Specs are a very small piece of the puzzle. Your ears will give you definitive measurements. They have a direct link to the brain.
what's going on with specs?
I'm having a hard time buying a power amp. I'm in the 5-10k range and whae I'm finding are things like PS Audio BHK 250. Specs show 250@8ohms and 500@4ohms. Then the Parasound JC5 shows 400@8ohms and 600@4ohms. Looks like PS Audio doubles at 4 ohms which makes me think it's a stronger amp until I notice the PS Audio spec is at 1 kilohertz and the Parasound measures 20 to 20 kilohertz. That is very confusing and I don't understand why PS Audio doesn't give full power measurements. Anyone with knowledge of these two brands or others. I have the Elac Vela 409s to drive.
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People who post this question don't consider that specs are into a resistor. Relation to a speaker [cables included] load: LESS THAN ZERO. ONLY SONICS MATTER. And for once I agree w MC. "If it measures good and sounds bad, –– it is bad. If it sounds good and measures bad, –– you've measured the wrong thing." –– Daniel R. von Recklinghausen, HHScott |
Specs are interesting. I heard two stereo amps from different with different wattage ratings - one 450 watts per channel and the other 250 watts per channel. Conducting a listening test and using my iPhone to keep the volume at 80db there was two surprises 1. I expected the larger wattage am to have more dynamic impact - it didn't 2. The volume number on the preamp was about 10 units higher on the 450 watt amp (in comparison to the 250 watt amp). The good news is then the only thing that matters is how it sounds (and I guess the price might matter). |
^Don’t confuse gain with power. The devil is in the details. It’s important to compare apples to apples. Specs are presented as an equation; change variable / change application. Specs can offer tremendous insight into correlations, and be invaluable towards eliminating the irrelevant. Specs quantify the specifics. Specs allow for pertinent short lists. Without specs we don’t have quality and/or consistency. Specs don’t assess the gestalt. |
- 42 posts total