RMS POWER -VS- PEAK POWER

RMS Power refers to Root-Means-Square power. The formula for determining RMS power is 70.7 x Peak Power Rating. The RMS power rating is a measure of continuous power measured in watts and the higher the RMS power means the device is either able to provide or accept the specified power over a significant length of time without fail.

Most suppliers use the PEAK POWER ratings in their specifications. We would prefer not to recommend use of Peak Power when assessing the capabilities of a music product because Peak Power does not reflect a product’s capabilities under normal, every day use. It is simply a measure of how much power can be generated or handled for very short period of time. We believe speakers, subwoofers and amplifiers should be compared using the RMS power ratings to ensure the right product is chosen for the application in question. However, since most suppliers advertise peak power and since most consumers believe that larger numbers are better, we are forced to also advertise peak power.

For example, if a speaker has a RMS wattage rating of 100 watts and a connected amplifier has a RMS wattage rating of 100 watts, the speaker should theoretically, be a perfect match regarding power capabilities and a result in optimum performance from both products. While it is important to not be fooled by Peak Power, Peak to Peak or the erroneous numbers often made up by some suppliers, as long as you have accurate peak power numbers for both the speaker and the amp or receiver, you can still make an accurate comparison using the fornula above. While only true power, under everyday, realistic circumstances actually means anything, if one supplier advertises peak and another advertises RMS it becomes harder to make a comparison without an understanding of both.

At a1Components we try to show both numbers in our specifications when they are available to us from the manufacturer.