Similarly, there are many different approaches to quantifying distortion relevant to perception. THD utterly fails in that regard (thus the failure of FTC and other similar approaches), and I would rather have several options (non-coherence, multitone, spectral contamination, r_nonlin, Gm, etc.) and let the market decide over time which works best.
I agree THD is a limited thing, amplifier measurements are steady state into resistors which is also limited. OTOH
- I don't think "Let the market decide" has ever been effective...jeez I'm trying to think of a sterling example where the government said exactly that but it will not come to the forefront of my brain.
- Something like 1% THD is often used as a proxy for clipping, a basic characteristic of power. I commented to NOT ALLOW ratings at any higher power level. Yes, that screws a few 0.00000001% of all models which maybe cannot go that low for legitimate design philosophies...I really don't care about those. Come to think of it they could surely survive without specifying power at all, it's a very very specialized market.
- I cannot imagine the government moving to anything more sophisticated than THD after nearly 50 years...and would not want to muddy the waters. Hard enough to get the THD kept.
As for enforcement, if the rules were tight enough,
individuals could sue for false advertising. That would stop a lot of bull-oney in its tracks. Maybe we could get a "bounty" regulation passed, like the abortion thing in Texas and the gun thing in California!
