CivicCanuck
Well-Known Member
It's a bit confusing, but the amp should be able to produce as much or more power than the subwoofer requires. Let's say that a certain subwoofer / box combination can handle 250 watts thermally and mechanically full bandwidth. You could pair the subwoofer with an amp that produces up to 500 watts, if care was exercised in it's operation, or an amplifier with 125 watts or less. The amplifier gain control could be set so that the 500 watt amp will never exceed more than a few watts, and the 150 watt amp gain could be set so that it is clipping continuously at half volume or less on the head unit.
Doubling the amount of electrical power (wattage) produces a 3 db change in output, for the change to be meaningful to a human, you need 10 db or 10x the electrical power, this is perceived as twice as loud. Contrary to popular belief, a subwoofer driver isn't a fuse, and it won't release the magic smoke if you exceed it's power rating for short peaks. It's the long term average power that will damage it if it is too high. Over excursion though isn't great for it and continual bottoming can damage the voice coil former or tear a spider, depending on what is the limiting factor.
Doubling the amount of electrical power (wattage) produces a 3 db change in output, for the change to be meaningful to a human, you need 10 db or 10x the electrical power, this is perceived as twice as loud. Contrary to popular belief, a subwoofer driver isn't a fuse, and it won't release the magic smoke if you exceed it's power rating for short peaks. It's the long term average power that will damage it if it is too high. Over excursion though isn't great for it and continual bottoming can damage the voice coil former or tear a spider, depending on what is the limiting factor.