2. amps-preamps
  3. 170180-106113

what's going on with specs?

I'm having a hard time buying a power amp. I'm in the 5-10k range and whae I'm finding are things like PS Audio BHK 250. Specs show 250@8ohms and 500@4ohms. Then the Parasound JC5 shows 400@8ohms and 600@4ohms. Looks like PS Audio doubles at 4 ohms which makes me think it's a stronger amp until I notice the PS Audio spec is at 1 kilohertz and the Parasound measures 20 to 20 kilohertz. That is very confusing and I don't understand why PS Audio doesn't give full power measurements. Anyone with knowledge of these two brands or others. I have the Elac Vela 409s to drive. 
dconfalone

Showing 1 response by knotscott

knotscott's avatar
knotscott
1,102 posts
 
Once you get beyond ample current flow for a given speaker load, and reasonable output power for a desired volume level, specs have seriously limited value in high end audio. As soon as manufacturers figured out how to build circuits that measured well according to spec rules, they pretty much became moot point....which was decades ago. Specs may have actually been detrimental to sound quality at some point, because good specs became more critical than good sound. Amplifier specs tell you nearly as much about sound quality as dimensions tell you about how comfortable a sofa is.

Below is a list of sonic attributes that are accurately described by specs: ;-)
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