Remember my previous post concerning my sub being unable to exceed 105dB without what I believed to be the driver running out of xmax? Turns out that sound I was hearing was clipping. I plugged the amps power rating along with the drivers sensitivity into the max spl calculator, turns out 120w gets me 100dB at 9'. It's near a wall so I can add 3dB. Parts express claims the amp can deliver an instantaneous peak power rating of 240w, so that again, adds 3dB.
A repeated test showed the sub can hit 106dB peak, but only during a CEA 2010 burst. Play a continuous sine wave and it begins making the clipping noise after about half a second.
The drivers RMS rating is 150w. That means it can handle a program of 300w and a peak of 600w, so I seriously doubt a 120w amp is causing the driver to run out of xmax, especially far above the tuning frequency.
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Yes, taking out the amp will affect the box tuning.
However the bigger point is that if you increase amp power you will swap clipping for driver damage.
As I frequently point out driver power specs are universally overstated. Loudspeaker drivers, even the best of them, are much more frail than you might imagine.
If you fire up a 150 watt incandescent light bulb, see how long you can keep your hand on it. Well that is the power going into a tight gap space. Now use common sense.
As far as driver excursion is concerned it is lowest at tuning and rises above tuning and a lot below tuning. Don't assume you won't exceed x-max above tuning, as you likely will.
The bottom line is that if you really want to add spl. then the way to do it, is to add drivers. This spreads power between VCs.
There is a reason I use four 10" drivers with Fs of 20 Hz rather then two 15" with the same Fs. The radiating area is identical, but dynamic thermal compression is much reduced because heat dissipation is increased.