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. 
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Showing 3 responses by unsound

unsound
7,315 posts
 
^Don’t confuse gain with power.


The devil is in the details. It’s important to compare apples to apples. Specs are presented as an equation; change variable / change application. Specs can offer tremendous insight into correlations, and be invaluable towards eliminating the irrelevant. Specs quantify the specifics. Specs allow for pertinent short lists. Without specs we don’t have quality and/or consistency.

Specs don’t assess the gestalt.
unsound
7,315 posts
 
@mrklas, specs don’t matter until they do,

I confident that in some situations that vey same amp won’t perform as well as many amplifiers rated much higher.
And the specs sure come in handy for such considerations.
unsound
7,315 posts
 
@mrklas, ha! Perhaps?
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