amp rms vs peak

[stump 10+ year member]

im starting to get it i think, on a sub/speaker the peak is when its gona blow, and the rms is whats safe to run.. on a amp my understanding is rms is what it will run anytime and if tuned right it will reach the peak?

Click to read more...

 

[chaunb3400 10+ year member]

peak means nothing...

 

[mcsoul 10+ year member]

peak means nothing...

x2 do not use this to make a decision.

RMS values are the important ones on amps

and speakers (woofers).

 

[stump 10+ year member]

oh its just stupid.. idk why they would even use it

 

[grassroots 10+ year member]

peak power is the absolute maximum that an amp can produce for a VERY short time and more than likely the sine wave is severely clipped and can damage speakers. it's a very pointless figure when looking at an amplifiers specs...

 

[tc3k101 5,000+ posts]

they use peak for sale gimics //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif ie sony xplod, they say 1300watts on the subs and amps but can only take/produce so little

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Peak numbers are manufactured to boost sales.

 

[roarzorz 10+ year member]

Its all a conspiracy.

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

Multiply RMS by sqrt(2).

 

[blazinb2000 10+ year member]

Yep peak power is advertisement. On ebay you can buy a 2000 watt MAX amp for $99 bucks. In reality it might put out 400-500 rms on a good day. Never go by max wattage rating, only use the actual rms rating.

 

[Cameron_B 10+ year member]

Multiply RMS by sqrt(2).

Yup, or divide by .707 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

If an amp is putting out clean sine wave then the instantaneous peaks will be exactly 2X the RMS value......

 

[GAM3OVR 5,000+ posts]

Buy JL, according to cotjones, a JL watt is double that of a regualr watt!

( I HAVR JL MONSTA AMPIES DAT R SUPA PAWERFOUL) lol

 

[funkyab 10+ year member]

ohhhh lord!!!!

what ever happened to cotjones?? is he using a new name and keeping quiet??

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Multiply RMS by sqrt(2).

Yup, or divide by .707 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Sure, if you're in a lab looking at sine waves.

Peak numbers are manufactured to boost sales.

bingo

which is why...

peak means nothing...

Wiki has a pretty good summary of "Peak" power, or PMPO

Peak Music Power Output (PMPO) (sometimes misused in advertising as Peak momentary performance output) is a much more dubious measure, of interest more to advertising copy-writers than to consumers. The term PMPO has never been defined in any standard but it is often taken to be the sum of some sort of peak power for each amplifier in a system. Different manufacturers use different definitions, so that the ratio of PMPO to continuous power output varies widely; it is not possible to convert from one to the other. The term PMPO is considered misleading and meaningless by audio professionals. Most amplifiers can sustain their PMPO for only a very short time; loudspeakers are not designed to withstand their stated PMPO for anything but a momentary peak without serious damage. Sometimes the PMPO which can be delivered into an unrealistic resistive load, rather than a real loudspeaker, is quoted. There have been genuine attempts to measure 'peak music power' as described below, but in general the term is not at all useful.