First DIY Subwoofer, Amp question

[Lokalazeros]

Hi !
This is my first post here, please forgive me If my topic is under the wrong section.

I've got my hand on a subwoofer (MTX MSZ1204, 12'', rated 300W RMS)during the holiday sales, and started building a sealed enclosure for him. I know the woofer was made to be used in a car, bus since I already have two 10'', I would use the MTX as my audio/game subwoofer in my room. (May be used in HT later on, but that's not for now).

I did some research on the web about amp and plate amp to power the little beast. I was wondering If I should go with a 300W (rms) amp or a 500w (rms) one ? I guess i'd be better with the 300w, since anyway the woofer aint gonna take the 200 more watts, right ?. (On the other hand, I've heard that it was better to give too much clean power to a woofer than less but clipped)

I've saw 3 model that seems to fits my need on PartsExpress:
300w:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=300-750

500w:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=300-752
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=300-806

If I go the 500w way, ive noticed that a difference between the two 500w is the presence of an Eq on the Dayton. Is this gonna be usefull at all ?


Thanks for reading and helping.

Happy listening, Loka

[Nordic]

300W woofer wil be killed by 300W amp after a few minutes without fail...

[JRace]

EQ in a sub is very usefull for taming room response.

You can get sub amps in Canada from:
http://www.creativesound.ca/products...ory=Amplifiers
and
www.solen.ca

Fopr your intended use both amps will work fine. i would opt for the bigger one to allow for upgrades down the road.

[Lokalazeros]

well... could you explain please ? Isn't a 300w rms rates woofer supposeds to be able to receive 300w Rms from an amp ?
I'm confused right now.

[wazzy]

it is generaly advised not to take the manufacture's word as gospel, 300w is the rms rating at a very specific set of circumstances, fryed a few speakers myself driving them at their "rms" rating. although 300w is alot of power and if everthing is designed properly and the sub is reasonably sensitive you can loosen ceiling plaster, among other things.... but then with a 500w amp used carefuly( stress carefuly) you will enjoy better sound quality for obvious reasons more headroom for transients for one. cool thing about diy, it's all about learning! have fun.

[Nordic]

See thats where the dishonesty of specs starts to bite...
An amp being able to handle 300W RMS will handle longer peaks in excess of that than a speaker would...

What I'm trying to say is on a bass amp a true 200W amp may make a safer partner... especialy if your friends can get to the volume knobs...

Of course we have organic feedabck systems (our ears) which should tell us if speakers are being driven too hard... And I doubt you will ever turn the volume up far enough to become a danger...

[Lokalazeros]

Thanks for the reply guys, very apreciated.

300W woofer wil be killed by 300W amp after a few minutes without fail...

it is generaly advised not to take the manufacture's word as gospel, 300w is the rms rating at a very specific set of circumstances,

Yeah, i get it now. I've taken the habit to never turn up the volume pot higher than 80% when it come to audio, because of either distortion and these 'not-so-true-marketing claim'. Anyway. I guess I wont ever need to push this subwoofer to he's maximum output considering the room size.

I think I'll go with the Dayton 500W, because of the Eq (thx Jrace) and to be able to upgrade the woofer later-on, as wazzy said.

*I just saw that Nordic replied while I'm typing this replay*

I agree with you nordic, when you'r talking about friends reaching the volume know . I'll buy the 500w (vs a 250/300 one) because I may eventually buy another,better, woofer and I dont want to spend another 200$ on an amp. I also think that it is better to drive a speaker a little too hard with a clean input that push it with a clipped signal (amp being driven too hard)

Furthermore, If the MSZ sound good, I always could buy a second one,but, well, I think 300W of bass is going to be enough for now

Thanks (again) for the replay.

Loka.

[JRace]

I would purchase from creative sounds then.
price is close, and you wont have to pay any duty.

I have purchased from them in the past and they provide good service.

http://www.creativesound.ca/details.php?model=BASH500

(I am not affiliated in any way )

[vasyachkin]

for a 300W rms subwoofer driver i would probably use 200W or so amp

for a 300W rms 2-way or 3-way speaker i would probably use a 1000W amp

this is because in case of a subwoofer you would be more likely to destroy it with a big amp, but in case of a speaker you would be more likely to destroy the tweeter by clipping a small amp

on the other hand if the amp is not adequately protected (as i think could be the case with el-cheapo plate amps) it may fail itself if its just barely large enough to drive the speaker ... so maybe it if we're talking about a no-name el-cheapo plate amp you need to buy 500W to actually get 200W ...

guess this wasnt much help, but you cant always reduce these things to simple math

of course my standard advice regarding plate amps is not to use them get a crown I-Tech 8000 instead ... but nobody seems to listen

[Lokalazeros]

get a crown I-Tech 8000 instead

Sure It look awesome, but there is a little gap between a 2-300$ plate amp and this 5-7000$ beast. If you paid the remaining 5500$, i'll be happy to order one. On the other hand, I dont need THAT much power Thanks anyway, wish it was cheaper.