General Subwoofer Questions

Ok i have a few general questions about subwoofers...

Does running an amp to Dual Voice Coil subs at 2 Ohm's cause more distortion than running normal subs at 4 Ohm's?  Is this distortion noticable with base?  Does this mean that the overall sound quality is poorer or that the sub just distorts at lower volumes?

Is it true that larger models of the same sub will not produce as tight, clean, SQ bass?  In other words will the 12's have better SQ than the 15's?

I was planning on running 3 12's at 350 watts each in my 4 door '97 civic.  I recently realized that 2 15's has more conespace than 3 12's, so if i ran 2 15's at 350 watts each would they hit harder?

From the sound of it you really might be just looking at SPL rather SQ.  Looking into 2 15's will defintally give you alot of SPL.  Personally I can hardly notice much distortion with bass, but thats just my opinion.  If you have a 2 ohm stable amp then you will not have distortion, well if you have any you won't notice it.  I think 2 12's in a nice ported box would surprise you.  But if 2 15's is the way for leaning towards look into a ported box, they will be much much louder and defintally worth your money. 

the only way a different ohm load will cause distortion is if the amp is not made to handle that particular ohm load.

as far as the big subs not hitting as clear...yes that is true.  15's will give you lots of loud deep bass and it will sound good to you.  the only people who may notice distortion is a SQ judge at a competition.  see me...i listen to only rap music and i have 2 15's with 1700 watt amp and the bass bout knocks me out of my Jeep.  i am satisfied with it. i go to alot of sound competitions and compete for SPL.   i notice that most of the SQ competitors use 8's or 10's and every once in a while i see 12's.

as far as which setup would hit harder 2 15's or 3 12's...its hard to say...it really depends on how good you build the box.

Thanks for all the help, but actually 2 15's do have more cone space than 3 12's... by about 13 cubic inches if i remember correctly.  If you find the cubic inches of the cone, rather than the diameters...  pie times R squared gives you surface area of the cone.  Actually the cone will be a little more than this because it curves inward.