first off.... please excuse some of my ignorance.

i just got a new sub. it's a 12" Orion XTR single voice. i got it to replace the massive audio sub that i accidently poked a hole in. anyways...... i am sure i hooked it up right. one side(connectors) had a red dot and the other did'nt. so i assumed that the red dotted side was the + side. it sounds fine but is not nearly as loud as the massive sub was. the orion i believe is rated at 93 db's wich seems pretty efficient and it can handle 250 watts RMS. i am only running 200 watts RMS to it, same amp as with the other sub. i have a jensen amp.... the gain is all the way up.... and the sub-w level is turned all the way up my deck wich i never had to do before.

my questions are...... am i not feeding this sub enough power? is it not as efficient as the massive was? the massive could handle 200W RMS.
if i need a new amp...... any suggestions? i am kind of on a budget and am having a hard time finding an amp rated at 250 Watts RMS. if i feed the sub a little more power than the 250 will i blow it?

thanks for any advice you guys can give.

 

How many Ohms resistance is the Orion and the massive?

 

the orion is 4ohms and the massive is 4+4....... it's a dual voice. i did'nt know that it was. maybe this explains the difference in loudness????????? i don't know..... i like the sound of the orion but it's not giving me enough bass. like i said.... i don't have anywhere to boost it more. the amp is full gain and the deck is max on the sub level. any suggestions? don't i need more power than 200 to run a dual voice like the massive?

 

will a dual voice always play louder than a single with the same power?

 

Not an audio pro, so anyone correct me if I'm wrong but here's what I'd say.

An amp will put out more power at lower ohms (if it can handle that) and your feeding the Orion 4 ohms, where as the massive I assume you wired in parallel making it run at 2 ohms. If the Orion was an SVC sub with 2ohms then it would get the same power as the massive which is DVC. Getting a more powerful amp shouldn't be a problem I think you can just turn down the gains and get cleaner bass since you won't push it as hard.

Do you know if the Jensen was 200watts into 4 ohms or into 2 ohms??

Hope this helps and I'm not making anything up

 

also, when you replace a subwoofer with a different brand, the enclosure must be replaced or modified for the new subwoofer as well, as the specs are different and the those differences can dramatically change the subs performance. And as stated the difference in output is also the fact of the signle/dual voice coils as the impedence the amp sees from each sub is different, thus changing the power output of the amp in the process.

 

well........ the massive sealed box recomended volume is 1.35 and the orion is 1.5. would i be correct in saying this is'nt "too much" difference?

the jensen amp puts out 200w in bridged mode wich is what i have been running it at. it can put out 100w X2 when you go to 2 ohms. would'nt this be the same as running the orion at 4 ohms?

thanks for your guys' info. i may return the orion if i can't get the punch i want. any more thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

 

The enclosure is VERY VERY VERY important, so yes, thats significantly enough of a difference.

Lemme get this straight, you ran the massive DVC sub in bridged mode with the Jensen??? how long did you have this set-up? As i would suspect the Jensen to eventually cook itself running bridged at 2 ohms....or maybe you were running it at 8 ohms. How did you wire the massives voice coils? + to + / - to - (paralell = 2ohms) or + to - / + to - (series = 8ohms)

either way, the 200watts brigded at 4ohms running the Orion should be fine, but the enclosure should match the sub for best performace.

 

i think it was hooked up + - / + -.

so that would be 8 ohms? what does that do to the power then?

man...... my brain is starting to hurt!

 

the higher the impedence, the less efficient. So 8ohms will have less power than 2 ohms. and 4ohms falls right in the middle. Most if not all amps are rated at 4ohms @ 14.4volts. Some of the higher end amps will give specs for 1/2/4ohms and 12.3 and 14.4volts.

Also, the enclosure specs will change with impedence as well, even with the same size and brand subwoofer, SVC or DVC. A DVC sub can be wired for 2 different impedences, so the enclosure specs would be slightly different for both.

BTW, home audio speakers are usually 8 to 16 ohms

 

well...... if i was running the massive at 8 ohms and now the orion at 4 ohms i should be more eficient but it's not as loud. so it's my enclosure that's making all this difference? i guess.

still