i agree that overkill is only when you start to f-up the body of the car. you can all ways turn it down and give headroom. also your subs won't be trying that hard to give you your desired sound level so they would have less distortion and last alot longer. anybody else notice than when you point forward/seal off in a trunk car you reduce the loudness on the outside. i can have my sub playing at a nice volume on the inside but outside you can barely tell there is even a sub in the car and i haven't even got around to sounddeading the interior of the car yet. but i can still let it be heard when i want to (car shows, cruises showing my alpha-male side and show a "bass pretender" how its supposed to be done, ect)