If you have a sub that's 1000 watts rms but you're amp is only giving it 500 watts rms is that a bad thing.

What are the pros and cons of doing this?

 

underpowering can blow an amp i believe, because you are making it work too hard.

 

amp clips ---> distortion ---> blown sub(s)

i dunno of any pros

 

ya it is worse to underpower than overpower (but not really for a sub), you need to give what sub and amp you are talking about. RMS rattings really dont mean much at all. Also what kind of box do you have and what kind of volume levels are you wanting to go for?

500 watts is really plenty to run just about any sub (not the SoloX ) but most other subs regardless of the subs RMS ratings. so you should be just fine

Another way of looking at it - underpowering a sub slightly or getting the amp to clip is sometimes just fine for a sub. You really have to worry about blowing mids or tweeters with underpowering and sending them cliping sound and distortion. It is not that big of a deal for a sub at all. So beetlejuice dude isnt correct at all.

 

overdrive the amp and it will clip

 

no shit, I never said it wouldnt, I just said its not that bad for a sub, but it will blow your mids or tweeters much faster.

 

You are not hurting your woofer, you are NOT underpowering it, you are within its power rating.

Power Handling is NOT efficiency. How much power you can handle is NOT how much you need!

If you clip your amp, you will hear your subs make bad noises. If you can't hear the noises, you shouldn't have subs : )