Possibly Ignorant Power Question


Hi all, 

I've been looking to up my two channel game and am looking at nicer integrated amps.  In the process many have said "look for power that doubles as ohms halve" meaning 100W@8 becomes 200W@4 etc.  So the question is why do some manufacturers then have ratings such as "200W@8,4,2 ohms".  I thought you wanted the power to spike, to rise to the occasion of a heavier load?  

If there's a thread on this that exists already feel free to point me there.  

Thanks! 

EW
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Showing 1 response by kren0006

Good explanation with last answer.  Sufficient current whatever the load (which varies over time with speakers depending on what is being sent to them) is what's important.  So the doubling of watts as ohms halve is a useful rule of thumb that can give you some confidence that the amp will be able to produce sufficient current.  The speaker sensitivity of course plays in as also mentioned, but if looking just at the amp specs, the "doubling" is a nice feature to have at a quick glance.