Can a "bad" amp make a a SUB sound.......

[broguearcher]

poor even though it is still producing a lot of bass?

Here's my deal: Have a used 10" SVC MOMO Sub that I was using in my car with a cheap Lightning Audio amplifier..... built a nice sealed box for it of the correct size. The sub sounded pretty great for the most part but when it was pushed to any kind of intensity (even fairly low) it would develop a rather disturbing buzzing or grating, even a "torn" kind of sound. I eventually figured that the sub was blown and ordered a new one. I decided to get a 10" DVC MOMO (not the best choice for my set up I now realize but I didn't then). I tested that (BRAND NEW) sub out yesterday and what do I get? The same damn sound!!! Buzzing, vibrating, etc..... It seems like the amplifier is passing on some rather rough distortion at low frequencies. Does this sound plausible or do you think that I actually have had the bad luck of simply getting two bad subs?

My other theory is that the amp is simply just not powerful enough to cleanly produce the bass needed and this is why the subs begin to start sounding really rough. The amp can only do 150W bridged into 4 ohms. Polk apparently recommends 200W RMS for these speakers.

I disconnected the amp from the sub and ran it in stereo mode to my 6x9's in the car.... they actually sound OK I think with it. Loud and strong. However, I MAY be able to detect some levels of audible distortion at low frequencies in them as well. However, they don't need nearly as much power to operate well as the subs require. Thoughts? Looks like I just need to buy another amp and one truly capable of putting out the power? Some of this situation just doesn't make sense to me.

Thanks.

[Zen Dragon]

Broguearcher:
You'll get much better response on these posts on your sub if you make them in the car audio section.
Sounds like you may be hooking it up wrong or driving it too hard. You definitely could use better amplification.