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PDX M12 - 1200w RMS for ICON or XCON

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(Denim) Xcon on 240 watts whoa :trippy:

I ran a Fi BL on 250 rms for a while and it sounded great.

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If you ask me my Xcon sounded better on lower wattage. It didnt have as much authority but the bass was so much cleaner and more accurate. With that set up I had 1200 rms available but I turned the gains down some so it blended well with my front stage. Its a extemely nice woofer for many applications

;)

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(Denim) Xcon on 240 watts whoa :trippy:

:ghost:

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Im pretty sure BCAE will have something for you george :)

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So I'm confused. Are you guys really saying 400 watts could push an X con and it sound good? If this is the case why build a sub like the D con that only handles 300 watts. Taking what I just read, I'd rather have two X cons or Z cons and give them 500 watts each or 1000 watts for the pair.

Cost. The Xcons are more than 3x the cost of the Dcon. Not everyone is willing or able to drop $400+ into a subwoofer. On the flip side, you're not going to be able to build a driver than can reliably handle 2kw that only costs $125. So they have driver's available that span both the cost and performance spectrum.

Is there some where I could read up on rms power handling? Seems I need to have some schooling. In my mind I would think powering a ~2000 watt sub with 400 watts would not be a good move. But you guys say its o.k. and sounds good???

The only thing power handling determines is when things start to break. It doesn't mean the subwoofer needs that much power to operate.

Just because you have a 2kw amplifier doesn't mean the subwoofer is receiving 2kw. I think you would be surprised by how little power a subwoofer (or any speaker) actually receives when playing music. It's a fraction of the power rating stamped on the amplifier. On top of that, it's based on the volume you are listening to the subwoofer at.

Simple way to think about it.....does the subwoofer sound "worse" when you turn the volume knob on the headunit down?

I need to figure out why a sub with a rms of 1750 can take 400 watts and sound good. What happens when the sub gets the full 1750 watts? How about doubling the rms rating to 3500 watts.

The more power a driver receives, the less linear it becomes. Which means it's distortion and other nonlinearities only increase as power is applied. So while not being as loud on 400w compared to 2kw, it will absolutely and will always objectively "sound better" when judged by any metric but shear SPL output.

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Thanks Impious, I understand a lot better now. Matter of fact it clearly makes sense. Thermally the Xcon can handle more power--understood.

But here is what I don't understand. If that same Xcon is given the full rated rms power, how would that affect the sub? Would it be much louder, cleaner, deeper than it only getting 500 watts?

I will try to rephrase and make my question a bit more simpler: Let's say you have two amps, 500 watts and 2000 watts. Which amp would you use for a Xcon and why?

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Headroom. :) But keep in mind there are a number of other factors being left out, and adding power is usually the least efficient way to gain output.

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let's say you have two amps, 500 watts and 2000 watts. Which amp would you use for a Xcon and why?

I would hook them both up and see which one I like more. :P

Would it be much louder, cleaner, deeper than it only getting 500 watts?

From what I understand, which is much less than Brad (impious), it would be louder (most of the time). It wouldn't be cleaner. And deeper? Well, it would be louder so it could seem deeper, but having more power shouldn't affect the frequency range that the subwoofer is able to play. So, no.

Which means it's distortion and other nonlinearities only increase as power is applied. So while not being as loud on 400w compared to 2kw, it will absolutely and will always objectively "sound better"

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