Is this amp enough for this driver

[edwardj]

Good evening,
I have a few very noob questions about a sub I am building. I have a buddy that purchased 2 Dayton 15" DVC drivers about a year ago, and only used one. I was very fortunate to pick up #2 for next to nothing. I am building this sub for use in my home theater, and for some music as well, probably 80% movies. After doing some reading I decided to go with a trusted design and I am building the Adire alignment sub. I tried to model these out using winisd but the software has a bit of a learning curve that I just dont have the time or patience for. I started the sub last week and I am sticking to the design as written, except that I went with 1" mdf instead of the 3/4 mdf in their design, I adjusted the measurements to keep the internal diamensions the same as the design. I also got the mdf free from the same friend who wanted it out of his garage. I have a 240 W PE plate amp that I am planning on using with this sub, but in the back of my mind I have reservations about it. I will be using the sub in a 12.5'x18' dedicated theater. I would really appreciate some input on how everyone thinks this sub will operate with this amp, seems a little low on output to me. I was looking at a ED350. Would this be a worth while upgrade, or is there something better yet, I would like to stay around $200.00 for the amp if thats possible. Long thread for the first one sorry :roll: . I plan to post pics soon.

Thanks, Ed

[TacoD]

I think 240W is enough if you don't EQ. Otherwise you are dealing with a black hole, then you need all the power you can afford.

[Mazeroth]

Going from 240w to 350w will net you less than 1.5db more output, which you probably can't discern anyhow. Even going from 240w to something like 500w will only get you another 3db of output.

I've ran that amp 2ohm stable for 2 years and had it burning hot after movies before (not intentionally) and it's working great to this day (currently powering my IB). I'd say stick with the 240w.

[edwardj]

Thanks for your replys,

I will stick to the PE amp and give it a try. I was planning on making a separate box to mount the amp in so I dont have to cut a mounting hole into the side of the sub. With the heat that mazeroth mentioned that his amp produces do you think that this is a good idea? I can build it with vents and I could even mount a cooling fan on it if needed. I did not alow for the volume for the amp when I built the box, plus I still may want to do a differant amp in the future, that is my reasoning for the separate box.

Regards, Ed

[TacoD]

A separate box is fine, just drill some ventilation holes. Inside a closed loudspeaker box there is also not that much ventilation.

[Operandi]

Going from 240w to 350w will net you less than 1.5db more output, which you probably can't discern anyhow. Even going from 240w to something like 500w will only get you another 3db of output.

The dBAs are really not the important factor. A bigger amp will give you more headroom before the amp clips and distorts.

Really it depends on how loud you want to get, that amp will run out of power well before the driver reaches it's limits. I'm sure the Dayton will do fine but keep in mind that it's better to have more power than not enough.

[Mazeroth]

The dBAs are really not the important factor. A bigger amp will give you more headroom before the amp clips and distorts.

Really it depends on how loud you want to get, that amp will run out of power well before the driver reaches it's limits. I'm sure the Dayton will do fine but keep in mind that it's better to have more power than not enough.

Yeah, it will give you more headroom; 1.5 dB more. :roll:

[Operandi]

In terms of pure SPL but thats an oversimplification.

If the amp isn't driven to the limit it should be perfectly fine, 240 watts is still plenty.

[cotdt]

it's definately enough.