doubling or tripling amp power?

[Wattser93 10+ year member]

What sub?

 

[duanebro 10+ year member]

I think you would notice a difference. I am guessing that you are clipping your amp a lot right now. If this is the case then a bigger amp will sound better, but might not be proceived as louder, because distortion "sounds" louder. So a more powerful amp should sound better if not louder.

You haven't said what sub you have, or box. But I'd guess that you have a 4 ohm sub. I must recommend the Aura sound 2300 amp - plenty of power and only $100.

 

[mopower440 10+ year member]

ya, its a mtx 6000 4 ohm, its 250 watts rms, it doesnt distort at listening levels. I was thinking if i jumped up the power to 250 watts or so it would pound harder, but if not, i dont wanna bother

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

To avoid going back and forth... if time is an issue what you're saying could happen at some point. If we were talking about a burp you would be wrong entirely. For music, it depends on the duty cycle and the scenario you're describing probably wouldn't happen. I don't want to argue but the RMS value is a recommended value. It's not some brick wall or "plateau". For the most part you are incorrect, but this doesn't need to be a lengthy argument so I'll just leave it at that.

Ever heard of power compression?

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Wow, Aura 2300 that's a blast from the past. I had one of those ~6-7 years ago, great amp!

 

[ahole-ic]

Ever heard of power compression?

How is that relevant to the RMS value of the woofer? Look I realize everyone wants to look intelligent, and since you were a mod an have a bajillion posts I'm sure you feel you have the street cred, but saying irrelevant crap doesn't help.

 

[mopower440 10+ year member]

ok guys, you really got me confused..lol..help me out here..

 

[Fi-brations 10+ year member]

Yes, u will notice a big difference between 70 watts and 200 watts, and the size of the woofer is not relevant to how loud it can be

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

How is that relevant to the RMS value of the woofer? Look I realize everyone wants to look intelligent, and since you were a mod an have a bajillion posts I'm sure you feel you have the street cred, but saying irrelevant crap doesn't help.

http://i.imgur.com/wOopW.jpg

As I mentioned, and Jim previously mentioned, you are presenting misinformation.

You miss this? Here read it again.

A voice coil will experience power compression with absolutely no distortion in the source signal. Just physics...
Not even taking power compression into account, the fact that our ears work in a logarithmic fashion means that you'll get to a point where reaching that next 3dB threshold will require more money and time than it's worth - which is a pretty good example of a plateau unless you're willing to convert your vehicle into an Extreme-class dB Drag entry //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

Increasing power from 1kW to 2kW is the same ratio as 5kW to 10kW, although the cost to get there certainly isn't the same.

It's simple. Understand?

 

[ahole-ic]

http://i.imgur.com/wOopW.jpg
As I mentioned, and Jim previously mentioned, you are presenting misinformation.

You miss this? Here read it again.

It's simple. Understand?

How exactly does that contradict what I've said?

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

How exactly does that contradict what I've said?

Here, I'll show you. Apparently you have a problem with retention?

Here:

It doesn't plateau.

And then you're corrected here:

Technically it doesn't but the gain from power after a while is very minimal...it gets to a point where your sub is just heating up more thermally without any additional output

Apprarently you misunderstood, so you posted this:

That would be true about clipping. When talking about clean power it is not really true.

Kangaroux's original point was correct. Regardless of music or a burp, you will end up with power compression after a certain level of power. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[ahole-ic]

Here, I'll show you. Apparently you have a problem with retention?
Here:

And then you're corrected here:

Apprarently you misunderstood, so you posted this:

Kangaroux's original point was correct. Regardless of music or a burp, you will end up with power compression after a certain level of power. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

Mmmk, I wasn't corrected. he said it plateau'd. It doesn't. There is no magical power limit where it no longer behaves in the same logarithmic fashion and just peters out like he said. It's very consistent... just not linear. So, while I'm sure you think you have a point... you don't. Clipping will cause the woofer to heat at a quicker pace and not gain much if any output thus a "plateau". So what I said holds true. You've disproved nothing.

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Apparently you're having trouble with this statement:

A voice coil will experience power compression with absolutely no distortion in the source signal. Just physics...

Which is a factual statement. Now if you'd like to disprove Physics, by all means then go ahead. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif

 

[mopower440 10+ year member]

what is 'power compression'?

 

[galacticmonkey 5,000+ posts]

Power compression is when a subwoofer receives so much power that it works inefficiently. It starts turning too much of the power it is receiving into heat, and this alters the electro-mechanical parameters of the speaker for the worse.

Lets say a guy is competing in a class like Street B, which allows a competitor to run 3 10s, 2 12s, or 1 15 last time I checked. Say he runs a single 15 that can safely take 1,200w on music, and 2,000w on a burp. Lets also say that his burp score is a 146 @ 40hz. If he doubles power to 4kw, he will theoretically see a 3db increase, to 149db. Lets say that the subwoofer is starting to show some stress with 4kw, and he only ends up at a 148.3db. He can then double power again to 8kw, and since the subwoofer is so inefficient now, since its seeing so much more power than it can handle both mechanically and thermally, he only gets to 149.5db. In theory, he should have went from 146db to 149db to 152db. He gained less and less each time he doubled power. Why? Most likely power compression.

You shouldnt have to worry about that with such a small scale setup with low power though. If you want something a little better, you should be able to pick up a pretty middle of the road subwoofer, like a 12" Kicker CVR for around $40-50 on Craigslist. Then get a little 400w rms amplifier, and you should see a night and day difference from the setup you have now.