JL Audio 12W6v2 12" Car Subwoofer

I purchased my 12W6v2-D4 off of IndoAudio Electronics from Ebay for $330 shipped. When it arrived I was surprised about how large the subwoofer was (nearly 8 inches in depth). Since I bought a JL Audio subwoofer I decided to purchase a JL Audio amplifier as well. What better amplifier than the JL Audio 500/1.
My father and I built a 1.25 cubic foot sealed enclosure to house the 12W6v2-D4. MDF was purchased from Home Depot along with Liquid Nails and Silicone to cover the cheap RadioShack terminal I bought (oh well). Charcoal-grey carpet was purchased at One Stop Car Audio. Needless to say the enclosure came out terrific.
As we came to completion of our labor, now it was Tweeters turn. The 500/1 has a plethora of controls, and for the most I am unfamiliar with them. After it was tuned by Larry (an installer at Tweeter) it was time to listen to this magnificent, enormous subwoofer.
Just as JL Audio promises, the 12W6v2-D4 gives you high fidelity bass along with high output, and when I say high output I MEAN HIGH OUTPUT. Fortunately, after a little over a month after installation I picked up a RadioShack SPL meter (inaccurate by 8dB). In other words, when it reads 108dB, it's actually hitting 100dB. I have an Alpine deck and the Bass Level was set at 0, and the Subwoofer Level was set at 15. The subwoofer managed to reach 112dB when I listened to the radio at a volume of 12.
I quickly turned down the amplifier's gain, and noticed the boost was at 15dB, and turned that down to 0dB (ahh! SO much for a professional tuning). JL Audio clearly states not to listen to the equipment in excess of 100dB in the manuals. You got to think to yourself, "What's more important; turning heads, or your hearing?" For me, its my hearing, but in my opinion its OK to crank it up to moderate volume levels, say if I'm listening to a favorite song. A couple songs at moderate volume levels daily won't effect hearing, it depends where your gain is set. Now, I have my gain just very slightly over its minimum capacity. Anything 115dB and listened to over 15 minutes will cause permanent hearing loss. I make sure my music rarely ever passes 80dB these days just to be safe because I'm kind of a worry-wort.
The subwoofer maintains linearity. This is in part of its technologies particularly its FEA-optimized motor system which decreases distortion, and improves transients. The plateau-reinforced spider attachment is a specially designed form of suspension which enhances reliability by relieving stress on the spider, particularly at high excursions. The spider is large to control its unearthly long excursion (16.5 milimeters). For increased excursion control, the W6v2's use what is known as the Floating-Cone Attach Method which provides dynamic voice coil alignment, and ensures proper surround geometery. To keep "its cool" so to speak, not only does it have Pole and cone venting, but between its aluminum alloy frame and top plate are slots which pump cool air directly onto the voice coil. Again, yet another technology that helps this woofer in yielding its breath taking sound quality by minimizing power compression, and parameter shifts.
Listen responsibly, and enjoy the amazing sound quality of the 12W6v2-D4 if you wish to own one. Other subwoofer manufacturers you might want to look into are Adire Audio, and Reasonant Engineering subwoofers. Quality not quantity.