Should I increase my amp size?

[steven2583]

I have sub with a CSS 15" driver with a passive radiator I built into a box about 20 w x 24 h x 36 l. It is currenly being driven by a 250 watt 4 Ohm A/B amp. The power dial is only about a quarter of the way up when I adjust the loudness to match my speakers level. I have an anthem d2v processor that I run through ARC. If I increase the amp size to 500 or 1000 what is it going to buy me. The sub with my other 300 watt subwoofer already rattles the walls and cabinits on loud movie passages. I noticed some of the subs these days have 1000+ watts class D amps. Should I bother upgrading?

[sreten]

Hi,

Unless your sub is giving up the ghost before the rest of
the system there is little to be gained from more power.

1KW+ suits compact subs with low Fbox and low efficiency.

rgds, sreten.

[rob g]

Here is an extreme example:
SUNFIRE: 8" High Resolution Series Subwoofer - HRS-8

[Pano]

You could measure it to find out. It's not hard to figure out if you're clipping the amp or not.

[weltersys]

Originally Posted by steven2583

I have sub with a CSS 15" driver with a passive radiator I built into a box about 20 w x 24 h x 36 l. If I increase the amp size to 500 or 1000 what is it going to buy me. I noticed some of the subs these days have 1000+ watts class D amps. Should I bother upgrading?

If the speaker does not run out of excursion and thermally compress with increased power, a 500 amp would give you 3 dB more level, and 1000 watts 6 dB more level.
Measure excursion on a loud, low song, if the amp is not pushing the speaker to Xmax, you could use more power.

[steven2583]

I don't think the sub is maxing out. It seems plenty loud to me. I was thinking it may not be moving the driver all the way out or such if there was an extremely loud passage. Maybe it was running out of gas. The system with my two subs in music sound great. I don't hear any problem. Bass is tight and well defined. With soundtracks the cabinets and walls begin rattling so I'm probably wouldn't hear the distortion.

[dangus]

Does the amp have a clipping indicator? That'll tell you if it has run out of headroom.

You'd probably get more benefit by optimizing the location of the subs in the room.

[tb46]

Hi steven2583,

Post #1: "...The sub with my other 300 watt subwoofer already rattles the walls and cabinits on loud movie passages....Should I bother upgrading?

Why?

[steven2583]

I'm not vibrating yet. Actually would thinking a strong amp might have better control on the woofer cone.

[CBS240]

Bigger amp, no; higher damping, yes. These two factors are not synonymous.