Sub output: Is it the woofer size or the rated RMS

A large driver in a large cabinet needs less power to produce deep bass. A small driver in a small cabinet must have huge amounts of power and much further excursion to produce deep bass. A small driver may seem like it would produce faster bass but in reality it must move further than a large woofer to output the same amount of bass. The laws of physics are constant and unchanging.

Elizabeth hit it right on the head and Rwwear went a step further.

But the small cone has more linearity in its movement. It is fascinating to see the large driver/small driver debate return again after we all thought it was settled. When I was young the bigger the better was the rule, EV had a 30" woofer, Hartley a 24". In music reproduction the last 40 years has seen a gradual reduction in driver size. This may or may not apply to HT. But the driver size or amp power alone tells you little about the quality of a particular sub, a good designer can use either paradigm. You have to match the performance of a particular unit with your requirements.

"But the small cone has more linearity in its movement"

Huh?....smaller drivers are made, so that you can use smaller boxes, so that the buyers wife will be happy, or at least, more happy than she would have been with larger boxes in her living room....(no other reason for doing it, purely marketing).

Dave

Excuse me , but that is ridiculous. Some of the best and most expensive speakers made use 10" or smaller bass drivers. In the 60s no self respecting speaker had less than a 15" woofer, they now are extremely rare. Look at the DIY speaker sites and see what is for sale there. They are hardly affected by marketing considerations. If you do not understand speaker design I can recommend some good books, starting with HIGH PERFORMANCE LOUDSPEAKERS by Martin Colloms. What part of my statement about cone linearity did you not understand?