Is 230 watt 10 inch subwoofer loud?

Question

I want a subwoofer that can shake the house

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure that 230 will be peak power that the amp can produce at max volume at a set frequency. Usually one that your sub should never try to reproduce, maybe a tweeter. Look at it's speck sheet. It should show you peak and average/normal power ratings.

The surround sound powered subs won't hit as hard as I think your looking for. I've been in electronics sales and installation and seen the dissapointment.  They are great for lets say my mom, good for movies, back ground music and Hanna Montana when she has my neices but lacking for Disturbed or Snoop on the power end when I go to hang out

  

If you really want to rumble the walls I recomend Cerwin Vega  speakers.  I've got a set of DX-9's ( 15 inch 3 ways)  on the front channel. A four way AAR center center channel and polk audio book shelf speakers in the rear. The Vegas sound good at any listening and can handle what ever you can put to them. I'm running a Harmon/kardon DPR 2005 thats around 900 watts. my neighbors on either side are 25 yards away and both say I've rattled pictures on the walls at there places.  

I've had the vegas sense 1996. I upgraded to klipsh crossovers and they sound like new after 12 years of daily cranking.

The 10's and 12's throw a pretty hard kick also and won't break the budget. 12's should be somewhere around what a named brand power sub would cost

Hope I was helpfull

Answer 2

FIRST . . . Please DO NOT listen to Alien_Wheels.  Sorry guy, that is just lame advice.

Harrison H has good information to go on.  

To answer your question though, there is not enough info provided to give a solid answer.

Is your house able to take the "Shake"?  How much $$ are you willing to spend?

You can buy a decent sounding subwoofer starting at around $200.00 (U.S.) and going up to around $8k

How big is the room?

Where will you place it?

Try to shop using the R.M.S. rating as a guide.  It is a good place to start.  Do not EVER go by Peak power.

Look for a powered speaker cabinet not just a woofer.

Try brands like Velodyne, Mirage, JBL, Yamaha.

Good luck.

Answer 3

That depends.

Who made the subwoofer and what model is it?

Answer 4

if you really want bass the best way would be to use a car subwoofer the rubber used in them is thicker then others and will produce a better sound. to power it you will need an amp a 2ch 500w amp will be great but then you have to bridge the channels  together if you search on the net youll find out how to do that. then you need a power supply to power the amp probably 13.9volt and 1amps which you should be able to buy a Dicksmith or jaycar.

Answer 5

Sorry to burst your bubble, but power ratings are a very poor way to judge a speaker. A loudspeaker might be rated conservatively by one company meaning it is more rugged that what it claims to be or it might be reated at the point of failure. Next, that has nothing to do with the efficiency of a speaker. One watt going into onespeaker might be anywhere from 70-140 db. Just because a speaker is loud does NOT mean it is good. I've heard pplenty of lous systems that sound terrible. In fact, most terrible systems are loud systems where the owner thinks only in SPL and not quality, ballance, timbre and musicality. Last, no matter how good or bad, soft or loud a speaker is in free response, it will have much different sound when mated to an enclosure. Most people just buy a box and slap in a speaker. WRONG. A speaker must be mated to a properly engineered enclosure.

Answer 6

It can be.  It would depend upon its sensitivity rating and the enclosure it is in.  If I knew more details, I could give you a more definite answer to your question.

If you're considering a powered subwoofer that will shake the house, my favorite choice to start with is the Hsu Research VTF-2 Mk3.  Even their lesser models can do the trick.  I just speak on this model because I own one myself.  I've had many different subs over the last couple of decades, and none has done it as well and as deep as this one for the price.

Answer 7

If you are talking about a good brand then that might be fine. For example the Energy S10.3 sub is 200 Watts RMS and 10". It is very loud and plays down to 21 Hz. Velodyne and other reputable brands can do a similar job. If however you are talking about a less reputable brand then probably not. Cheap brands use overblown specs to impress and take advantage of people who don't know what to look for so they list a ridiculous power rating with an insufficient amp.(There still isn't a standard for rating power so these manuf. get away with listing a peak power rating with high distortion in order to get a higher power rating)

This is in fact why brands like Velodyne, Energy, Sunfire, Paradigm, Klipsch and other get a good reputation and others don't.

Of course that doesn't even address sensitivity which is a greater determining factor of loudness.