# power handling



## deftonekorn1002

i was reading my brahma manual and it says 

"just because a driver is rated at 1600w doesn not mean it NEEDS 1600w, or thatit can handle that 1600w in your application! How much power do you need? In many situation, 200-400w is plenty. You can easily get loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage with a brahm 12 in a 1 cubic foot sealed box and 600w of power...............Thermally, brahma can take a lot of power. Mecahinaclly, it depends upon the box and application. The larger the box, the less power is required to reach a given spl level. The system -box and driver- become more efficeint. For example, a brahma 12 in a 1 cubic foot sealed box will reach full Xmax at 1300w at 20hz. In a 2 cubic foot sealed box will require around 800 w to push full xmax at 20hz. In 2.25 cubic foot ported and tuned to 30 hz, 500w will reach full xmax at 20hz." 


:uh: :uh: does this mean since i have 1500 watts to it i need a small ass box i.e. a 1' box so that i dont damage the driver??? 



Last edited by deftonekorn1002 at Jun 20 2003, 12:48 AM


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## 83Cutlass

No, but if you turn the volume up too loud, you could blow the syb.


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## CoupeDeKille

what they are saying is the bigger yr box is the less watts you need to push it to its full excursion. you can give it 1500 watts but you dont need 1500 to make full excursion


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## JeremyD

I'm sure Dan could write you a much more technical explanation than that, but pretty much thats it.

When it comes to woofers, there are really two different types of power handling. Thermal powerhandling is the ammount of heat that the voice coils can take. This depends on the material used, the thickness of the wire, the winding length, etc. But it will always be the same for a particular driver. Then there is mechanical power handling. This is ENTIRELY dependant upon the type and size of the box. The larger a sealed box is, the less power it can handle. The smaller it is, the more it can handle. To a point of course. Ported boxes are a wholo nother story though. Power handling is not only related to enclosure size, but also box tuning and port area. Depending on how you adjust these, powerhandling can be increased or decreased. 



Last edited by JeremyD at Jun 19 2003, 09:39 PM


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## 67impala

> _Originally posted by deftonekorn1002_@Jun 20 2003, 03:48 AM
> *i was reading my brahma manual and it says
> 
> "just because a driver is rated at 1600w doesn not mean it NEEDS 1600w, or thatit can handle that 1600w in your application! How much power do you need? In many situation, 200-400w is plenty. You can easily get loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage with a brahm 12 in a 1 cubic foot sealed box and 600w of power...............Thermally, brahma can take a lot of power. Mecahinaclly, it depends upon the box and application. The larger the box, the less power is required to reach a given spl level. The system -box and driver- become more efficeint. For example, a brahma 12 in a 1 cubic foot sealed box will reach full Xmax at 1300w at 20hz. In a 2 cubic foot sealed box will require around 800 w to push full xmax at 20hz. In 2.25 cubic foot ported and tuned to 30 hz, 500w will reach full xmax at 20hz."
> 
> 
> :uh: :uh: does this mean since i have 1500 watts to it i need a small ass box i.e. a 1' box so that i dont damage the driver???*


 one thing i gotta say
BASS DOES NOT CAUSE HEARING DAMAGE ITS TREBLE...


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## BuThatsaCHRYSLER

> _Originally posted by 67impala+Jun 20 2003, 06:42 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>*QUOTE* (67impala @ Jun 20 2003, 06:42 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin--deftonekorn1002_@Jun 20 2003, 03:48 AM
> *i was reading my brahma manual and it says
> 
> "just because a driver is rated at 1600w doesn not mean it NEEDS 1600w, or thatit can handle that 1600w in your application! How much power do you need?  In many situation, 200-400w is plenty.  You can easily get loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage with a brahm 12 in a 1 cubic foot sealed box and 600w of power...............Thermally, brahma can take a lot of power.  Mecahinaclly, it depends upon the box and application.  The larger the box, the less power is required to reach a given spl level.  The system -box and driver- become more efficeint.  For example, a brahma 12 in a 1 cubic foot sealed box will reach full Xmax at 1300w at 20hz. In a 2 cubic foot sealed box will require around 800 w to push full xmax at 20hz.  In 2.25 cubic foot ported and tuned to 30 hz, 500w will reach full xmax at 20hz."
> 
> 
> :uh:  :uh: does this mean since i have 1500 watts to it i need a small ass box i.e. a 1' box so that i dont damage the driver???*


one thing i gotta say
BASS DOES NOT CAUSE HEARING DAMAGE ITS TREBLE...[/b][/quote]
fo real?


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## JeremyD

> _Originally posted by 67impala_@Jun 20 2003, 06:42 PM
> *BASS DOES NOT CAUSE HEARING DAMAGE*


Of course it does....

Higher frequencies just have to be less intense to cause the same damage. This is due to the fact that the frequency response of a human ear is not linear. The threshold of hearing is much lower at low frequencies.

Here is a good link that will show the the human threshold of hearing. 

http://ccrma-www.stanford.edu/~jos/bosse/A...ld_Hearing.html

Remember, the lower on the graph, the less intense the sound has to be for a human to pick it up. For instance, you'll notice that the average human can here 1khz at aproximately 5 dBa. In order for a human being to here a 20 hz tone, the relative intensity needs to be upped to nearly 70 dBa. 



Last edited by JeremyD at Jun 20 2003, 06:54 PM


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## deftonekorn1002

small sealed or smei large ported?? what do you guys think


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## Acrophobia2587

semi large ported


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