I've owned..
Yamaha yst something (~1997)
Polk 12"
Infinity HPS1000
Infinity Intermezzo 1.2
Velodyne DD18
None of them have ever broken while I owned them. The Velodyne was a floor model at a closing tweeter that I bought in 2006 and it still works fine. The Infinity Intermezzo 1.2 was a blowout sale from Audio Advisor I bought in 2003. It still works fine.
I was talking to a sales guy in a shop 15 years ago and he mentioned the reason the surround roll on the little 10" Velodyne had to be so thick was that the pressure in the box was so high that the surround would be sucked in and out opposite of the speaker cone if it wasn't extremely strong.
I definitely think bigger is better with subs because the mechanical strain doesn't need to be nearly as significant. My 18" velodyne doesn't need huge excursions to play at reasonable volumes. A 10" driver that is flat at 20hz is heavily equalized and using a ton of power to do it. It's taxing the amp and mechanical parts a lot more than a big driver in a big box.
Yamaha yst something (~1997)
Polk 12"
Infinity HPS1000
Infinity Intermezzo 1.2
Velodyne DD18
None of them have ever broken while I owned them. The Velodyne was a floor model at a closing tweeter that I bought in 2006 and it still works fine. The Infinity Intermezzo 1.2 was a blowout sale from Audio Advisor I bought in 2003. It still works fine.
I was talking to a sales guy in a shop 15 years ago and he mentioned the reason the surround roll on the little 10" Velodyne had to be so thick was that the pressure in the box was so high that the surround would be sucked in and out opposite of the speaker cone if it wasn't extremely strong.
I definitely think bigger is better with subs because the mechanical strain doesn't need to be nearly as significant. My 18" velodyne doesn't need huge excursions to play at reasonable volumes. A 10" driver that is flat at 20hz is heavily equalized and using a ton of power to do it. It's taxing the amp and mechanical parts a lot more than a big driver in a big box.