLACK, spend an extra $100.

D-110 is not your average bear! All it takes is one look at the subwoofer DRIVER employed in D-110 to realize this is a much more serious performer than what you get from the other guys out there for about even $2k.

The TEN used in the D-110 is 10” DEEP. Let me re-state that. The CAST WOOFER driver is 10” in length from the back of the magnet to the face of the driver. To put in perspective how MASSIVE this is, let’s look at a good competitor. B&W offers a Chinese stamped, not cast, 10” which is under 6” deep. Other competitors in this price range like SVS and REL make decent products- in China. No thanks. The JL Audios are better, and let’s keep our money here.

That Gibraltar-esque woofer is bolted in a two inch metal frame, which serves as the front baffle. All the other guys out there… go to China where they use 8 screws to attach their much more modest drivers to the soft MDF front panel of the sub box. You can see- they don’t have a prayer of competing with JL!

The endemic muscle, the very WOOFER used within the sub cabinet, is no contest- JL Audio

vs these other guys! In short, JL Audio is giving you MUCH MORE for your money. JL Audio is built in Florida, in its own factory, by its own people, to its own design. My point is not to say that the other guys make junk. My point IS to say that JL Audio is on its own island of build quality.

OK, now that I’ve waxed on about the DRIVER, what benefit is to be gleaned? If you’re not playing hip-hop at CLUB levels, who cares? And HERE is the surprise of D-110.

While D-110 can play to pretty strong volume levels, I don’t even care. I for one, don’t need absurd blasting. What jazzes me about D-110 is that its bass is strong and TUNEFUL. It doesn’t boom-inate unless YOU choose to crank it up to a ridiculous level. D-110 is conspicuously cleaner, tighter and less RUMBLY than anything else short of it!

In fact, running a pair of D-110s provides a foundation to music that surpasses huge tower speakers that run $5-10k per pair! A pair of D-110s is such a game changer that you might eschew America’s buying pattern of big towers and instead, start your system with a pair of D-110s. Starting with D-110s takes care of the bass. It means you’re free to look at your left/right speakers in a different light.

No longer do you have to get L-R speakers with ferocious bass and impact. You need speakers you love down to about 50Hz. With this in mind, your speaker choice can be entirely different and more to your taste. If your design brief demands your L-Rs produce prodigious bass response- you’re liming your choice of speakers dramatically.

Running a pair of D-110s unlocks the Renaissance Man within you. You can now run L-Rs that are “strong enough”- but can be chosen for their beauty, imaging and timbre.

You might consider a pair of dynamite Bryston stand mounts for your R&L speakers. Or, perhaps you would be a candidate for the ever detailed and airy Magnepans. With D-110 in the equation you can have your cake (the beauty of Pans) and eat it too (the muscle of JL Audio).