Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Difference between woofer and subwoofer?

I bought a spearker off e-bay, but didn't really READ (duh me)...it's a WOOFER, not a SUB-WOOFER.
It's 8 inches and I plan to mount on rear deck.
Is there a big sound difference? Will I still get decent, but not car shaking bass?
Thanks
Nate

Not anything really. A subwoofer theoretically will play lower bass, but the names are badly misused in car audio.

What kind of 8" speaker did you get?

El-Cheapo Grande!
It's some speaker from
American Pro
8 inch compeptition woofer
max 250 watts
rubber edge
p.p. rubber cone
4 ohms
high endurance professional woofer
max continious music power 100W (what does that mean???)
screw type terminals

that's what the box says...

I got my crystal mobile 8" for aroun $35ea. Believe me when i say they sound great! You have to CALL to get them as they are a limited prduction run

subwoofer/woofer=no difference besides the name. unless for example you have 12 inch subwoofers, 8 inch woofers, etc and want to clarify between the two like that.(heck, you could have some crazy excessive five way 1" tweeter, 4 inch midrange, 6.6 inch midbass 8 inch woofer 12 in subwoofer setup if youre a loony, then youd have a reason to say woofer and subwoofer.) really it doesnt matter what the speaker is called

woofer and sub woofer are both the same
the 100 watts continuious means the sub can handle 100 watts for an extended period of time
the 250 max/peak means it will produce 250 watts for a short period of time if u put more than the max, ur sub will blow
mounting the sub on the rear deck will sound fine. the trunk will act as an enclosure so it will produce enough bass so your music will sound good

actually as many of us know, overpowering a speaker wont blow it all the time. in fact, youre almost more likely to blow an underpowered speaker than an overpowered one. the reason is that a speaker doesnt blow because it gets too much power or plays too loud, it blows when it is being stretched beyond the means you provide it. when you start to get clipping from the speaker, THATS a bad sign. basically, if the speaker is trying to produce sound with sine waves that are at right angles, it will blow

hope i explained that clearly and properly, feel free to correct me guys!

every1 needs 15s in their trunk... 2000-4000 watt amp... oh yeah.....

I think everyone has different ideas to what "blowing" a speaker really is - I've seen speakers torn up from underpowering , the speaker will move far but looses its qualilty/response real quick until it just sounds like junk ( but still "works" ) ... but at the same time I've put about 2100-2400 watt amp ( AC in house ) to a cheap 400 watt 12" and the 1st beat it made was its last - the voice coils decided to melt themselves together. But alot of peps think the the dustcover needs to shoot across the room in flames to say they blew there speaker :p

Two things destroy speakers.

1. Exceeding thermal limits.
2. Exceeding mechanical limits.

Thermal limits are much easier to reach than mechanical. Overpowering speakers kills them. If you have a 1000w amp connected to a 300w sub and you haven't blown it yet, it's only because you are using music (rather than sine waves) therefore, not sending 1000w for long periods of time, or your gains are set to the point that the 1000w amp is only sending a fraction of the power.

Mechanical limits are what destroys speakers in ported boxes that are allowed to unload under the tuning freq, and sending too much power to a sealed sub. The excursion of a sealed sub is much greater than in a ported sub.

Clipping an amp doesn't harm speakers unless the speakers cannot handle the power provided by the clipped signal. A 250w amp fully clipped will produce about 500w. If powering a 1000w sub with the clipped 250w amp, it would pose no danger to the sub whatsoever.

It is ALWAYS easier to blow a sub with too much power than it is to blow it with too little.