So I've hulled out my Polk/Momo 8" sub--I'm pushing it with an Alpine 5 channel amp with 200 Watts RMS; I'm thinking of going ahead and going with a 10" sub this time around--my question is if my amp is 200 watts RMS; would it have a problem pushing a sub that is rated as 300 watts rms max? The 200 watts falls within the RMS range but would the bass be better if I just matched it with the 200 watt RMS 8" sub I had or if I went with a 10" with a closer max RMS to what the amp pushes? I'm a sem-inovice when it comes to bang in the trunk.

 

I generally go with an amp that has 50-100% higher rms rating than the sub requires. If its a cheaper brand amp I go closer to 100%, because they overate. If its a better brand 50% will usually be sufficient since they underrate. You can always turn the gain down, but you can only turn it up so far.

So for a 200wrms sub, if its a california profile amp, I would look for one that's about 400w. If its a jlaudio amp, then 300w would be good.

Having too much power is far better than having too little power since the average power in a clipped square wave is far greater than the average power in a sine wave of the same magnitude.

 

Thanks for the info--Its an Alpine amp--I've been searchin online this morning--I'm leaning toward an Infinity Perfect 10" or a Polk/Momo 10".

 

Remember it this way.. technically the amp is not "pushing" power to the sub.. the sub is drawing power from the amp.

 

Right--but thats just the lengo I grew up with from cats poppin' trunks in Delta 88s and 'Lacs.