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Okay I have a question I was at my local Rotel dealer and we were talking about power output on receivers He was saying that the Federal Trade Comission"s Trade regulatioin rule on power output for receivers is on only 1 channel running not all of them IS THIS TRUE? if so that doesn't seem fair :M you think your getting somthing your not and what happens when all channels are running how much power is there then I have a Pioneer Elite with supposably 100 watts a channel it's a 7.1 receiver The guy at the dealer said that Rotel's receivers are rated all channels running Rich
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Yup, welcome to the wonderful world of "fudged figures"
Most higher-end gear tends to rate their equipment more accurately, watch out for those mass-market brands, especially their low-mid priced units. I believe there's a few sources on the net that show equipment's real 5-ch output. Also Home Theatre Magazine rates amps/receivers with 5-ch driven
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so if you had 100 watts rated at one channel driven how much would you have when all 7 are driven this surprises me my receiver retailed for $1200 now I definetly have to upgrade now Rich
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That depends on a lot of factors like quality size of power supply etc but suffice to say, it's less than the 100w
Look it up on the net, I'm sure someone has your models "real" ratings. There's also the frequency range it's tested in to consider as well. For example your amp might be especially efficient at reproducing a 2KhZ signal, you test outputting only that frequency with one channel and it will measure quite well "Real" ratings will use a much larger frequency spectrum, say 40hZ-2KhZ with 5 channels driven, like Rotel does 
JasonComment
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There are a lot of variables at play. If you take a look at the maximum aperage drawn on your receiver that will give you some idea of what it can deliver, although there are certainly exceptions. Then there is the little matter of line voltage. As a receiver draws more power the line voltage starts to sag. Who knows how any particular receiver was tested? Was the line voltage stabilized or not?
This is a problem, especially when you read test reports. Several years ago, the Denon 4800 apparently put out 148 watts per channel with all channels driven, even though it was only rated 125 watts. A comparable Yamaha reciever did a lot worse. It turned out that the Denon was tested with the line voltage stabilized. This allowed the receiver to deliver all that power.
Very, very few of us have stabilized voltage.
One of the first things I look at in receivers is the max current draw. The more amps the better.Comment
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