I'm very surprised no one mentioned the power handling differences.

The SA uses a 2.5" coil, while the GCON uses a 3" coil. That alone should seal up any doubts as to which sub you want.

I'm very surprised no one mentioned the power handling differences.

The SA uses a 2.5" coil, while the GCON uses a 3" coil. That alone should seal up any doubts as to which sub you want.

coil diameter isn't everything

The SA has amazing cooling. I've never used or seen a gcon, but I can speak on the durability of the SA's, having two different sets too. D6-600rms 3" coil, SA12 2.5" coil-600rms. The SA12 took more power Can't go wrong with either driver imo

Yeah, well and differentiators in the world of 2.5" chinese sourced drivers is not so much either. "Amazing cooling" isn't a parameter that I'd call very quantitative nor something that would influence my purchase decision.

Yeah, well and differentiators in the world of 2.5" chinese sourced drivers is not so much either. "Amazing cooling" isn't a parameter that I'd call very quantitative nor something that would influence my purchase decision.

What I think he meant was....the SA is a proven design. It holds it's own in the SPL world and it holds it's own in daily installs. It has repeatedly been proven to not burst into flames in situations where it's specs say it should. Whether that's a product of it's design or a product of marketing is... irrelevant really, considering it's price.

There are hundreds of people who are satisfied with the SA series so to count it out with something as simple as "Oh, the GCON has 3 inch coil, it'll take more power" is ridiculous. There are some subs out there with 4" coils...does that mean they automatically take more power than anything with a 3" coil? Nope.

EDIT: And I'm not downing the GCON in any way. I'm just saying that coil size alone is not enough to make one woofer better than another.

Edited August 16, 201213 yr by An-i-no

There's a JL slim sub with a 5" coil. ZIMZAM!

There's a JL slim sub with a 5" coil. ZIMZAM!

They must take 9k all day.....lol

both are great subs IMO and i really like the XFL which is in another class than the gcon or sa but u can find those under 200 as well. it depends on what power u wanna run

Yeah, well and differentiators in the world of 2.5" chinese sourced drivers is not so much either. "Amazing cooling" isn't a parameter that I'd call very quantitative nor something that would influence my purchase decision.

What I think he meant was....the SA is a proven design. It holds it's own in the SPL world and it holds it's own in daily installs. It has repeatedly been proven to not burst into flames in situations where it's specs say it should. Whether that's a product of it's design or a product of marketing is... irrelevant really, considering it's price.

There are hundreds of people who are satisfied with the SA series so to count it out with something as simple as "Oh, the GCON has 3 inch coil, it'll take more power" is ridiculous. There are some subs out there with 4" coils...does that mean they automatically take more power than anything with a 3" coil? Nope.

I understood what he meant, but a "proven design" and "holding it's own in the SPL" world doesn't mean anything to me. We all know what influence the user/builder has on that outcome. As for the subjective better cooling I wouldn't let that influence me either.

And please don't misread my comments, I never said that a 3" coil insures higher power ratings. Nor did I say there was a problem with the Sundown and not to use it. My comment was really much more simple. There isn't so much differentiation in the world of 2.5" coil drivers. Pretty much a ton of them on the market. And IMO the coil size is indeed a compromise and it doesn't take too much intelligence to figure out why that compromise was made. And yes, that portion would definitely influence my decision if I were the one shopping.

How can cooling not influence your decision?

I would like it more if the SA's were built here, but they're not.....

How can cooling not influence your decision?

I would like it more if the SA's were built here, but they're not.....

How can subjective with a sample size of one, maybe two influence yours?

Building here is a completely different topic. My comment about overseas before was based on part choice, not assembly. That of course would also be an influence, but unlike most who shop for drivers I've been in a bunch of plants in Asia. None of them are impressive and the ones I've been in that were in China were by far the worst. Mind you these weren't simple driver plants either but hard drive assembly plants. Takes a bit more technology to do that, although an average worker here can fare. Not the case there.