Help me decide please

[kr15 5,000+ posts]

Yes I would say the 4ohm thing was primarily for competition purposes.

Most orgs now either clamp, or use 1 ohm manufacturer rating

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Do the newer higher end amps double their power nowadays... The price has really kept me away from even looking... IE... my old Audio Art 100HC's each did ther 50 x 2 @ 4 ohm... 400 x 1 @ 2 ohm... 800 x 1 at 1 ohm... easily... I was under the impression that "Class AB High current cheaters" became a thing of the past when Orion's Concept 97's were rated at some ridiculously low 4 ohm rating and caused some sort of protest in competition... do the newer D class amps have similar doubling of power?.. I know they are more efficient and all today...but I always loved those 3-4 foot long surfboards rated at 50 watts... or even 25 watts... LOL!

The cheater ratings are all but gone.... at least extreme examples like the Audio Art, HCCA, and similar. The point being amps with robust power supply will double power each time you halve impedance down to their lowest rated point, cheaper amps that skimp there won't actually gain so much. 400@ 4 ohm, 750 2 ohm, 1300 @ 1 ohm sort of thing whereas the better ones would do 800 and 1600 respectively. Actual numbers may vary, but you get the point.

So really those competition amps only changed their marketing to list 1 ohm loads... IE.. DC 3.5K does 750 into 4 ohm... years ago they would have listed the 4 ohm output for competition purposes?.. I guess the efficiency of the amps today have really changed things/

Of course the most famous examples of "cheater" amps just flat out lied, so it's all semantics, and most orgs have moved away from manufacturer power ratings to determine classes or have provisions to reclassify anything questionable. AND competition really isn't the driving force of the industry the way it used to be. More and more people care less and less about what the manufacturer says (high or low) so long as they know what it'll do and it's perceived as a good value.