underpowering my type R

[ccw7]

i have my type R 12 hooked to a rockford P3001....its rated at 300W rms, but the birth sheet says 383W.

anyways, would upgrading my amp to something that can put out 500W rms make a big difference?

how about overpowering the sub? i thought i read once that the type R's can take 600-700W....true?

[VanishingImage]

on average Ive seen the RMS for the Type R to be 200-500 watts RMS. Ive only heard people say you can push more then 500 watts RMS,you can but its going to wear on the sub because its optimal range is the 200-500 watts RSM. They peak at 1500 BUT thats only for a moment,you that put continiously your gonna blow it.

Ive got a Kicker 350x2 amp bridged at 4ohms at 350watts rms and thinking it should be good enough. I can always turn up the settings up on the amp

[ccw7]

so what im runnin is fine then?

im just wondering if itll drastically change the sound or loudness of the sub. i dont have much experience with car stereo equipment. this is only my second setup... my first was the same rockford amp and a rockford sub.

im probably gonna peel and seal the whole trunk too, so maybe thatll make a difference.

[hamiltonaudio]

going from 380 wrms to 500 wrms will yield you practically nothing in terms of measureable output. The "rule of 3" applies...to get a 3 db increase in output (the smallest noticable change to the human ear) you need to double your power or double your drivers.

If you went from 380 to 750 wrms, you would for sure hear a difference. Power handling on a subwoofer is a thermal rating in most cases - it means that under normal operating conditions, the voicecoil will be able to dissipate and handle xxx wrms worth of heat. Overall system power handling has as much to do with the enclosure as it does the driver :)

If the driver was in a smaller sealed box, you could easily put more power than rated before reaching mechanical and thermal limits. Larger vented enclosures would be less tolerant of the power.

Think of it this way - to maximize the output of your driver you need to push it to the suspensions mechanical limits. You can do that a few ways - one way is with a super efficient box design that takes LESS power to achieve full output potential....or in smaller sealed applications it takes MORE power to push it to its peak.... either way, peak is peak ;)

good luck.

bmoney

[ccw7]

thanks for the input, i THINK i understood most of what you said.

so my box i has a pretty decent sized port, so that means i dont need to feed my sub as much power, right?

this is what my box looks like... minus the guy in front of it. haha, i didnt have a better picture

http://myspace-921.vo.llnwd.net/01205/12/91/1205551921_l.jpg

so with that on the table, giving my sub 750 wrms is not a good idea?

[hamiltonaudio]

I see its in a home built slot loaded box. Vented boxes can be of the most DANGEROUS variety on a woofer if they are tuned incorrectly....super high tuning allows the woofer to unload prematurely and misbehave under big power....not good.

The size of the port (in your case height and width determine opening, and the length of the inside piece is the length) only relates to tuning in relation to the box volume....NOT the sub.

If you give me the EXACT dimensions of your box and vent, I can reverse engineer it and tell you where your tuning is....then you can know if its a decent idea to put more power on it....

sometimes a better box is way more valuable than more power ;)

bmoney