Cheap but good 2ch amp and 1ch mono

[JeremyC]

The result of a 20% increase in power is barely audible, if at all, especially when considering the dynamic nature of music to begin with.

Yeah Glass is right. Which brings me to this. Why worry about such small diffrences in RMS. Especially since its not enough to hear a diffrence?

[GlassWolf]

most people don't realize just how much power it really takes to make an audible difference. If you have a 1200 watt amp, you'd think a 1500 watt amp would be a big increase in power. After all, that's 300 more watts and that is a substantial amount of power by itself. More than most people have driving their entire front/rear speakers.
When you consider the % increase though, you see it isn't much of a gain and that's why people looking for bigger amps to get more bas are often very disappointed in the results, then blame the amplifiers for being "overrated."

[chodecz]

Thanks for the very good advice and information Glasswolf and JeremyC.

Something doesn't ring true though. I'm confused, either two major amp companies are lying about specs, or your theory is incorrect?

Read page 12 of this Kicker manual...
http://www.kicker.com/06/tech-support/m ... 20Amps.pdf

KX350.2 - RMS wattage @ 14.4VDC is approx. 36% more than @ 12.5VDC.
KX450.2 - RMS wattage @ 14.4VDC is approx. 40% more than @ 12.5VDC.
KX550.2 - RMS wattage @ 14.4VDC is approx. 44% more than @ 12.5VDC.

And so on.

Then page 3 of this MTX manual...
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/con2000/Th ... 02_942.pdf

Thunder342 - Dynamic wattage @ 14.4VDC is approx. 30% more than RMS @ 12.5VDC.
Thunder502 - Dynamic wattage @ 14.4VDC is approx. 28% more than RMS @ 12.5VDC.
Thunder942 - Dynamic wattage @ 14.4VDC is approx. 25% more than RMS @ 12.5VDC.

It seems the Kicker's increase in efficiency with the higher model, whereas the opposite occurs in the MTX amps.

I'm not saying your theory is wrong in anyway Glasswolf, maybe newer amps are more efficient then the ones of those when your theory was made. Don't get me wrong please Glasswolf, your a genius when it comes to this subject, but I would like to know who is right in this case, its probably the amp companies exaggerating results. But take a couple of minutes of your time to look at those manuals and tell me what you think is the reason for the difference in what your saying and what the amp companies claim.

Thanks for your time.

[GlassWolf]

the trick here is to figure out how they define "dynamic power"

[chodecz]

Well for the MTX example, yes.

But what about Kicker, who claim RMS figures for both input voltages.

[GlassWolf]

looking at that pdf I have no idea where they get those power ratings.
The 4 ohm 14.4VDC rating is CEA rated, but no mention of rating standard for the other specs.
Only way to produce more power like that is to draw more current (more than 1:1 with the voltage)