Under/overpower subs in certain enclosures?

[Sailor Dog 10+ year member]

Hey everybody. I've been getting into car audio and I've heard a lot about underpowering subs in ported enclosures that aren't big enough/too big, but that you're often able to overpower a subwoofer in a sealed enclosure. I'm not sure about any of this, and when it comes to building my setup, I want to make sure everything's right. If somebody could give me an in-depth explanation on all of this, it'd be just fantastic. Thanks a lot!

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[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

You can apply move power in sealed cause it will have less execusion across the board. You can do it ported also just watch playing to low below box tunning

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

i am far from an expert on this, but i did have a mb quart on a rft1000bdcp. the mb rated at 800wrms, the rf rated at 1344wrms @ 2oms. the mb is a 15inch, it was in a 1.5cuft sealed enclosure. some will say with 'clean' power you may be able to overpower a sub, either way you go , i would say be careful and don't waste your investment.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

i am far from an expert on this, but i did have a mb quart on a rft1000bdcp. the mb rated at 800wrms, the rf rated at 1344wrms @ 2oms. the mb is a 15inch, it was in a 1.5cuft sealed enclosure. some will say with 'clean' power you may be able to overpower a sub, either way you go , i would say be careful and don't waste your investment.

Your not seeing anywhere near 1300 watts all the time, you might never see it. box rise, voltage drop, music being dynamic. So many factors rob 400-500 watts all the time

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

so how do i rectify this? not seeing what i invested in?

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

so how do i rectify this? not seeing what i invested in?

Good electrical, efficent box, dont play anything but sine waves. Having a bit of head room and not being stupid with the volume knob is the best way. Know your equipment and what it can and can not do. And dont buy junk

 

[plugger 10+ year member]

what you mean dont play anything but sine waves??

 

[Chappie 10+ year member]

Boy, this got off topic REAL fast..

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

so how do i rectify this? not seeing what i invested in?

This is not a problem. Music is dynamic and a speaker is a reactive load. Using for normal music listening a 1000w amp is really only supposed to be a 200w amp that is capable of 1000w peaks when needed. Best bet is to buy speakers that can handle 25% more continuous power than you have on tap. You will be much less likely to hurt something.

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

ok, so why does everyone always talk about headroom being a good thing? i just want to enjoy a decent system, no competition, just solid sounds. i don't plan on upgrading again, or atleast not anytime soon, i just spent way more than i needed to.

 

[itsblown 10+ year member]

Im also kind of interested in this aswell. Op are you talking about like for example. Someone has a ported box tuned extremely high like 50hz and then over powers the subs?

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

what you mean dont play anything but sine waves??

Sine waves are recorded in 0db. Music is not.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

ok, so why does everyone always talk about headroom being a good thing? i just want to enjoy a decent system, no competition, just solid sounds. i don't plan on upgrading again, or atleast not anytime soon, i just spent way more than i needed to.

People talk about a lot of silly things to try to sound clever. It is never bad to have more power and power handling on tap than you will normally use, simply so you're not running everything to its limits constantly.

Record level has nothing to do with why music is less power over time than sine waves. Some "music" is a clipped 0db sine wave for a bass line (90% of the **** people play on youtube for example).

 

[duanebro 10+ year member]

I'm sure this is in a sticky some where, lol. But I see that the people giving advice don't know how the boxes work. So I'll try. First off the power rating on subs is thermal. So this just means that they can handle their rated power without melting. However it takes time to heat up so short bursts of power can go way over their rated power handling with out frying the sub. (though it is not good on them).

As far as the power handling in different boxes - sealed should not be able to handle as much power as a ported box. Sealed boxes use the air inside as a brake to control the cone. Smaller boxes limit the cone movement more than larger boxes, and so have better power handling. But larger boxes will play lower than the smaller ones. Ported boxes act like a sealed box above tuning. As the frequency nears tuning the cone excursion goes down, improving power handling and making the box more efficient/louder. Below tuning the sub unloads, this needs to be controled by limiting the power with a subsonic filter.

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

Good electrical, efficent box, dont play anything but sine waves. Having a bit of head room and not being stupid with the volume knob is the best way. Know your equipment and what it can and can not do. And dont buy junk

i have rf t1000bdcp and rf t212d4, not in it to compete or to see how loud it gets, just for me and my son's personal enjoyment. does this set-up qualify as junk?