I'm looking at upping my bass. I'm not looking for extremely high spl. I just want it to sound good. Right now I'm running about 75w to an 8in ported enclosure. Sensitivity is rated around 90db. Should I put more power to the sub or get a bazooka tube with about a 104db sensitivity?
Don't mean to be difficult, but that doesn't help me much. From a mathamatical perspective, doubling my power to 150watts will only give me 3 more decibles of loudness. that's the same as replacing a sub with a 90db sensitivity with one at 93db sensitivity. Plus, I need a few specifics before I buy into the "that thing is a piece of crap" opinion on the bazooka tube.
if you want something of quality, that will last a few years and give you a good amount of bass while still sounding great, then DONT GET A BAZOOKA TUBE.
i told my neighbor that, but he went ahead and got one and hated it the minute he heard it. wasnt what he was lookin for at all, it sounded like poo and wasnt near as loud as his friend who spent $100 bucks more on something of quality. so my neighbor sold his tube and went the RIGHT way and bought a SS RL-i 10" and it was SOOO MUCH better! sound quality is awesome AND its much louder.
so all in all, do it right the first time and you wont have to spend as much in the long run.
you're putting way to much into the sensitivity rating and the decibel adding theory. You know numbers are almost completely install dependent? if you have a sub with 200db sensitivity and you put it in a sh1tty install, its not going to have the output it should. worry more about your install and less about the sub you choose.
A speaker's sensitivity is an important efficiency rating, yet one most car audio bass enthusiasts don't use to determine a driver particularly. Most have gobs and gobs of power to throw at their subs anyway.
Home audio is where you will find many more ppl interested in a speaker's sensitivity, where power is a factor, and a much more expensive venture.
Higher efficiency speaker is always better, as it will be louder on the same power (all assuming install is done right).
Of course if you've got a 3000w amp and a sub that can handle that power, AND has high 93 db efficiency *cough* DD 9515 *cough*, then you're gonna have one hell of a loud system