Postby SR » October 25th, 2006, 10:32 am
when u read an amps tech manual
to rate an amps power it is calculated using frequency
ie
at a 1khz freq undistorted power measured is say 50 watts
so they rate the amp 50watts x 2 ...............rms
however if the power is measured using say 50hz measured power is less say maybe 30watts but as the makreting hype goes yuh eh goin an say yuh amp is only 30 watts
old school amps
orion
ppi
zapco
ads
etc
rated their amps at full bandwidht power
which means the amp would actually put out more power at the 1khz freq than waht the amp was rated at
hence the term underating came about
eg
orion hcca 225 amp
rated ate 25 watts x 2 at 4 ohm
but when compared to a cheaper brand amp rated at the same
the orion had tons of more power than the cheaper brand and could compare with an amp rated say 100watts or even more from that same manufacturer
but it all came down to cost as amps such as these costed more and even though they sounded much better
the bottom line was cost and the cheaper amp would still sell more than the more expensive one
this still holds the same today