Yep. I suspect that rather than a deliberate effort at deception this is a case of a simple mistake, and as you say I don't really see that it's significant from a practical viewpoint, although it does IMO need to be clairified and/or corrected.

In HTF there is a quote where what appears to be one of the Outlaw engineers kinda seems to denigrate this thread or one like it, calling the participants 'armchair engineers'. I find this a bit disturbing when all we're basicly pointing out is that perpetual motion is, in fact, still unattainable.


Charlie


[Fixed a typo]


[This message has been edited by charlie (edited March 25, 2002).]

I noticed that in the manual, the maximum draw is indicated to be the same, 1800 watts, for both the 755 and 770. Interesting...

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

Guys, this phenomena is not limited to the Outlaw amps. The Rotel RMB-1095 is rated at 5 X 330 W @ 4 Ohms. It is listed as 1600 W max. power consumption (1200 W on net but that is a misprint). It seems unlikely that Outlaw would get into trouble over this from anybody since it seems to be common practice.

I tried that one once too - "But dad, everyones doing it...."

Didn't work for me.

I suspect the original poster was laboring under a misconception that somehow the VA of the amp was of concern, and we've pretty much strayed way off that line of thinking.

The 770 looks good, I just hate to see something this unimportant get all blown out of proportion. Better to fix it and move on.


Charlie

Charlie, is HTF hometheaterforum? I'll take on the Outlaw engineers! This is simple math -- you only need the equation V=IR or P=VI. You don't even need to know the efficiency of the amplifier or anything at all about the design of the amplifier.

I do know that many companies also follow this practice, but it's still not right.

I also know that power doesn't equate to sound quality -- my Creek 30watt per channel sounds better than my 100+ watt per channel Onkyo (in two channel mode), even though the Creek isn't supposed to drive 4 ohm speakers. I have no doubt that this amp sounds pretty good, especially for the price range. I just would like some realistic specs, because people who don't know anything are going to say "the outlaw amp is better because it's rate to produce 300 watts into 7 channels," when the amp can't do this (continuous power, driving 4 ohms, that is). We have to wait until someone actually tests it to see what the real specs are. Then, we have to wait until someone tests a competitor.

As long as this amp isn't like some of the receivers that are rated at 100wpc into 5 channels but that only test to 45wpc into 5 channels @ 8ohms.

As someone else has previously pointed out, this rating is probably not with a duty cycle of 100%. I'd have to guess that amplifier power outputs probably have some "standard" duty cycle that they're rated at.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

The FTC regulates this. Here is the newest set of amendments I could find. The federal government has this rule for a good reason.

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2000/12/amplifierrulefrn.pdf

Charlie

Outlaw recommends, at a minimum, a 20 amp circuit be provided for these new amplifiers.

If the unit connects with a plug that is of a design for 15 amp service this would seem to be an issue. A 20 amp plug won't fit into a 15 amp recepticle.


Charlie

I'm sorry, but this I don't understand.