Which is better? Under Powered 10" or Fully Powered 8"???

TJeep_1999

I have an amp that pushes 150W RMS. My question is will I be better off with a 8" sub that can take up to 180W RMS or a 10" sub that can take up to 270W?

pitdogg2

well you could have 200 watts with 30amps of current or 100 watts with 60amps of current...which one would be better?

TJeep_1999

I'm asking which will sound better taking into account the speaker size and power... I think you are arguing for the 8"???

pitdogg2

Nope not arguing for either. You are hung up on watts what I'm trying to get through is there is much more to it than just watts. What you see with 100watts and 60amps of current is less than 200 watts with 30amps of current. In reality I'd take that 100 watts with 60amps of current everyday and twice on Sunday cause it will have a TON more headroom than 200 watts and 30amps of current.

So If I had an amp that had 1000watts and I had a speaker that was rated at 100 watts rms would I smoke the speaker using that amp?

So once again 150watts rms with 20 amps of current vs 150watts rms with 50amps of current? A lack of good current will cause distortion no matter how many watts you have. You are more likely to overdrive either speaker with not enough current.
You're comparing apples to oranges...

TJeep_1999

Maybe it's b/c I've been drinking but I'm not sure I"m following what you're saying... The amps are reliant and you need to know them to answer? The amp I will most likely be using is an Infinity Reference 475a and I will be bridging channels 3&4. fuse rating: 35A x 2.

The subs in question are Polk Audio db1040 and Polk Audio db840

Based on that which would you recommend?

WLDock

Since its the same amp....go with the 10" driver. Larger displacement....the db subs are not ground pounders to begin with...

Jstas

You're asking the wrong questions here.

Power matters when you are driving the sub at it's max and during programming material peaks. The 150 watt amp is not going to drive the large sub as efficiently so you are not going to get the same level of SPL out of each sub.

However, the 8" sub will not have the same sensitivity or frequency response range as the 10 inch sub.

So if you want something just kicks more and are limited on space, the 8" sub will work fine.

But if you want to dig deeper, you'll want the 10" sub.

You will not be able to drive the 10" sub at it's maximum before the amp starts clipping, though. So while the 10" sub digs deeper, it won't play as loud or handle the musical peaks as well as the smaller 8" sub would with the same power levels.

MacLeod

WLDock wrote: »

Since its the same amp....go with the 10" driver. Larger displacement....the db subs are not ground pounders to begin with...

This. All things being equal, a 10 will have more cone area and more displacement so youll have more output with the same wattage. Now that is with the same 2 type subs. Some 8's will outperform some 10's so thats not a blanket rule but in this case, yeah, the 10 is what youll want. The 8 is fine if youre limited on space but a 10 is a better size for a subwoofer.