I am a dealer for both subs . I have 2 sw 12 subs in an Aerial 20 T system as well. I have directly compared the sw 12 to the JL FL13 . The Aerial is better for music as it is fast , articulate and has rich timbre capability. The JL is better than I initially thought . After some experimenting I was able to get a smooth frequency output and liked what I heard. It is as good as the Aerial for theatre applications. It has a touch more bottom end slam. Overall, if I had to choose , I would go with the Areial as it excells in music and does theatre very well. If it was a theatre only decision , it would be more difficult.