stupid question about stereo loudness. almost noobish

[reed dollaz 10+ year member]

Ok, my previous setup (which i dont own anymore) was a 10" 04L7 w/ a prefab kicker ported box, and a kx600.1 -- I metered 134.9 in a trunk car, with one seat down, all windows up. Anyway.... I also had two 12" Kicker C-12's (the 50.00 ones) in a kicker prefab on a kx400.1 -- this setup, to the ear, sounded ALOT louder. Was it due to it being more cone area? Even tho it was only pushing 300rms, 150 per sub, and my L7 was getting 650watts RMS. Is that why it was louder? But, my overall question is.. my next setup, and final setup for a loooooong time until i have money to do something "big" will be a 10 or 12" SSA Icon off of a SAE-1000D. From your experience with different setups, do you think the the Icon getting 1000 watts would be significantly louder than the L7 when it only had 600 watts? It also will be in a box built and tuned correctly, and not a prefab. What do u think?

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[60ndown 10+ year member]

too many variables to call it imo. as long as the install is good and electrical is strong im sure you will enjoy it, and thats the only thing that imortant.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

There is more to output than cone area and/or wattage. Speaker efficiency, over all system efficiency, and especially with a ported box... the freq being played, tuning point, etc. There are alot of factors.

 

[60ndown 10+ year member]

as a rule, twice the power only adds 3 db, so not alot louder.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

as a rule, twice the power only adds 3 db, so not alot louder.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

No, that is a guideline, or I guess a rule from a physical/numerical standpoint only. An audible difference in 3 decibels IS much louder, especially when you have a lot more of the audio band to play with. And besides, that's comparing apples to oranges.

 

[reed dollaz 10+ year member]

yea i wasnt really expecting much more with only an extra 400 watts. but actually, when i hit the 134.9 i was only using maybe 250-300 watts. my fuse holder was bad, and i had a very weak, very old battery. the amp would shut off and go into protect when trying to push more than 300 watts. my car resonates very well, so i belive ill be pleased with a full 1000 watts even if its only a single 10" setup

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

The other consideration is what is the goal of the setup? Are you tuning it to get loud. Period. /story? Or are you tuning it to sound good with the ability to get pretty loud. Those are two very different goals and will get two very different results on the back end. If the first is the goal, yes, building a dedicated SPL box will allow the sub to get a lot louder. The cost is that the setup will 1) sound like ish and 2) will probably damage the sub if you try to play music through it. If the second is your goal, it would be possible to at least equal your previous numbers and still sound good if not excellent.

 

[Famous_78]

3db is a noticable diffrence to the human ear, 10 db would be doube power (ex 1000w to 2000w, 10,000w to 20,000 watts)

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

10 db would be doube power (ex 1000w to 2000w, 10,000w to 20,000 watts)

No. Get a termlab and one more amp so you can see what happens.