RMS power rating on speakers: What is an extended amount of time?

Question

Okay so I know that a RMS is the amount of power that a speaker can recieve and reproduce for extended periods of time. But my question is: what is considered an extended amount of time?

Answer 1

Technically, RMS means "Root Mean Square" which is a measure of the actual power sent to the speakers over the entire "cycle", not the peak power as measure by the peak voltage multiplied by the peak current.  "cycle" here refers to one period of a sound wave, which could be very short.

Wikipedia has a page spelling out most of the somewhat ugly details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_power

Answer 2

"RMS" power ratings and "Peak" power ratings are very confusing.  A good rule of thumb is if your amplifier lists "100 watts per channel Peak" then you're only getting about 60 watts RMS.  Just make sure to match RMS amp ratings to RMS speaker ratings and Peak ratings to Peak ratings.

RMS is the power you're getting all day, every day.  Peak power is what the amplifier can achieve for a split-second every now and then.  If your speakers list "100 watts peak" then they can probably only handle 60 watts RMS.

Answer 3

I think your talking about the life of the speaker.....and that depends on the construction of the speaker....Generally rubber surrounds are a big key to the life expectancy of the speaker. Even foam surrounds will last a good while if you stay within their limitations.

Answer 4

It's a constant power handling (RMS).  Max power is what you have to be concerned with.