What to do about watts?

[slowsauce]

I ran across something on the net earlier that said, vintage recievers were rated differetnly in terms of watts. Does this mean that they cant put out more sound at lower watts? I picked up a vintage sony rated at 25/wpc and Id like to know how many watts that would be in the terms watts are rated nowadays, and if this is a reasonable amount.

 

[warnerwh]

In the early seventies the Federal Trade Commission passed a law that amplifier power needed to be in RMS power at a specified bandwidth (20-20khz) and distortion measurement. This was for stereo amplifiers. Home theater amplifiers having several channels apparently don't have to abide by the same rules except in the stereo rating which of course will be higher because the power supplies are only used for two channels. The build quality of the old vintage receivers can be considered excellent by today's standards. The stuff I see at mass market stores is truly amazing junk for the most part. Your receiver is an honest 25wrms per channel which is the same as a 25 wrms per channel today for two channels. I don't follow home theater receivers but it appears their wattage ratings can say one thing and they will be something else entirely which I suspect is usually less and is mostly advertising hype. There's alot more to amplifier power than watts at 8 ohms however.

 

[slowsauce]

thanks, next question, do you think this reciever would be able to adequately power two Energy 5.1e's with a nominal impedance of 6 ohms?

 

[mtrycrafts]

thanks, next question, do you think this reciever would be able to adequately power two Energy 5.1e's with a nominal impedance of 6 ohms?

Depends on speaker sensitivity, room size and your needs for high volume level. 25 watts is 13 dB above the sensitivity rating. An 88 dB spl speaker will play 101 dB spl with 25 watts.

 

[gene]

Please refer to our article: Product Managing Receiver Platforms