I completely agree about the loudspeaker analogy. I've actually done this before. EV claims to have measured the ETX-18SP to output 135db peak with broadband pink noise, whereas I measured around a 130db peak at 50hz.
Anyways, I didn't mean to sound like I had anything against Powersoft or their products, I'm just still confused how they can make a claim that their amps make more power than they consume. If they are indeed referring to peaks in the rating, it still doesn't make any sense that the amp could pull a very very brief peak of 1250 watts, and then somehow turn that brief peak of 1250 watts into a brief peak of 1500 watts and send it to the speaker. I am basing this all off of their specs, which dictate that at 1/8 max output power at 4 ohms (max output power at that resistance being 12000 watts, 1/8 being 1500 watts) the amp is only pulling 1250 watts. At 1/4 max output power at 4 ohms its rated to pull 2500 watts, with 1/4 max output power at that resistance being 3000 watts. Hopefully you can point out my error in this and I can learn from it and stop asking these stupid questions, lol!
The problem with SPL and power measurements is the integration time (response time) used for the measurement.
I bet if you had a SPL meter that could measure the instantaneous peak SPL, it would be higher. That could be up to 10dB higher than the "fast" response time of the meter.
Regarding amps-I will say ONCE AGAIN, it is for a VERY BRIEF period of time-NOT continuously.
The power supply has a "voltage supply" that is constantly being charged up by the wall power. When a short peak comes along-it can "dump" a bunch of that supply into the load (loudspeaker), but it cannot dump it for very long or it "runs out" and the power output drops (as much as 6dB or more)
An analogy is drag racing. There are those people that "believe" those cars can go over 200MPH. BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!
Have you ever seen a drag race in which the cars even drove for a MINUTE-MUCH LESS and HOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The race is 1/4mile long-NOT for an hour.
No-the cars can't do that-but people "say they can". Heck they can't even hold that much fuel------------.
Yes they can do that speed for a very short period of time-but not for very long.
So I dare you to go to a drag strip and try to bring up how they are lying about how fast the cars go-----------------
Music is the same way. Just look at any musical waveform. The "average" level is FAR below what the peaks are. And the peaks are what the large power is for.
It can be as much as 20dB (which is a factor of100 times) greater.
I don't know of any other way to explain it.
NOW-for what it is worth-times have changed. I have an entire wall of my office that is full of old amplifiers that were designed to produce SINE WAVE outputs for long periods and that is how they were rated.
But music is not continuous sine waves. So while the old methods were fine at the time-modern amps are more "realistic" in terms of power.
HOWEVER they are not rated the same. This "peak power" that they can deliver varies quite a bit from model to model. The real answer when it comes down to comparing amps is as follows: "How long can it produce that peak AND what level does it drop down to after that-if driven with a sine wave".
This matters more on some types of music than others.
It is also the "we don't want to talk about that" point that most amp manufacturers try to avoid.
HEY-LET'S JUST TALK ABOUT THE "POWER SPEC" and hope people believe what we are saying.
As I say all the time-you can't answer a complicated question with a simple answer. But people try to all the time