How to find your subs' 'limits'..

[Full Tilt 10+ year member]

Hey all. I got my system all hooked up not too long ago, and I love it. My SA-15 sounds awesome on ~900 watts. But the thing is, I don't know what these things are capable of, so I don't know how hard to push it. It's not in a great enclosure right now, but it gets the job done for the time being while I have a friend build be a new one. Anyway, I was just wondering - how do you guys find the limits of your sub, or how hard to push it before your pushing it too hard? I feel like I'm not getting all of it's potential out of it (obviously because of the box!), but how do you guys find your subs' limits?

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[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

Well I'll tell you... I've been giving my SA-10 1200w for the past year and it takes it fine. Don't be afraid to step up the power a bit, as long as you know you aren't clipping it.

Keep the signal clean, and you'll hear the SA woofers bottom out before they really get hurt, and back down the gain from there. As long as it's clean, they can take gobs of power, just depends how much you have on tap.

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

You do not need to find the limits, just build an enclosure to work with the product, application, and your goals. Use the power you have and tune it properly and you should be just fine with good overall output. We did a 15 in the woman's GP a while back...was a pita because i wanted the sub and port forward..but it worked.

 

[RangerDangerV2 5,000+ posts]

When u break something... U found the limit.

 

[tc300 10+ year member]

We did a 15 in the woman's GP a while back...was a pita because i wanted the sub and port forward..but it worked.

Was the GP a 97-03 style???

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

you be able to hear or smell the limits if pushed to far //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[West]

Fire is a good indicator you have gone 2 far as well //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsupwink.gif.129404938effda6ad9cca39e7f4b58a3.gif

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

Youll know when it blows //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[West]

I am curious cant you get a multimeter, play a test tone, and determine you wattage from the voltage? Just like anyone would do with a regular speaker system. If you exceed the subs RMS its eventaully going to get damaged, right?

Or is he trying to exceed RMS...

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

Was the GP a 97-03 style???

naw newer

 

[shadow 10+ year member]

You'll smell it.... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[Full Tilt 10+ year member]

I am curious cant you get a multimeter, play a test tone, and determine you wattage from the voltage? Just like anyone would do with a regular speaker system. If you exceed the subs RMS its eventaully going to get damaged, right?
Or is he trying to exceed RMS...

...huhwat?

I'm already exceeding the RMS rating of the subwoofer, I know that for a fact. That doesn't automatically mean the subwoofer's being damaged. I'm keeping the gain down to make sure the sub isn't taking a lot of clipping, my question was how to know when I'm pushing the sub too far.

naw newer

97-03s are sooo much easier to get a box into. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rage.gif.0ad8a6e5565b5fddce406566fdd05149.gif

 

---------- Post added at 08:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 PM ----------

 

Youll know when it blows //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

An SA-15? I'll pass. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif