blowing a sub

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=103324
Printed Date: May 12, 2025 at 7:51 AM

Topic: blowing a sub

Posted By: cookeyedclam
Subject: blowing a sub
Date Posted: March 22, 2008 at 8:53 PM

If your amp is 300Watts and your Sub is 300 Watts (RMS), is it still possible to "Blow" a sub???

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Replies:

Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: March 22, 2008 at 9:30 PM

Sure is.

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Posted By: aznboi3644
Date Posted: March 23, 2008 at 1:45 AM

its possible to blow that sub with a 100 watt amp

Posted By: tedmond
Date Posted: March 24, 2008 at 9:55 AM

if you clip it, for sure.

Posted By: haemphyst
Date Posted: March 24, 2008 at 2:39 PM

aznboi3644 wrote:

its possible to blow that sub with a 100 watt amp

ummmm.... TECHNICALLY, no... 100 watts RMS isn't quite enough to blow a 300 watt woofer.

Peak voltage is 1.414 times the RMS voltage, pushing 1.414 times as much current through the load.

1.414 X 1.414 = 1.99396

So, to clip a TRUE 100 watts RMS, even at saturation, (i.e. a pure square wave) will only produce 200 watts. 150 watts will only produce 300 watts, right at the power handling of the supposed woofer, BUT a 175 watt amplifier will DEFINITELY blow a 300 watt woofer, fairly easily, if overdriven long enough. But a 300 watt amp? With ease, as DYohn says.

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Posted By: aznboi3644
Date Posted: March 24, 2008 at 9:53 PM

Thermally yes...but is it possible to mechanically "blow" a 300 watt sub with 100 watts rms??? Playing tones under tuning??

Posted By: haemphyst
Date Posted: March 24, 2008 at 10:10 PM

OK, ya got me... BUT, in that same respect, you can MECHANICALLY (and I suppose this would be theoretical, too... I don't suppose it's terribly likely to happen) blow a sub with one watt...

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: March 24, 2008 at 10:17 PM

You can mechanically "blow" a sub with a screwdriver... but I think the most common method being discussed is by thermally overloading the voice coil. posted_image

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