I find this thread fascinating. I wonder what I am missing without separate amps, but I have no desire to pay for something that doesn’t do much for me.
Gena,
Unfortunately it seems like test equipment is specified just as aggressively as audio equipment. 250 us acquisition time is for repetitive peaks, 2.5 ms for single events, which is 1 cycle at 400 Hz. This is, of course, buried in a foot note of the extended specs. of the Flukemeter. It seems likely that musical peaks typically last longer than 2.5 ms anyway, so it does not matter. I have no idea, maybe someone who knows about the duration of musical peaks can comment ?
My receiver claims to handle 7, 120 W rms each channel 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with 0.04 % THD into 8 Ohms. Max. of 175 W with 10 % THD. Dynamic power 8/6/4/2 Ohms of 155/195/250/330 Watts (no distortion rating). It is not clear on how many channels this is for at the same time. I think it cannot be more than 2 since the unit consumes 500 W. Outlaw states “all channels driven at the same time”.
If my peaks are 24 X like what you have measured with Floyd, average could be 120/24 = 5 watts. If 240 is shared between 3 fronts then 3.2 W. I don’t believe it is playing at 95 dB undistorted. My room is a bit smaller than yours and fairly reflective.
As mentioned above things are material dependent, but I can play most things at a loud (rock the house or almost but not quite orchestra seat level for the other half) without distortion, but not extremely loud, approaching concert or live music in a small venue level. I am not an audiophile who listens to minute differences.
It gets down to personal preference and how much you want to pay but I definitely understand the case for more power, more so for an efficient speaker. But if for $ 1500.00 I get 600 W instead of 200 or 250 W across the front 3 I’m thinking it’s not worth it. That is only 4 or 5 dB, which is not even twice as loud.
