@audiokinesis I use Dayton Reference subwoofer drivers and I get them from Parts Express. I have not seen anything that is functionally superior at any price. They make sub drivers suitable for any enclosure situation. 

I do not like putting electronics inside subwoofers. It is not a great environment for electronics. Forgetting about the pounding they take, heat is a problem in small sealed enclosures. Pushed loud for extended periods sub drivers get hot producing an oven environment. How hot I can not say, but I dissected an old driver that I used for 20 years and the voice coil was black!   

Subwoofer bass myths, see here!

Mike

@mijostyn , I agree with you about the heat issue.  Except for the very first generation of my subwoofer system, dating back to 2006, I haven't been putting amps inside of subwoofers.  My observation (based largely on conversations with customers) is that high-power compact equalized sealed-box subs tend to have fairly high failure rates for their amplifiers and their woofers, and I think it goes back to the "oven environment" you described.

One of the reasons I use vented enclosures (tuned such that their response is the approximate inverse of typical room gain from boundary reinforcement) has to do with thermal power handling.  A comparable sealed-box sub will theoretically need roughly three or four times as much power in the region of the port tuning frequency in order to have the same frequency response.  Also, a port allows an exchange of air with the outside world, so you don't get that "oven environment" that you do with a high power sealed box sub.  In other words, imo there are arguably worthwhile thermal benefits from making a vented box approximate the frequency response of a very low-Q sealed box down to the port tuning frequency.

In my opinion.

Duke

Use a kill-a-watt meter or something and determine how many watts you are using when pushing the sub. You may be able to get away with a lot less power (than you think you need).

The problem with the Dayton Audio SA1000 amp, is, if it has a problem after the warranty expires you cant get parts for it.

They still make the amp though 🙁

Mine stopped working and it now sits in a spare room. That`s a shame