Focal 27WX 11" Subwoofer Application

I would agree with you mostly, The only thing here is that my subs are literally designed purely for low output quality, My old Velodyne ULD-15 would probably knock harder.

My subs are rated at a mere 250 watts and are the fastest most musical subs I have still heard to date. What I am trying to figure out is if they can integrate well with a pair of main speakers.

Most car audio is for volume yes. NOT ALL CAR AUDIO IS DESIGNED TO BE BLASTED AT RIDICULOUS LEVELS. Some car amps are pretty great, The older Mcintosh amps from the 90's, The old school PPI, Zapco, Esoteric Audio, Morel, Dynaudio and even Focal are examples.

I have found some stats on the current 13WX Utopia for home use 13" Sub and My 11" 27WX. I noticed my sub takes 75 watts more power but I also am not certain the current driver is the same as in the late 90's

My 11" 27WX Car Subs

27cm (11") subwoofer for bass reflex enclosure.
65mm (2-1/2") v.coil
multi-magnet 12x60mm (12x2-3/8").
Max. power handling: 500W.
Nominal, power handling: 250W.
Sensitivity (2.8 V/1m): 90dB.
Frequency response: 25Hz*-1.5kHz.
Fs (Hz) 37.4
Re (ohms) 4.4
Qes 0.6
Qms 7.4
Qts 0.56
Dia (cm) 21
Mms (g) 79.1
Lvc (mH) 2.12
Hbob (mm) 26
Hgap (mm) 8
Xmax (mm) 9
Sd (cm2) 346.6
Vas (I) 38.6
BL (N/A) 11.7
Folding dia. 233
Mounting depth (mm) 119

Sealed enclosure (I.) 30-50

Bass reflex enclosure (I.) 30-50

And the 13" 13WX Home Sub

Nominal power handling (W) 175
Max. Power Handling (W) 300
Sensitivity (db, 2, 8 V/1m) 89,9
Cone W®
Surround rubber
Nominal Impedance (ohms) 6
DC resistance 6,25
VC diameter (mm) 77 11,94 in
VC height (mm) 22 0,87 in
Former aluminium
Layers 1
Wire copper
Inductance (mH) 2,15
Xmax (mm) 6,0 0,24 in
Magnet diameter x height 12 x (72 x 15) 12 x (0,47 x 2,83) in
Magnet weight (g) 233 x12 -
Flux density (T) 1
Gap height (mm) 10 0,39 in
Net weight (Kg) 13,7 30,19 lb
Parameters
Fs 33,6
Vas 89,0 5431,1 in3
Qts 0,37
Qes 0,42
Qms 2,83
Re 6,25
Sd 551,5 85,5 in2
Cas 634E-09
Mas 35,5
Ras 2645,7
Cms 0208E-6
Mms 108,05 0,238 lb
Rms 8,05
Ces 318,8
Les 70,6
Res 42,1
Bl 18,41
SPL 90,9
Simulation
Vented

Vented
V(I) 80 100
Fb (Hz) 39,1 35,7
F-3 (Hz) 37,6 33
Qui 7 7

Thanks a million Toby

I would suspect the differences are mainly because home audio and car audio are designed for different things. If I understand it correctly, the small size of a car limits the bass extension so it would make sense that car audio speakers wouldn't be designed with the intent of deep bass. Also, car audio is more about volume than anything else so I would anticipate them to have the ability to handle a lot of power and not be designed for the finer things like imaging.

Also, I don't think car audio amps are designed with the same level of clarity in mind so there would be no reason for the speakers to be designed more than the amps could provide.

I have a fairly inexpensive subwoofer in my 4Runner that I hooked up on the house with a 920 watt pioneer car amp and 300 watt computer power supply and was actually impressed with the results, but it certainly wasn't the equal of my Martin Logan.

Just me rambling...