This may be a really dumb question but how does power make subs louder?

[carter1010 10+ year member]

I was thinking about power and how it relates to subwoofer volume. Say you have 500 watts of power going to a sub and you can bottom it out with that if you wanted to, but the sub is rated at 1000 RMS. If you put the actual power to it, you would I assume bottom it out quicker and have less gain with the 1000 watt amp. So does power just deliver more mechanical movement or is there another part to the equation I am not thinking about.

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[plugitin 5,000+ posts]

two words - subwoofer box

 

[Johnny Law.Lulz 5,000+ posts]

Its not just about power. Its about clean or dirty power.

500 Watts clipped will proly blow a sub quicker than 750 Watts clean.

 

[tRiGgEr 5,000+ posts]

Say you have 500 watts of power going to a sub and you can bottom it out with that if you wanted to

This isn't due to the amount of power being sent to the speaker. It can be due to an improper box/tunning, or if the amplifier is being over driven and sending a clipped signal to the speaker. Over driving an amp will produce more power but at the cost of equipment failure.