Watts alone don't really tell you much without knowing the efficiency of the drivers. While more watts will provide more headroom, you eventually reach a point where you exceed the XMAX of the driver and any additional power is simply wasted. High wattage numbers may sound impressive, but you may not be able to use the full power of the amp without destroying the drivers. (I am not necessarily saying that is the case with the JTR sub. The drivers in that case may be very inefficient and require that kind of power. I have no way of knowing. These are general comments.)
But there is another, I feel more important, factor here and that is accuracy. Subwoofer drivers, in general, are notoriously inaccurate devices. Most all of them can move a lot of air, but they often have very large peaks in their response plots. It is the nature of the beast.
With a Rythmik sub, there is a second voice coil in each of the drivers. This extra voice coil is coupled to a servo controller in the plate amp. The servo circuitry continuously monitors the input signal and calculates exactly where the driver cone needs to be in order to reproduce that input signal accurately. Since it knows the exact location of the cone (due to the connection to the extra voice coil), it can instantaneously provide feedback that controls the gain of the amplifier to insure that the cone is always in the correct position. The result is extremely accurate, tight and musical bass.
I can't tell you how many of our customers sold their subs because they muddied up the bottom end, ruining the sound quality of the speakers. They moved a lot of air, but didn't produce high quality bass. Our owners want precise, tight and musical bass. That is why we choose to utilize Rythmik technology in the subs we build. And their amps are designed to provide all the requisite power based on the efficiency of their drivers.
- Jim
