clipping?

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

If you don't plan on upgrading anytime soon get the Reference. It's less money, more efficient (louder), and It will handle your amp just fine. IMO a overpowered sub sounds much better than a underpowered one

The SPL spec of a sub has no bearing on how efficient a sub is in the lower bass regions.

By definition a truly overpowered sub will sound like utter shit because it is being driven beyond its capability to respond in a linear manner. There's no such thing as an "underpowered" sub either. The idea that you need to match the rated power of an amp to the rated power of the sub is really dumb.

The fact is that you can run an amp to a sub that is rated significantly higher than the sub without issue provided that you are playing music. The reason is that the sub's power rating is based on a continuous sine wave and music is nowhere near continuous. You can also get a sub plenty loud for normal listening with an amp rated considerably lower than the sub. You get the most marginal gain at lower powers. For example to get the same amount of gain as going from 1 to 64W you have to go from 64 to over 4000w. Also as you increase the power level the realized gain from more power is reduced further thanks to power compression.

 

[timaishu 10+ year member]

Wow, that actually makes alot of sense.

I drive a 1997 ford taurus. Its stock oem amp only put out 12 watts TOTAL. When I installed new speakers all around, it sounded alright. Later on I installed the premium ford taurus MACH amp which outputs 20wx4. The difference in sq was simply amazing. It sounded loads better than it did originally.

When I finally did an amp install. Going from 20wx4 to 60wx4 wasnt as impressive as was going from 3wx4 to 20wx4.

I think what you said might explain this?

My front comps are rated at 90wRMS and the rears are 60wRMS.

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

Okay, one more thing. If you were me, would you go for the kappa or the reference?
The only reason Im aiming towards the kappa is that it will take all 300 watts from my amp, while the reference will only take 50watts less than what my amp is capable of. Will it even make a difference?

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

I would go with the kappa all day. I agree with Helotaxi in that worrying about trying to exactly match the specs of the amp to the sub is pretty pointless. While having more power is always a good thing, having too little isn't always a problem. I ran my 12 (rated at 500rms) off of 100w profile amp and it sounded just fine and got loud enough to keep up with all types of music. I switched to a 1200w amp and while the peak difference in volume is very noticeable, the normal range of listening is still very similar to the 100w amp. From volume levels 1/40 to 25/40, the 1200w amp sounds just like the 100w amp. From levels 26-35, it sounds just like the 250w amp I had on it. From 36-40, it gets much louder up until I can over drive the sub mechanically. Note too that my volume control is very linear -- going from 25-30 sounds just like going from 30-35 and from 35-40.

"Under-powering" the sub by 50w is not going to make a large impact on sound and you should still be able to get the most out of the kappa.

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

If only everyone knew this.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/word.gif.64b12e39f936af3b4fff38a1c0bd0244.gif
http://www.audiojunkies.com/blog/1306/overpowering-underpowering-distortion-clipping-and-everything-in-between

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

The fact is that you can run an amp to a sub that is rated significantly higher than the sub without issue provided that you are playing music. The reason is that the sub's power rating is based on a continuous sine wave and music is nowhere near continuous.

I don't know about that.. It seems to me most drivers are rated with typical program power in mind..

The problem with driver power ratings is that there is no standards used.. Comming from a prosound perspective contiuous RMS to me means 4hr + of sine wave, while continuous program means 4hr + of pink noise...

big difference...

 

[shimmyz 10+ year member]

The SPL spec of a sub has no bearing on how efficient a sub is in the lower bass regions.
By definition a truly overpowered sub will sound like utter shit because it is being driven beyond its capability to respond in a linear manner. There's no such thing as an "underpowered" sub either. The idea that you need to match the rated power of an amp to the rated power of the sub is really dumb.

The fact is that you can run an amp to a sub that is rated significantly higher than the sub without issue provided that you are playing music. The reason is that the sub's power rating is based on a continuous sine wave and music is nowhere near continuous. You can also get a sub plenty loud for normal listening with an amp rated considerably lower than the sub. You get the most marginal gain at lower powers. For example to get the same amount of gain as going from 1 to 64W you have to go from 64 to over 4000w. Also as you increase the power level the realized gain from more power is reduced further thanks to power compression.

Yes I know what your saying, good info. Just trying to keep to a simple answer for a newbie to car audio. I guess I should have clarified what I meant by overpowering a sub. I wasnt using it in the true sence of the word. I was refering to having some headroom to work with on the amp and not setting the gain to "10" (so to speak) in order to get a high power handling sub to get a workout. Once again good info. You have a better way with words than I do.

 

[benchambers80]

dont get either of those.

 

[DJ Nitrous 427 10+ year member]

My favorite write up on the subject

http://www.caraudiojunkyard.com/forum/audio-knowledge/44-clipping-distortion-how-they-affect-our-system.html

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

My favorite write up on the subject
http://www.caraudiojunkyard.com/forum/audio-knowledge/44-clipping-distortion-how-they-affect-our-system.html

Too bad it's inaccurate and the author doesn't really understand clipping. Please don't spread around the misunderstanding that the waveform keeps the coil from cooling and causes the driver to blow. That is not the case as the excess heat is due to the extra power in the upper order harmonic distortion, not from the cone being "unmotivated" to move. If that was the case, many subs would be blown due to heat when the tuning frequency of the enclosure was played through the driver. Clearly this doesn't happen unless the sub is over powered in the first place.