Under $400 subwoofer, amp, and enclosure setup

[zako 10+ year member]

The Dayton HO10 needs a lot more power to provide the same output than others. I would say it's 2-3dB less sensitive than most other 10 inch subs that were mentioned. You can run it in a sealed box, but it was meant for vented IMO. You could have problems with headroom on just 300watts. Of course, you can also try the 12 inch Dayton HO SVC subwoofer. It also has lower sensitivity than comparable 12 inch subwoofer, but about on the sale level as 'average' 10 inch subs. Some would still say 300watts is not enough for it in sealed box.

If you want a 10 inch Dayton subwoofer that runs fine in 0.7-1cu ft sealed box and with 300watts, consider the 4ohm Dayton Reference HF subwoofer. Put it into 0.7-1cu ft box, and it should be fine.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

By the way, have you looked into Alpine's thin Type-R subwoofers (not the regular ones). They have supposedly very good SQ, not just among the thin subs, but overall. They're a little pricey, but they fit in small box. You could even have the 12 inch one in a 0.6-0.7 cu ft box. They're a little prices, but they're a quality product.