You've got more than enough of square and cubic "inchage" but with passive I think you are now, as before with the Funks, amplifier power limited. There are good reasons why SVS, Funk JLA all tend to use class D to provide the >1000W with peaks to much higher levels. Even your largest ATI mono or 2Ch bridged would probably only provide 600 to 800W or so of average power right? Have you tried the largest Crown on one of them to find out the truth?
Seriously, knowing you now engage DEQ a lot, even at your moderate listening volume you bass peaks may cause your amp to clip. On the practical side though, it is highly unlikely you can hear even 25% THD at the very low frequencies so my concern is more with
compression. You may be missing a few dB of dynamic swing without knowing it. Oops, now I sounded like Rich, hope he won't think copy cat.
I've used the Crown XLS2500, ATI AT6012, AT2000, & AT3000 on the subs. It made no difference in my room. Perhaps it would make a difference in a 30' x 30' or larger room. But not in my room. Keep in mind that even 10+ years ago I only had a single NHT 10" Sub with only 80W of power, and the little thing gave me earthquake wall-shaking bass for movies, while still very musical for music.
My little brother just built his 4,000 S.F. dream house in Dallas, Texas. His family room is 25' x 25' x 15' and really wide open. Yet the little single 10" NHT SW2P and 80W external amp still sounded great and dynamic.
My 15' x 18' x 15' room doesn't need much.
My 18' x 20' x 12' family room doesn't need much power either. I am only using a single Dayton SA230 (230W) to power 4 Velodyne subs in this room. They rattle every window and wall like a rag doll.
No signs of clipping, bottoming out, distortion, etc. All strong bass here.
When I had the Def Tech Trinity with it's 2000W of power, I compared it to dual RBH 1010 subs, which were powered in series by one 400W/4 ohm amp. Yet, the dual RBH seems to be significantly punchier and more dynamic than the 2000W Trinity sub. So even back then, I knew that it was not just about power - at least not in most rooms, which are NOT outdoor or stadium size.
Another thing to keep in mind is the power rating of the driver. The RBH 1010 subs have a maximum power rating of 500W. The ATI AT2000 can output 500W into 4 ohms @ 1% THD, so the AT3000 amp can output more than 500W into 4 ohms. I don't want to exceed the max power rating for my drivers. That is one way of blowing them.
So it seems to me that like speakers, although subs do require more power than speakers, subs really don't require as much power in most rooms as people claim. I mean look at your subwoofer level. Most people turn their subs to 25% volume or at most 50% volume. But again, most people's rooms are no bigger than my family room of 18' x 20' x 12'. Now if most rooms are OUTDOOR or in 40' x 40' x 15', that would be another story.
Another point is that I've always preferred the sound of passive subs over active subs. It may just be coincidence. It may just be the subs themselves and not due to active vs. passive. It may be the inherent built-in peak
limiters or rumble filters of the active subs. My passive subs don't have any such
limiters to limit the dynamics, like the active subs.
Some subs effectuate peak limiters whether you want them or not to protect the drivers. You could turn off the peak limiters on some subs, but then you would risk bottoming out or blowing the drivers.
Limiting the peak dynamics.
I don't know. But in every case, I have always preferred the sound of passive subs over active subs. Passive subs just sound more "musical" to me. They sound punchier and more dynamic to me. It's like the bass of the Revel Salon2 or Linkwitz Orion. If the Salon2 or Orion woofers were used as subwoofers, it would just sound more "musical" to me than any active sub I've ever heard. Perhaps that is why Linkwitz used the dual 10" woofers in the Orion tower to make the Thor subwoofers. Perhaps that is why RBH used the dual 10" woofers in the towers to make the SX-1010 subwoofers. But it could just be coincidence. Perhaps there is a good reason
Gene also prefers his passive subs (trio of 10" woofers) in the RBH 8T speakers.
For most rooms and most people, power is overrated for both speakers and subs IMO. Perhaps it's nice to have more power if you need it. But the question is, do you actually need more? In the end, just like speakers, if the subs sound superb, I'm not going to angst over some hypothetical potential percentage loss.
But for other people who feel that giving their subs 2000W of class-D power (instead of 500W solid state class A/B power) makes their subs sound better, more power to them.
Whatever the reasons, I would never buy another active sub. Ever. I'm sticking to passive subs (like the woofers in big bad towers) and good old solid class A/B American muscle arc-welding power.
