Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions AV receivers for music?

No surprise, but I did not do this test myself. See Home Theater Mag test at HT test.
Unless I am reading their test results wrong, they found that with all channels driven it hit 1% under 40 watts. In two channel it made the 150 range at 1% you would expect, but they don't say what frequency range that number came from. Wouldn't that indicate this amp has little power in reserve, and thus the bass peaks (needing 16 times the power, Alan describes) that are evading this listener could be due to the amp? Room, placement, reflections, etc, all still on the board as options.

Charles, you're reading the test report right, but you're emphasizing what're probably the least significant numbers in real-world home use. The all-channel driven number isn't what the rating is based on(the usual two channels driven measurement for five continuous minutes, to meet the FTC regs)and doesn't represent what happens playing music at home. Even one channel rarely would have to supply full rated power, much less all channels simultaneously.

It's necessary to read between the lines a bit and Home Theater Magazine is one of those which test at 1000Hz. At the 20Hz or 20KHz(could be either)frequency extremes the result would be on the order of 5-10% lower. The two channel driven results shown on the graph and described beneath it indicate that over 100 watts would in fact be available.

Damn, I was so close. I fell for the bold print!
So what would make this amp trip up at 40 watts with all ch driven, where so many other AVRS can come relatively close to their single/stereo ch levels? Power supply limitations?
I continue my search for specs that matter...

Yup.

Well then, that still seems relevant. I wish all mfg would adopt the CES testing methods, at least the unwashed masses, such as myself, could compare apples to apples - even if the apples have nothing to do with the steak we are cooking!

What is the point of marketing if you can't unfairly influence prospective buyers to thinking that whatever wares you are hawking are better than that other stuff.

Oh...and also?

Shower already, dude.

Can't argue with that, but I was surprised that in the mobile audio end, the CES standards allowed the better companies to show they had dependable products that were not full of BS. That forced the lower-end companies to either step or have the obvious omission of the key testing criteria. It really helped. I saw a AVR review recently that tested using the CES measurements, so hopefully it will begin tricking into the mfg test as well. I won't hold my breath.

Charles, you don't need to hold your breath; the FTC regs governing the power specs of home entertainment amplifiers have been in effect for over 20 years. As I've pointed out previously, this is the one area of audio that's subject to mandatory standards and where we can feel confident that the claims are true. The irony is that many of the same audio enthusiasts who believe or are at least willing to take seriously unsubstantiated claims about the "sound" of players, amplifiers and even pieces of wire view with extreme suspicion the official power rating numbers. When we read, for example, "100 watts, 20Hz-20KHz, maximum 0.08% THD, 8 ohms(FTC)" that's what we get, as the independent lab tests have consistently shown.

"CES" in an audio context usually refers to the Consumer Electronics Show, so you may be referring to the CEA(Consumer Electronics Association)suggested voluntary standard(unlike the mandatory FTC regs)for car amplifier specs that was published about 5-6 years ago, and which some use. Again, stronger mandatory rules for home amplifiers have long been in effect.

It's just the specs are written a lttle misleadingly. Too many people think they are getting a 700W all channels driven amp, when in fact they are only getting 100W on one channel with 1/8th power on the rest.