JL Audio Fathom IWS-SYS-108 8" In-Wall Powered Subwoofer System

In-Wall 8-Inch Subwoofer System, 300 Watts

Born from the same groundbreaking technologies used to develop our free-standing powered subwoofers, the Fathom® IWS in-wall subwoofer systems deliver remarkable bass performance, while remaining largely concealed within most home audio/theatre environments.

The 8-inch Fathom® IWS systems are smaller and easier to integrate than our larger in-wall Fathoms, fitting in all standard, 16-inch, on-centre stud openings, and operating through very small grilles. These grilles accommodate all common drywall thicknesses, and can be easily painted to match the wall.

The subwoofer enclosures utilise extensive architectural features aimed at improving rigidity while keeping a very low profile and minimal wall thickness. A unique port design vents through a slot located at the perimeter of the driver mount to enhance efficiency and low-bass output. Inside the enclosure is a long-excursion, 8-inch thin-line woofer, built to exacting standards by JL Audio for the Fathom® IWS products.

Each 8-inch Fathom® IWS system is powered by a rack-mountable amplifier, capable of generating up to 600 watts of clean power and can drive up to two enclosures. A complete set of Fathom® signal processing features is also onboard, including our powerful, 18-band Digital Automatic Room Optimization (D.A.R.O.) system, all managed via an easy-to-use, menu-driven interface and LCD display. Note: D.A.R.O. functionality requires optional calibration microphone (sold separately).

The IWS-108 System fits 2" x 4" wall studs or larger.

Enclosure Finish: Flat black (hidden from view when installed).

Grille Finish: Primer white (paintable).

Enclosure Construction: CNC-cut birch plywood.

Technology

Digital Automatic Room Optimization (D.A.R.O.)

Summary:

JL Audio's exclusive D.A.R.O. technology uses a powerful on-board DSP to automatically optimise the subwoofer's in-room frequency response. This leads to a superb listening experience, no matter where the subwoofer is placed.

Detailed Information:

In typical listening spaces, subwoofer and listener placement have a profound effect on the accuracy of low-frequency reproduction. While we always recommend that you place your subwoofers in good-sounding locations, we know that these often can be impractical locations. In the real world, subwoofer placement almost always involves a compromise between sonic performance, practicality and aesthetics.

To face this dilemma head on, JL Audio subwoofer systems incorporate a clever piece of technology called Digital Automatic Room Optimization (D.A.R.O.). The D.A.R.O. system self-generates a series of calibration tones, measures the frequency response at the listening position, and automatically configures an 18-band, 1/6 octave equaliser for a flat end-result. The system effectively allows for smooth, well-balanced sub-bass from a variety of locations that would have been less than ideal without D.A.R.O.

To perform this audio magic, all you have to do is:

1. Connect the included calibration microphone to the front panel of the subwoofer.
2. Press the calibrate button on the front panel of the subwoofer.
3. Hold the microphone at the primary listening position for about a minute.
4. A few minutes later, you have completed this one-time setup routine.

You won't need a computer, spreadsheets or complex measurement equipment, and you won't need to navigate and manipulate complicated interfaces… D.A.R.O. is a fine example of technology in the service of man, if there ever was one.

Read a review of the D.A.R.O. feature on Acoustic Frontiers.

Dynamic Motor Analysis - DMA Optimized Motor

Summary:

JL Audio's proprietary Dynamic Motor Analysis system is a powerful suite of FEA-based modelling systems, first developed by JL Audio in 1997 and refined over the years to scientifically address the issue of speaker motor linearity. This leads to vastly reduced distortion and faithfully reproduced transients... or put simply: tight, clean, articulate bass.

Detailed Information:

Since 1997, JL Audio has been at the forefront of Finite Element Analysis-based modelling of loudspeaker motors and suspensions. This research is aimed at decoding what we refer to as the "Loudspeaker Genome"... a project aimed at understanding the true behaviour of loudspeakers under power and in motion. A major component of this integrated system is DMA (Dynamic Motor Analysis). Starting with the 15W3 and the W7 Subwoofers in the late 1990's and early 2000's, DMA has played an important role in the design of all JL Audio woofers sold today, including our component woofers.

DMA is a Finite Element Analysis (FEA)-based system, meaning that it takes a large, complex problem, breaks it down into small solution elements for analysis and then assembles the data to form an accurate, "big-picture" solution. DMA's breakthrough is that it actually considers the effects of power through the coil as well as coil/cone position within the framework of a time-domain analysis. This gives us a highly accurate model of a speaker's actual behaviour under real power, something that the traditional Thiele-Small models or other low power measurements cannot do. Because DMA does not rely on a steady-state model, it is able to consider shifts in the circuit elements being analysed. These modelling routines are intense, requiring hours to run for a whole speaker.

DMA is able to analyse the real effects of fluctuating power and excursion upon the magnetic circuit of the motor, specifically the dynamic variations of the "fixed" magnetic field. This delivers intensely valuable information compared to traditional modelling, which assumes that the "fixed" field produced in the air gap by the magnet and the motor plates is unchanging. DMA not only shows that this "fixed" field changes in reaction to the magnetic field created by current flowing through the voice coil, but it helps our engineers arrive at motor solutions that minimise this instability. Analysing this behaviour is critical to understanding the distortion mechanisms of a speaker motor and sheds light on the aspects of motor design that determine truly linear behaviour:

• Linear motor force over the speaker's operational excursion range
• Consistent motor force with both positive and negative current through the coil
• Consistent motor force at varying applied power levels

Our ability to fully analyse these aspects of motor behaviour allows our transducer engineers to make critical adjustments to motor designs that result in extremely linear, highly stable dynamic loudspeaker motor systems.

The payoff is reduced distortion, improved transient performance and stellar sound quality.

Floating Cone Attach Method - FCAM™

Summary:

This assembly technique, conceived by JL Audio, ensures proper surround geometry in the assembled speaker for better excursion control and dynamic voice coil alignment.

Detailed Information:

JL Audio's patented FCAM™ technology is an innovative method of bonding the surround/cone assembly to the voice coil former/spider assembly. This feature helps ensure concentricity of the surround, spider and voice coil without torquing the suspension to achieve it. This allows for the inevitable, slight variations in production part dimensions without having them negatively impact the integrity of the suspension and coil-centering at high excursions.

Concentric Tube Suspension

Summary:

Our Concentric Tube Suspension™ technology delivers unprecedented excursion in a low-profile woofer.

Detailed Information:

The biggest challenge in any low-profile woofer design is to create enough mechanical clearance for the speaker to generate enough excursion to meet its output and low-frequency extension goals. Since these goals were very ambitious in the development of JL Audio's low profile woofers, achieving them required development of a new suspension architecture.

JL Audio's solution employs a molded structure which spans over the edge of the motor system, supporting the spider on the outside of the motor's boundaries and the large diameter voice coil on the inside. The large diameter voice coil permits the magnet to sit inside it, rather than surrounding the coil as is typical in most woofers.

High-Damping Feedback Circuitry

Summary:

This proprietary, discrete control circuit design allows our Class D switching amplifiers to maintain an excellent damping factor for improved transient behaviour and fidelity.

Detailed Information:

While Class D amplifiers are well known for outstanding efficiency, they have also been known for less than spectacular sound quality due to weak damping of the driven load and poor power regulation. These factors are critical to subwoofer fidelity as they relate directly to the amplifier's ability to control the motion of the speakers.

JL Audio's Patented Class D output circuit utilises a discrete control section and a unique feedback loop design that results in outstanding power regulation with a damping factor that's vastly higher than other Class D designs and also higher than most Class A/B amplifiers. The benefit of this exclusive JL Audio technology is tight, clean bass reproduction with the efficiency advantage of Class D.

It is a package tailor-made for world-class bass performance.

Built in U.S.A. with Global Components

Summary:

JL Audio's Miramar, Florida loudspeaker production facility is one of the most advanced in the world.

Detailed Information:

At a time when most audio products are built overseas, JL Audio’s commitment to in-house loudspeaker production continues to grow. To pull this off in a competitive world market, our production engineering team has created one of the world’s most advanced loudspeaker assembly facilities and established a global network of quality component suppliers who build to our specifications. This, combined with our commitment to state-of-the-art assembly technology, allows our skilled workforce to efficiently build JL Audio products to extremely high quality standards, right here in the U.S.A.

Since most of our premium loudspeakers incorporate proprietary, patented technologies requiring specific assembly techniques, we find it is vital that the people who designed them have close access to the people manufacturing them. The following JL Audio products are built in our Miramar, Florida factory, with global components:

• Subwoofers: W7, W6v3, TW5v2, TW3, TW1, W3v3
• Enclosed Car Subwoofers: Stealthbox®, PowerWedge™, ProWedge™, H.O. Wedge™ & MicroSub™ Enclosed Subwoofers
• Marine Loudspeakers, Marine Subwoofers and Marine Enclosed Loudspeakers
• Home Subwoofers: Dominion®, E-Sub, Fathom® and Gotham®

Note: Enclosure dimensions do not include L-brackets or vibration-dampening padding.

Note: Single rack unit. Amplifier height dimensions do not include feet.