I wouldn't worry about blowin' that JL sub. You'd really have to overdue it - and remember: Power doesn't blow speakers, distortion does!

Great reference for your sub: http://www.jlaudio.com/subwoofers/pd...PowerRange.pdf

The MRV-F450 does look like it would fit you just right!

 

Well, whether or not speakers are rated incorrectly is another argument. Lets assume our 300 watt speaker is accurately rated. If we use a 250 watt amp we're underpowering it yes? Well, the problem comes in when we PUSH that amp. An amp is capable of producing up to double its rated power at full clipping. Thus, our 250 watt amp suddenly becomes a 500 watt amp if we really lean on it hard. So, we hook it all up, dont know how to set the gains and voila. Toasted sub. We assume we've underpowered the sub (Because our amp is rated at 250 watts, speaqker at 300) therefore we blew the sub because we underpowered it. In actuality what happened is we didnt set our controls accordingly, clipped the amp, and produced more power then the sub could handle. A sub doesnt know the difference between a clipped signal and an unclipped signal. All it sees is the power. The only thing the sub knows is power and heat. It wont know the difference between 200 unclipped watts or 200 clipped watts. The only thing that will blow the sub is too many watts or too much heat. Clipping an amp causes both, and quickly.

Now, to be on the safe side people usually say get a bit too big of an amp. By doing so you'll naturally be inclinced to be easy on the gain, and as such not clip the amp and all will be good. With people who dont know what their doing or cant exercise proper control (Thats me ) shouldnt use a smaller amp since you'll be more likely to turn up the gains to get that extra oomph, clip the amp, cause too much power and too much heat on the speaker and blow it.

It really makes no difference if you use too big or too small of an amp (As long as its not some 500 watts too big!) as long as you take the time to set your gains properly and when you hear distortion and signs of distress you TURN IT DOWN.

 

Well said shockwave. I know my little stealthbox I had wasn't rated at 300W like the sub amp was, but I had little gain and it always rocked w/o clipping or speaker issues. Plus if you look at the PDF I had the link to you'll see the actual operating range of the sub.

If only folks actually did that... you know how many speakers we could save?! I think the feds should start a major ad campaign to 'save the subs'. We can have a smokey-the-bear mascot "Only you can prevent amp clipping" or "Only you can prevent speaker trauma"...

 

Sorry on the prev. post guys.. That is what I was trying to say.. Didn't come out quite right!!

 

Thanks for all the responses, I have figured out what I am going to do, hows this setup sound: JL audio 10w3vs-4ohms, jl audio 4 channel amp 300watts and eclipse 5x7 3way speakers. I just have to check with the installer to see if i can get a box for that sub made to fit behind my seat. They said that sub needs a little bit bigger space to sound good. What do you all think, good setup?