I emailed Dennis Murphy, who's name appears in this document. Here is his reply:
I do enforce the FTC rule, and I also am
the happy owner of an Outlaw 1050. It would not seem to me that the new Outlaw
could produce 7 channels of 300-watt power at 4 ohms continuously in the home.
(That's a personal opinion, not a legal ruling, and it's subject to rebuttal.)
But you should know that the Rule does not really apply unambiguously to
multichannel amplifiers of this type. The Rule requires that all "associated"
channels be driven to full power simultaneously during the FTC rating test.
That part was written in 1974 when the only real "multichannel" amps were
stereo. For those, "associated" channels clearly meant left and right. But
which of the 7 Outlaw channels are "associated"? The Rule doesn't give a clear
answer, and we are not insisting at present that home theater amps be rated with
all channels driven simultaneously. The industry just announced a voluntary
standard, which we are studying. So--it's possible that Outlaw's 4-ohm spec
is a little misleading, but at the same time they would not be violating the
rule just because the unit could not put out all that power simultaneously.
Just thought some of you might be interested. I believe a standard for rating multi-channel amps would work something like running the front 2 or 3 channels at full power, and the remaining channels at 1/8th or 1/3rd power. This presents more of a real world scenario than a "continuous, all channels driven" spec.
Jason
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