The hype and pseudo-science has been going on for some years now. Those "peak music power" and other dubious ratings seem to be what attract many people. Even if the ratings are genuine and consistent, so many just don't realize that the difference between, say, a 50W amplifier and a 75W one is not all that great anyway, and could easily be wiped out by differences in speaker efficiencies on different setups.

On the distortion, I have to laugh at some of the advertising and misguided beliefs. That amp which boasts 0.005% THD must be twice as good as the one listing 0.01% right? Nevermind the fact that nobody will hear 0.01% distortion in the first place, of that the speakers will add to that manyfold.

They sure like gimmicks too. Remember when those cheap "stack" units in the 1980s all had to have a row of LEDs to indicate power output? So many were just numbered 1 through 9 giving a meaningless reading. Others tried to look technical by putting dB labels on them, but with no reference level and absolutely no calibration so that a 3dB difference on the indicator could actually be almost anything in reality!

Oh yes, and a few months back I saw a little "mini-HiFi" unit in town which proudly proclaimed that it had a "Variable Attenuation Control System" incorporated. Sounds so much more impressive than just calling it a volume control, doesn't it? [Linked Image]


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 05-08-2005).]