Power specification is very vague. Average music power delivered to speakers (dissipated heat) is very low, unless one listens to sinewaves (then it is 50%). When music sounds about half as loud as the music peak it is 10% of the peak power, not to mention gaps in music or soft parts. I would speculate it is only a few percent of the peak power - more for heavy orchestral pieces and less for Jazz trio. Perhaps 100W amp can deliver as much of the peak power as 200W amp, but is specified at 100W only because of the, for instance, smaller heatsinks. Both might sound the same with some types of music, like mentioned Jazz trio. According to FTC power should be measured as sinewave RMS voltage at specified frequency range and rated THD, over specified impedance for period of 5 minutes, when amplifier was preheated at 1/8 of rated power with 1kHz signal for one hour. It would imply that amplifier rated 200W has to supply this power for only 5 minutes and after that can overheat. Does it make a sense to test an amp at full power at 20kHz? This will never happen in real life.
I don't often see power specified as FTC power, so power specification can be very flexible (often much worse). I found in the specification of Icepower module continuous power (40W) and FTC rated power for 0-3kHz (150W).
So we have continuous, FTC and momentary powers and anything in-between. Perhaps for linear power supply amps weight can be a better specification than power?
As for the listening distance - Benchmark claims that in average room distance doesn't play role. 6dB loss for double distance applies to open space only.
I don't often see power specified as FTC power, so power specification can be very flexible (often much worse). I found in the specification of Icepower module continuous power (40W) and FTC rated power for 0-3kHz (150W).
So we have continuous, FTC and momentary powers and anything in-between. Perhaps for linear power supply amps weight can be a better specification than power?
As for the listening distance - Benchmark claims that in average room distance doesn't play role. 6dB loss for double distance applies to open space only.
Rule 13: In a home environment, the SPL at the listening position is about the same as the 1m response of the speaker in an anechoic chamber.
If a speaker has a measured output of 90 dB SPL at 1 meter when fed with one watt, you can expect about 90 dB SPL at your listening position when driving your speaker with one watt. Room reflections supplement the output of the speakers and compensate for the fact that you are more than 1 meter from your speakers. If you are outdoors, this rule does not apply. But, in a typical home listening room, the rule works reasonably well for a quick approximation.