Adam, let me try to rationalize this for you. Firstly, people tend not to bother distinguishing VA and Watt for simplicity sake. In reality VA=voltageXCurrent, i.e. VoltsXAmps. In electrical engineering term we refer to this product, VoltsXAmps as VA, not watt. You can in fact find this term in some receiver or amp specifications if you look at the power consumption figures. VA equals watts only for purely resistive loads when the phase angle between the voltage and current vector (more correctly, phasor) is zero. That is they are in phase. For reactive loads, Watts=VoltsXAmpsXPower factor where Power factor is less than 1 unless the voltage and currents are in phase. The more reactive the load is, the larger the phase angle between volt and amp and the lower the resultant power factor. Secondly, you have to consider efficiency, I am not sure if the LPA-1 is a class AB amp. If it is, then its efficiency could be around 50% or lower. So let's say Gov's display indicates peak values of 8 amps, and assuming the waveform is sinusoidal (mostly likely not), the rms value will be 8/1.414=5.66A, further assume the power factor is 0.8, then Power draw from the 120V side=120X5.66X0.8=543 Watts. Finally if we assume the amp's efficiency is 50%, then Output power=Input powerXefficiency=272 watts. That is quite believable consider that he said he had the volume at 0 dB, especially if his listening position is far enough (say 10 ft or more) from the speakers.
