distorting sub question

i have a 10w7 in a ported box powered by a legacy predator amp. the amp is like new, but the sub i got used and has a few holes in the display cone. it sounds good at low volume, but when i turn it up anywhere past half volume the sub distorts pretty badly. my question: is this because i have a shitty amp or is the sub dieing?

How big are the holes? Whats the RMS output of the amp and the RMS of the sub?

My guess is it's the amp clipping

single port: 1 5/8 x 12 1/2 x 17
sub's rms is 500, amp i think is 600 (thats either rms or peak, can't figure out which one, even sent legacy an email and they won't respond, its a la968 amp), but i don't have the gain up all the way.

what's clipping?

legacy is a crap company. really... crap. worse than sony. you're getting less than 300rms outta that amp.

well its a two channel, and i have it running off only one for fear of blowing the sub. 1200 bridged is the claim, think its worth it to bridge?
but yes, i need to get a better amp

what's clipping?

Clipping is what happens when you try to get more power from an amp than it's capable of delivering.

well its a two channel, and i have it running off only one for fear of blowing the sub. 1200 bridged is the claim, think its worth it to bridge?

No, that's a 3ohm sub, and I know that amp isn't stable at 3ohm when bridged. It probably claims 4ohm, and with a half decent amp that would be ok, but this is Legacy...

oops, kinda forgot about that. so new equipment all around it is then

^not before you do some research, or you'll end up throwing away all your money all over again. I don't mean what brands are good and bad. You should understand what you are buying.

a good, thorough site to research is www.bcae1.com

based on what ive read so far on that site, and from hooking the sub to a friends amp, it looks like the amp is clipping. running the sub off ~225w rms make the cone move a hell of a lot more.

guess ill try just a new amp first. after doing some research of course
thanks for the site