True Power?

[P-Dub]

What are the true power needs of the average person, and how are companies meeting it?

From this link, I've seen that actual Watts measured can be different from advertised Watts.

And today I was checking out this FAQ at a classic Marantz site, and about half way down I see the question "Why does a 35 watt Marantz sound better and louder than many 100 watt receivers?"

The answer got me thinking about power conversion. My lowly Yamaha is rated at 350W, 70Wx5, but the normal power consumption of the unit is only 280W, much less than 350W. A Max power consumption is listed at 650W. So it could concivably put out 350W in an instant. So I would get a power conversion factor of 0.538 = 350W/650W. But what was interesting is if I use the conversion factor against the normal power consumption, I get about 150W or 30Wx5, 280W x .538 = 150.

Hmm, that's not a lot of power. However, checking out this link, it seems that for normal listening levels with medium efficient speakers, you need less than 5W. It's the peaks that require the power.

So this power thing seems to have gotten out of hand, I don't doubt more power is better, but what about more real power? Just for fun I looked at the Outlaw750 amp. It's rated at 165X5, or 825W. It has one number that has Max power consumption of 1,800 watts. So 825/1800 = .458. This makes me wonder about the effeiciency of my lowly Yamaha, can it be so good as to convert .538 vs a dedicated amp that can only convert .458?

I think that the war of higher numbers will continue. I just wish I could jump in and buy more gear.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

[Markj]

When you are comparing you should take in to account that some measurements are done on one channel driven and some on all five channels being driven. Also the measurement is taken at a single Frequency, which tends to skew the results instead of measuring with the whole band width usually the 20Hz – 20kHz. Just because the manufacturer puts it in the manual does not make their measurements accurate. You need to compare apples to apples. The bottom line is that I don’t know if the numbers you used are right.

[P-Dub]

Very good points. For my Yamaha, that's the stated output all channels 20Hz-20kHz as well as the Outlaw 750.

However, what I was trying to get at is that real world power output for receivers is a lot less than you think, and in reality you don't need a lot. I just thought it was interesting to note for a unit to actually achieve a constant level of Xwatts per channel, it would require a lot more power than it is able to consume.

Also, I'm not exactly sure how power is drawn from the wall socket, converted, stored and outputed to drive speakers. I'm probably missing a few steps there. But there's a reason for large capacitors, heatsinks, etc.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

[Lexman]

Interesting thread guys. The way I see it, it's about the power supply configuration and the output "caps". Output transistors that are gain matched tend to make the best and most reliable solid state circuitry.

Gain matching insures that no output device works harder than it's neighbor. This means the output transisters that surround each other run at or around the same temperaures. The fact they are gain matched doesn't really influence this situation, so much as the quantity of the output transistors does. But if an amp is designed with optimum effeciency in mind, I think sometimes stats could be misleading. To give an amp the largest power supply possible, but then scrimp on output transistors for example, in the end will produce less output.

Lex

[Robbie]

NOT the power output game. Yes, read carefully the fine print to see how it was measured. I would wager most mass market boys use the same power supply for the 50w and 100W jobs. Now how do they do that. My lowly Adcom has 60W x 5 (properly measured) and it is plunty loud enough for me.

Robbie

[John Holmes]

The watt game is strange. I have an amp (Fosgate Audionics) that is 60wpc @ 4ohm. And that amp kicks some major butt! I have also seen plenty of true audiophiles seem extremely happy with 20watts and below.

I'm sure that peak power for HT is important...how much has always been a concern for me.




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