JL Audio Fathom F113 Subwoofer

Satin Black JL Audio Fathom subwoofer. Throw out your ported one-note fart machines - this is the legendary sealed bass subwoofer that is not only infinitely powerful but also incredibly musical and highly tunable and configurable. A second one is also available for the discriminating buyer to provide SOTA low end. I will include the original box with rubber feet as well as the excellent microphone and manual.

The Fathom f113 is a heavyweight subwoofer capable of filling the most demanding rooms with powerful low-frequency output and reference-class sound quality. The combination of an ultra-long throw W7 13.5-inch driver and a very powerful switching amplifier give it the kind of output normally associated with far larger subwoofer systems. Because it is built with the same driver and amplifier technology as the flagship Gotham®, the f113 delivers a tremendous level of sound quality. Low distortion, excellent dynamic capabilities and shockingly deep bass extension will allow you to experience all the excitement of the most demanding cinematic material, while also being able to reproduce all the nuance and texture of your most delicate musical material. A complete set of signal processing features is easily accessible on the front surface of every Fathom. These include a highly flexible low-pass filter, variable phase, switchable polarity, e.l.f. trim and our powerful Automatic Room Optimization (A.R.O.) system. A calibrated microphone is included for the A.R.O. system. Input connections are made via unbalanced RCA connections or balanced Neutrik® combo XLR/TRS jacks. Also included is an XLR output to connect a second Fathom® as a slave unit.

From TAS:
Throughout the audition, I had a real sense of hearing musical pitches, dynamic expression, and timbre—not of a cone flapping back and forth and of air chuffing through a port. In their quest to deliver low bass from small cabinets, many ported woofers end up overlaying the music with artifacts such as port noise, driver overhang (the woofer continues moving after the drive signal has stopped), and the sound of the cone moving in the box. The Fathom didn’t impose a sound of its own, which is why it was so revealing of bottom-end detail.

The Fathom’s remarkable ability to blend with such diverse loudspeakers is, I believe, due to this subwoofer’s tremendous agility, high resolution, and superb transient behavior. Forget the stereotypes of subwoofers—slow, turgid, thick, sounding like a disconnected boom underneath the music; the Fathom can turn on a dime, starting and stopping with surprising precision. In the midbass the Fathom sounded like a fast and tight 8" driver in a sealed enclosure; in the low bass, the sub delivered the full measure of this extraordinary driver’s capacity for deep extension and explosive dynamics. It was the best of both worlds—finesse backed up with seemingly unlimited depth and impact.
Although capable of great delicacy and nuance, the Fathom had a bottomend solidity, power, and iron-fisted control in the lowermost octave that was jaw-dropping. The f113 can move a large amount of air at very low frequencies (-3dB at 17Hz) with effortless ease and a feeling of anchored solidity. Even when reproducing the most demanding music at very high volume, the Fathom never gave any indication that it was nearing its limit.