A lot has been spoken about objective vs subjective performace.
As a reviewer I have to be carefull not to let one bias over power any other.
Typically an amp for example that measures reasonably well will sound reasonably good.
There are however thos times when the two dont meet.
When this happens I have to try find a reason, and the one that crops up most often is that the claimes measurements themselves are suspect.
These could include signal to noise ratios with no weighting scale, or reference mentioned.
Power ratings that defy laws.ie amplifiers rated to deliver 7 x 100 watts RMS but fused with a 2 amp fuse, and maximum current consumption rated at 500 watts. There are also damping factors so high that they defy all logic.
Then we get to the marketing hype around a 100 watt amplifier being able to play louder than one that is rated at 95 watts.
Experience has taught me that a 70 watt High current amlifier will often play louder and cleaner than a 140 watt amp (theoretically 3db louder) that is purely voltage driven and has a puny power supply.
Of course spec on speakers can be even more misleading and I've seen a subwoofer :
that used a 6 -inch driver and that was rated to play down to (if I remember) 25 or 30 Hz. A closer look revealed that this low end was at -16dB. Assuming a 12dB per octave roll off we can work things back and find that this so called subs -3dB point was closer to 60Hz than its rated response.
SO the question is, how often do specifications tell more lies than the truth, and when these are suspect, whats better, to listen, or to assume the specs are accurate?
As a reviewer I have to be carefull not to let one bias over power any other.
Typically an amp for example that measures reasonably well will sound reasonably good.
There are however thos times when the two dont meet.
When this happens I have to try find a reason, and the one that crops up most often is that the claimes measurements themselves are suspect.
These could include signal to noise ratios with no weighting scale, or reference mentioned.
Power ratings that defy laws.ie amplifiers rated to deliver 7 x 100 watts RMS but fused with a 2 amp fuse, and maximum current consumption rated at 500 watts. There are also damping factors so high that they defy all logic.
Then we get to the marketing hype around a 100 watt amplifier being able to play louder than one that is rated at 95 watts.
Experience has taught me that a 70 watt High current amlifier will often play louder and cleaner than a 140 watt amp (theoretically 3db louder) that is purely voltage driven and has a puny power supply.
Of course spec on speakers can be even more misleading and I've seen a subwoofer :
that used a 6 -inch driver and that was rated to play down to (if I remember) 25 or 30 Hz. A closer look revealed that this low end was at -16dB. Assuming a 12dB per octave roll off we can work things back and find that this so called subs -3dB point was closer to 60Hz than its rated response.SO the question is, how often do specifications tell more lies than the truth, and when these are suspect, whats better, to listen, or to assume the specs are accurate?
