JL Audio f110 Listening Tests

CD: Donald Fagen - Morph the Cat

This isn’t my favorite Donald Fagen CD, but it does contain a lot of deep bass info which is exactly what I was looking for to warm up the f110s for my listening tests. Track #1 “Morph the Cat” started right out the gate with some heavy hitting bass guitar and bass drums that rattled my walls and let me know the f110s are awake and ready to play. I moved around my listening area and was pleasantly surprised to find the bass wasn’t boomy even when sitting on the left couch a few feet from where I placed the front f110. Track #2 “H Gang” is probably my favorite track on the disc. It’s got a cool funky beat mated with memorable harmonizing lyrics that you simply can’t get out of your head after hearing a few times. The bass produced by the f110s was both articulate and clean, sounding better as the volume was pumped up. Track #3 “What I Do” had my couch shaking which really enhanced the enjoyment of the track for me. Using a pair of f110s located diagonally across my room produced an excellent virtual sub image which tricked my brain into thinking the bass was coming from my front channels and not two discrete locations away from them.

Miscellaneous CD’s

I ran through a gamut of CD’s during my listening sessions and took notes on the stuff that stood out the most to me. I spent a good deal of time listening to a few tracks on an Usher Audio Demo CD sampler that was handed to me at the CES trade show a couple of years back. The f110 was able to deliver good transient bass response without sounding muddy on track #6, “Don Juan”, though not as detailed or snappy as I’ve heard on my reference tower speakers that don’t utilize a crossover on the bass drivers and rely on the natural roll off of the driver themselves as the LPF function.

Next up was a CD I haven’t played in quite some time from Manheim Steamroller called Fresh Aire 7. Track #5 “The Seven Metals of Alchemy” has some insanely low end bass drops throughout the song that you will hear and feel if played back on a good system with excellent bass extension. The f110s seemed to really enjoy playing this song and strutting their stuff. I enjoyed the following seven tracks that individually dealt with the seven chakras of the body producing vibrantly low and sustained bass tones to stimulate the body and mind.

I threw on some bass-heavy techno type music from the likes of Depeche Mode and Roger Powell. “Only When I Lose Myself” is one of those Depeche Mode mixes that they brilliantly spin a CD off the hit single with remix options some of which work while others don’t. The “Gus Gus Longplay” is pretty trick so I went with that. The bass in this song is extremely deep and highly distorted. On most systems it sounds like mud and will easily send wimp woofers on a trip past their excursion limitations. I was expecting the JL f110s to handle this track without any issues and they didn’t disappoint. The bass was prominent and about as stress-free as I’ve heard on some of the best subwoofers we’ve tested. I moved on to one of my favorite CH hit singles from Depeche Mode when I was in High School “Enjoy the Silence”. Track #4 “Enjoy the Silence (Bass Line)” got my chest thumping once the high energy bass line kicked in. Listening to this track at house shaking volume levels was an oxymoron based on the title and lyrics and I am sure my neighbors “enjoyed the silence” when I was done testing these subs.

SACD: Patricia Barber – Modern Cool & Nightclub

I always like to throw in some of the fabulously recorded SACD discs from Patricia Barber by Premonition Records. Track # 7 “Company” from Modern Cool is a really hip tune with a killer drum solo towards the middle of the song. The f110s seemed to play this track a bit heavy on the low end but still maintaining good tonal quality and clarity in the bass drum. As I turned the volume higher, the integration between my front speakers and the subs seemed to blend in even better. The f110s did a great job of convincing me into thinking the bass player in Track #6 “Alfie” from Nightclub was sitting in my family room playing a live event. I enjoyed engaging the Jazz DSP modes in my Yamaha RX-Z7 for this track as it provided the rich ambient reverberation of a small jazz club to compliment the very tactile and surreal bass I was hearing.

DVD-A: Blue Man Group – Complex

This is a great disc that I’ve shelved for quite some time. It was time to dust off the cobwebs and introduce the Blue Men to a pair of f110s. I started off with the disc configured for the DVD-A soundtrack opening with track#1 “Above”. My RBH speaker system integrated quite well with the pair of f110s giving me the illusion that the bass was being projected from the main speakers. Track #2 “Time to Start” showed off the weight of the bass drops when the f110s were handling bass duties. The section of the song where the heavy percussions are dominant sounded wonderfully dynamic and deep when played at very high levels (above 100dB). I don’t condone listening at these levels but, hey I do it for the benefit of our readers to ensure the products can handle real world torture tests.

I switched over to the DTS 96/24 sound track via the DVD video portion of the disc to listen and watch “Sing Along” with Dave Matthews on vocals. I don’t know if it’s because of the visual impact or not biasing my judgment, but I subjectively feel the DTS version of this song sound better than the DVD-A version. The percussion section was delivered with aplomb as I was enveloped in the whipping sounds all around me. This track is so stunning both in terms of its audio and video that it’s a must demo to your guests that never experienced a really good surround playback system in a home environment. I finished off this demo with the “Drum Breakdown” (drum mix) track. This track shook me to my core with the percussive extravaganza that the Blue Man Group is known for. I had to lower the bass levels a bit as I found it a bit overpowering

DTS DVD: LTJ Bukem - Planet Earth
I’m not sure where i acquired this disc but it was sitting in my collection for over a year until I decided to finally give it a whirl. Boy was I pleasantly surprised. After a short listening session I’ve begun to realize this is one of the most bass intense multi-channel recordings I’ve ever heard. In fact, paired with the right subs, I’d say listening this disc at reference levels would be a good homeopathic cure for mild constipation. The multi-channel portion of this disc is recorded in DTS ES and will work out your subs via an awesome array of funky beats, riffs, mashes and slams. The bass lines in track #1 “Makoto” were quite intoxicating. The JL f110s were the guest of honor for track #2 “K-scope” which was had spy like overtones layered in deep textured bass. There was a party in my ears and JL Audio was invited. The bass had my heart pumping and I’d heed a serious warning to anyone with a pacemaker to proceed with caution. Track #7”Words 2B Heard” has exceedingly low bass response that went unnoticed when I played this track on my computer speakers to recall the tune while writing this review. The f110s displayed superb control during the long bass transients demonstrating that their amplifiers had plenty of headroom, thanks to the large linear supply, and the woofers had ample travel to deliver clean sustained bass. This was especially true for track #11 “Suspended Space” which sounded a lot like Tubular Bells with an injection of Red Bull on the low end. Track #8 “Love Is” is a jazzy tune with gobs of bass that sounded absolutely wonderful on my system thanks to the addition of the two f110s. It was clear to me that the f110s brought my family room reference system to new heights or, more accurately stated, new lows that had previously been unachieved using a single larger, or smaller dual subwoofers.

Movies

I tend to favor music over movies when reviewing equipment but I did throw in a variety of movies ranging from the opening scenes of Star Wars Episode I Phantom Menace to Wall-E (yes I have kids, but it’s a very cool movie). Whether I was battling Sith lords or destroying Borg vessels, the dual f110s insured I was hearing every explosion and bone crushing scene to its fullest potential. The f110s produced so much tactile energy with the ship landing in Wall-E for example that it felt as if my chairs were armed with motion actuators. The JL Audio subs were avid movie goers providing a dimension of depth and slam to my system that persuaded me to watch more movies on it than I’d ordinarily do otherwise.