1.5kw amplifier Idea/comment/etc

Brian Hoskins said:

There should be some governing rules when it comes to specs I think. Manufacturers should have to quote power outputs at the same level of distortion. That way you don't get away with fooling poor unsuspecting customers into buying a high power NOISE generator.

Click to expand...

It's already done, any decent manufacturer (and ALL PA manufacturers) quote power outputs as RMS, feeding a specific load, and at a low distortion level. The Behringer amp I mentioned provides 2400W in to 4 ohms in bridged mode at 1KHz and 0.1% THD.

What you should never believe though is car audio specs, or computer speaker specs.

But does every manufacturer quote power output at a comparable level of distortion?

As you say it's all written there for everyone to see, but I doubt Joe Public reads or understands the distortion figures. All they understand is that 2400W is more power than 2000W. But we all know there's more to it than that.

Brian

Brian Hoskins said:

But does every manufacturer quote power output at a comparable level of distortion?

Click to expand...

No, but it's not hard to compare - but for a start you need to know what you're looking for, 0.1% for a 2400W PA amp is a really good distortion figure, but for a HiFi amp 0.1% wouldnt be considered at all good these days.

If you're looking for PA or instrument amps it's pretty simple, they all give true RMS at distortion levels suitable for their use.

With decent HiFi they likewise all give true RMS ratings at suitable (much lower) distortion levels.

With cheap crappy stuff, car or computer speakers, they just seem to imagine the values - with units supposedly rated at 1000W having 3W speakers inside, and fed from a tiny wallwart rated at 12V 1A.

If you look at some car amps, they actually give RMS figures in the small print - 2000W (50W RMS per channel).