rms and peak power

[leadparrot 10+ year member]

im new to this stuff looking to buy a nice system i just dont no whats the difference between rms and peak power

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[BlactimusCrime 10+ year member]

rms is the continuous output, peak is just that, the most output, but rarely do you see much peak in music.

when matching pieces of ur system use RMS, not peak

 

[CHEMMINS 10+ year member]

RMS and Peak are just manufacturers guidelines.

When referring to speakers/subs. You want an amplifier that matches the RMS of the speaker because that is what you will play at daily.

When referring to amplifiers, you want to match their RMS to the speakers RMS.

Peaks happen at different parts of different songs, or electrical peaks.

Match the RMS's up, and you should be safe. You can never hurt a speaker due to underpowering them, but you can hurt them by underpowering them, and cranking your deck to compensate, creating a clipped signal to the speakers.

 

[leadparrot 10+ year member]

so if i buy an amp and subs the rms should be the same

 

[sobe3yourself. 10+ year member]

Yes

 

[CHEMMINS 10+ year member]

and don't turn your deck up past 75-80%

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

Peak power is completely random in most cases. Some companies do 2x rms, some 3x rms...some 10x rms even. It's all a gimmick, don't count on it, and look only at rms values on good equipment because lower level companies like Pyle, Legacy, etc will just flat out lie about the rms values of their amps.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Peak rms is bs, means nothing in most cases. RMS is what your looking for, but a lot of amps are overrated.

 

[Alex K 10+ year member]

Peak rms is bs, means nothing in most cases. RMS is what your looking for, but a lot of amps are overrated.

or underrated. Sundown dd, aq,crescendo,rockford etc...

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

And as long s you know what you're doing, none of it really matters. The chances of you actually getting the RMS power out of an amp with music are somewhere around zero if the amp is set up correctly.

 

[KRYPTO 10+ year member]

hmm... think I'm going to rewire my subs to 1ohm after reading this //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Boomsday 10+ year member]

And as long s you know what you're doing, none of it really matters. The chances of you actually getting the RMS power out of an amp with music are somewhere around zero if the amp is set up correctly.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsupwink.gif.129404938effda6ad9cca39e7f4b58a3.gif, but 99% of people dont understand that

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I don't no a ton, but I know there are factors like imp. rise make you're rating at 1 ohm not mean anything.

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

So called RMS power is the DC equivalent in terms of heating ability.. its the average amount of power the amp can deliver... peak power is the maximum instantaneous level...

There are various methodologies manufacturers can use to rate amplifier output, and the results can vary wildly... continuous RMS output over the intended bandwidth of the amp is the best kind of rating IMHO.. others will rate using 1khz, tone bursts, pink noise, ect...

 

[FenixAudio 10+ year member]

i thought the cea standards were sapposed to get rid of all of that varience in testing methods?