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Best way to measure an Amp's power capability

Hello Everyone, 
As we all know not all watts are created equally. A 1,000 watt amp from brand A can be trounced by a 100 watt brand B amp. 

So what is the best way of telling if an amp is high current just by reading the specs or may be by looking at the inside of an amp?

What should one look for?

Thanks in advance! 
danimaz

Showing 1 response by kijanki

kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,410 posts
 
 What differs is how the power is measured. RMS (root mean square) is .707 of the maximum power. An amp output into a nominal load of 8 ohms at 1kHz at RMS continuous is a standard measurement. Ceteras paribas, amps should be compared using a common measurement.
RMS value of power is meaningless.  What represents heat is average power.
Pavg=Vrms*Irms.  Average power for sinewave is equal to half of peak power  Pavg=0.5Ppeak.   RMS value of power is about 0.6Ppeak and doesn't represent anything usefull.


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