noob queston

[Famous_78]

if an amp says it has 3600 watts max but only pushes 2600 at 1ohm how is it 3600 peak

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[btlking 10+ year member]

peak means nothing go by rms

 

[genxx 10+ year member]

RMS FTW. Forget Peak PWR.

 

[j3bus2k3 5,000+ posts]

Same way the EPA rates your gas mileage for a new car...its nothing but a misleading figure. Only look at RMS, you'll most likely never see the 3600...

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

peak power is a bunch of bullshit and it's usulaly 2x the rms rating but go by rms

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

It's not bullshit, it's just not as useful as RMS.

 

[blackbonnie 5,000+ posts]

go by RMS

 

[qtipextra 5,000+ posts]

Technically speaking, RMS (Root Mean Square) is an average of all the points on the sine wave. If you look at a sine wave, it has a peak (the highest point of the wave), and also a peak-to-peak value (Highest point to lowest point, which is twice the peak value). The RMS value is exactly .707 times the peak value of the sine wave. It is NOT half of the peak value, like a lot of people think, and amp manufactures try to advertise.

So, to put this in perspective, when that amp says 3600 peak, you times that by .707, and that = 2545.2 watts RMS.

What a lot of people don't know is that an amp actually does put out xxxx watts peak, it is just not measured as peak, it is measured as an average, or RMS, when in use. Basically, you can go by the peak rating as long as you have an o-scope or similar instrument to measure the peak voltage of the wave. But when most people see 3000 peak, they hook up their DMM (which measures RMS, not peak) and try to get it up to 3000 RMS, and it's not going to be good. People confuse the max rating (which is supposed to mean the highest point of the wave) for a maximum RMS.