(Denim) Xcon on 240 watts whoa

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

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

(Denim) Xcon on 240 watts whoa

Im pretty sure BCAE will have something for you george

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.

Still confused on why have the rms rating ~2000 watts if I could run 500 watts and be fine??? Is there some learning for newbs. I thought I knew a little something but I realize I don't know Jack!!! So 1000 watts for 2 Xcon 12"s?

Rated RMS power handling isn't a power recommendation, as I stated above it's simply the point at which things can potentially start to break. It's not a power minimum, it's a recommended power maximum.

There are two types of power handling: Thermal and mechanical.

Thermal power handling is how much power the voice coil is able to accept before it begins to overheat, which can lead to failure. It is primarily based on the design of the driver; the size and design of the voice coil and how well the voice coil can dissipate heat.

Mechanical power handling is how much power the driver is able to accept before you exceed it's suspension/excursion limitations. This is based on both the driver and more importantly the enclosure.

Rated RMS power handling is typically a thermal rating. Since mechanical power handling is determined mostly by the enclosure, depending on the type and design of the enclosure it's entirely possible to mechanically damage a driver with the rated RMS power if that enclosure allows the driver to exceed it's mechanical limits with that level of power.

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?

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.

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.

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"