In Mexico there are home stereos that reach up to 13,000 watts. Why aren't there in the U.S?

Question

The stereo I saw was an LG 13,000 watts with 1,200 rms. It had blue leds on the sides 2 subwoofers. It also came with a 1GB mp3 player. If you find it can you tell me where you found it. Also give me the web link.

Answer 1

In America, the number of watts a stereo can advertise is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission.  In other words, manufacturers cannot lie about how many watts a stereo has.  They have to be more truthful about the wattt ratings.

In Mexico and other places in the world, there is no regulation on what advertisers can claim, so they lie.

The real power rating of the stereo is probably less than 1200 watts.  The 13,000 watt rating is overrated and it may be able to produce that amount of power for a tiny fraction of a second.

Answer 2

As mentioned in the US there are regulations that dictate "truth in advertising" but even in the US those are stretched to some degree.

Example the latest Pioneer reciever claims 100 watts per channel for all five channels driven, but when tested by HT Magazine it only showed 34 watts per channel when all channels were driven.  Which is pretty poor.

But you have to remember that at normal listening levels you are only getting 3 or 4 watts at any given time.  If your speakers are rated 92db, it only takes one watt at one meter (three feet) to drive the speaker at 92db But sound is measured in multiples of doubling itself per meter and per decibel.  You literally need to double the watts per 3db of sound.

But sound is also affected by room dimensions, acoustics, sitting distance and sensitivity of the speaker.  But watts do need to be doubled on any one of these.  hence why a good reciver is rated at least 100 watts per channel to achieve a decent sound level in an average sized room.

Also higher watts are used mostly for peaks in sound.  So even though your speaker is chugging along at a few watts and you are getting descent sound, when watching a movie and an explosion comes on then for a one or two seconds, your watts may jump into 70 or 80 range to handle that loud explosion and only for a second or two.

If we actually heard 13,000 watts, I think our heads would explode and our speakers would surely melt at 13,000 watts.  Heck high end sperate amplifiers that cost a few thousand are rated at 200 watts per channel x 5 which is only 1,000 watts total. Now remember that high end amp will never use all that wattage at one time.  Ever.

I would be leary of any advertising in Mexico.  Much like the "Rolex" watch you buy for 10 bucks in Mexico, it is not what it seems.

Answer 3

Well, there's the Goldmund Media Room: http://www.goldmund.com/goldmund-media-r...

It's not a single stereo unit like it sounds like you're talking about, though.  

Frankly, I have a hard time a single piece stereo (with a whopping big 1 GB mp3 player) is really 13,000 watts.  Do you have any idea how much power that is?  13,000 watts on a 120 volt household electrical system will draw over 108 amps.  Some older homes are only wired for 100 amps while most modern homes are wired for 200 amps.  Most household circuits are 15 amps.  You would need a dedicated breaker box just to run that stereo.  It sounds to me like the specs on that stereo are EXTREMELY exaggerated.   Even if you doubled the amperage on a household circuit to 30 amps, you're  going to max out at 3,600 watts.

I can't find anything on LG's website about a stereo like. I think whatever you found bogus, just like the Rolex I bought down there for $10 (Yes, I knew it was bogus, but I thought it was amusing.).  LG does make a 1,000 watt system, btw.

Answer 4

I agree with everyone else here.  Dont believe everything you see, ESPECIALLY in Mexico.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is (real Rolexes for $10?!?!).  

The most powerful stereo that I have personally seen was a McIntosh setup with two 1200 watt monoblock amplifiers (MC1201) and two XCS1K speakers for a total of 148 drivers!!!  The setup cost $90,000 (Speakers were $30,000 each, the amplifiers were $11,000 each, and the rack with the CD reader, decoder, preamp, etc cost about $8,000).  They had the amps set to 1 watt each and they were surprisingly loud.  Probably about 50-60 decibles in volume.  I can only imagine what they would sound like turned all the way up to 1,200 watts would be like.  Maybe not loud but would certainly hit those bass notes pretty hard and cleanly.

I am sure there are more powerful systems out there though.  But from what you are saying, I am thinking that its a false advertisement.

Answer 5

The watts or power reported by manufacturers(Importers, distributors) here in the US are effective of RMS watts that the system can produce and sustain at certain Total Harmonic Distortion level, usually at 0.1% or even lower. There are some TV manufacturers here in the US who claims high pwered RMS output like 100watts, but if you look at the THD(total harmonic Distortion level) it is at 10%, audio that is noisy or distorted, compared to audio equipment who reports them at thd less than 0.1%. In Mexico, and other countires, they report power output, not in RMS, but peak output at even a millisecond and at THD at higher than 10%. If you measure the effective watts or RMS of that Mexican system and at say 1% THD, it is probably about 10 to 15 watts, so don't get caught up in those numbers. It is not representative of real information.