I know it's a pretty specific question but I think it's a good round number anyways so I'm going to ask ...

Lets say my single sub is calling for 600 RMS ...
My amplifier is running at 450 RMS ... I'm off by 150 RMS for this particular sub.

If I matched them perfectly ... 600 amp for a 600 sub ... would there be a noticeable difference? Sound, response, power? (In comparison to the 450 amp to the 600 sub).

Furthermore, just for fun, lets just say we were talking about 2 subs ... that's 150RMS below what's being called for on both subs.
So that's a 300 RMS difference (ultimately) ...

Thoughts?

 

Its not going to make a comnsiderable difference if you have a well designed enclosure. for instanced, if you under powering a sub by a large amount, you would build a bit of a larger enclosure to give a deeper sound around the enclosures 'tuned freq.' when pushing more than rated rms power to a sub, usually you decrease the amount of cubic feet to yeild the woofers mechanical failure. so to answer your question, 150rms IMO wont make a huge difference.

 

Not huge but noticeable none the less. Your underpowering your sub by 25% which is significant. If you get a larger amp that has that 150rms more you should be able to notice that the sub will have slightly more control(accuracy what ever you want to call it)50rms no big deal, 150rms not a huge deal but still noticeable.That is assuming of course that everything else in the system is in good working order.

 

I personally think it's best to over power a sub by 25%. so if you can give a 600WRMS sub, a clean 750 that will make it perform wonderfully - just don't clip the amp. As long as the sub is from a good company over powering is a good idea (Pyle, and Legacy need not apply)

 

You would gain about 1db which should sound slightly louder...

 

generally 3db change is the least most people notice. You would have to be very sensitive to notice 1db. The extra power would most likely NOT make the sub louder, but the sub would be controlled better which would mean better sound quality. Sound quality is a little easier to notice IMO. By the way to get 3db more output you would have to double your displacement(add a sub) or doulble your power.