It has been so long since i did sound this might be confusing...so bear with me.

And since speaker volume is controlled by voltage,.... this makes me believe I am in fact short on power since when I do increase my gain........... (voltage),........ the speakers do play louder........., though distortion appears when turned too high.........., to where the sine wave clips. So I assume ????? a larger amp provides cleaner power........ at higher gains (voltage) levels, resulting in crisper sound at higher volume. I do understand that amp gains aren't volume controls, but a means to match the amp to the HU's output signals.

http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/preamp.shtml

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-amp...r-voltage-gain


Here's a good read: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/speaker6.htm

A basic power tutorial: http://www.crownaudio.com/how_much_power.htm

If you use much more power, you are likely to damage the speaker by forcing the speaker cone to its limits. If you use much less power, youll probably turn up the amp until it clips, trying to make the speaker loud enough. Clipping can damage speakers due to overheating. So stay with 1.6 to 2.5 times the speaker's continuous power rating.

•Typical loudspeaker sensitivity is 85 dB SPL/W/m for home stereos

95 dB SPL/W/m for small PA speakers

and 110 dB for large PA speakers.

Notice tne louder the music goes the harhser the speaker gets....JL's have a warm rich sound

•Rock music at a small outdoor festival (50 feet from speaker to audience): At least 1,000 to 3,000 W

Now if you hear that system at 40 mph with open headers.....not to shabby. Remeber your pumping sound into a open enviorment with no wall's the sound wave's actually disapate. So the ideal situation is speaker placement and a lot of them for big sound from a warm speaker with low output....in realtion to the enviroment its working in that is...

http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/preamp.shtml:

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-amp...r-voltage-gain

Gotta love google along with cut and paste