Does somebody want to explain this to me? (Question on powering subs)

[Full Tilt 10+ year member]

Hey everybody. I was having a discussion with a friend while cruising around, listening to his setup. He's got 2 500w subs running off of a 1000w amplifier. He wanted to upgrade 2 1000w subs, and I told him this probably wasn't the best idea, because he'd be underpowering his subs. Well, as the question started bubbling in my head, I was just kind of curious - how/why does underpowering a subwoofer hurt/damage it?

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[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

It doesn't, you just don't get the full potential. It's physically impossible to kill a speaker by underpowering it. Think about it: a speaker blows because of either A. powering it so much the suspension reaches its limits and eventually breaks or B. the speaker heats up too much and the voice coil unwinds. Neither of those can be achieved by underpowering a speaker (assuming the speaker is in the proper box)

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

When underpowering the sub one tends to push their amps to the limit by improperly over setting gains and thus fore clipping the shiit out of their subs creating over heated voice coils..and destroying them to a sure death ....

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

It doesn't, you just don't get the full potential. It's physically impossible to kill a speaker by underpowering it. Think about it: a speaker blows because of either A. powering it so much the suspension reaches its limits and eventually breaks or B. the speaker heats up too much and the voice coil unwinds. Neither of those can be achieved by underpowering a speaker (assuming the speaker is in the proper box)

^^^^ this

 

[Full Tilt 10+ year member]

Okay, thanks guys - I appreciate the input! I think I was confusing it with what @Louisiana_CRX said, maybe it's because people just start clipping them to death because they want more output. Thanks guys!

 

[coolstud-2008]

i would say th at the biggest problem would be the distortion. i run a bigger amp to my subs than needed so you dont have to crank the gain up all the way and the sound is much cleaner, more powerful, and your amp will be happy when its not running so hot.

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

i would say th at the biggest problem would be the distortion. i run a bigger amp to my subs than needed so you dont have to crank the gain up all the way and the sound is much cleaner, more powerful, and your amp will be happy when its not running so hot.

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[goingdef 10+ year member]

i would say th at the biggest problem would be the distortion. i run a bigger amp to my subs than needed so you dont have to crank the gain up all the way and the sound is much cleaner, more powerful, and your amp will be happy when its not running so hot.

^^^this^^^

I run a T600.2 on my highs when I only need 250rms and a16mc2000D to my subs but only need 1000rms or so there,s always tons of headroom therefore much less chance of clipping before reaching mechanical limits, nothing gets hot everything stays happy and sounds very clean at high levels for hours on end.

 

[Imtjnotu 5,000+ posts]

op if ur gonna be here man u have to learn not to call subs 500w subs and 1000w amps......

 

[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

op if ur gonna be here man u have to learn not to call subs 500w subs and 1000w amps......

This, sound like locals on CL