What do these car amplifier specs actually mean?

Question

Can somebody please explain them to mein a bit more detail? i'm just wondering what the rms thing is and what the peak is and stuff...

US Audio (USA504E), 2ohm stable operation, 4x50watt RMS/600watts, 4 channel MOSFET power amp.

Answer 1

RMS is the only wattage number you look at. It's the average amount that it's giving out. The peak is the most wattage it will put out in a burst (it's a split second usually at a frequency you can't even hear). An excellent way to scam people that don't know. 2 ohm stable means that it can push resistance loads up to 2 ohms. two 4 ohm speakers wired in parallel gives you 2 ohms. It also means that when you bridge the amp (make 2 channels one) you can push a 4 ohm lad (usually for subwoofers). The advantage of the lower ohm load is more power (around 4x100). Mosfet is the power chips it uses (I've never seen a non mosfet amp).

Answer 2

RMS power vs. peak power

Don't be confused by "peak power" and "RMS power" ratings. Simply put, RMS wattage ratings are a measure of continuous power — while different manufacturers will use somewhat different methods to come up with these figures, it's usually a more "real-life" rating of your equipment's capabilities. Peak power, on the other hand, doesn't try to reflect realistic operation. It's simply a measure of how much power can be generated or handled for very short bursts.

Many manufacturers emphasize peak power ratings by stamping these ratings on their subwoofers and amplifiers.

peak power ratings are not realistic measures of the true power capabilities of the equipment. By comparing the RMS power rating of the sub and the RMS power rating of the amp, you'll have the tools you need to pick the right equipment.

2-ohm stable

the lower the final impedance (ohms) at the amp the easier/cheaper it is to power but the lower the sound quality

common impedances at the amp are .5, 1, 2, 4, and 8ohms

if an amp is 2-ohm stable it means that it can power speakers/subs wired at that impedance and above-- if you wire your speakers up to an impedance below 2ohms the amp will run hot, and send out a distorted signal to the speakers (the main cause of speaker/sub damage) and the amp will constantly go into "protection" (turn itself off) to protect itself and the speakers

4x50watts

first number is the number of channels or how many speakers it can power (a mono block amp {one channel} can power more than one sub just like a 2-channel amp can power more than just two speakers or it can power just one speaker

MOSFET

Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors have a higher switching speed than bipolar transistors and generate very little heat. MOSFETs offer fast response and high efficiency.

note: that amp is not CEA-compliant so you would be lucky to get half of the advertised RMS wattage and more than likely it would be distorted (the main cause of speaker damage)

CEA-complaint means that it has been tested and produces or exceeds the advertised RMS wattage with minimum distortion-- here are the CEA-compliant brands

Alpine

Bazooka

Blaupunkt

Clarion

Eclipse

Infinity

JBL

JL Audio

JVC

Kenwood

Kicker

MTX

Pioneer

Polk Audio

PPI

Rockford Fosgate

Sony

if you dont know the real RMS wattage its impossible to PROPERLY match your speakers with an amp, and its important- heres why

If you send too much power to your speaker, you risk damaging it. The cone of the speaker and the mechanical parts that make it move may break under the stress. Surprisingly, too little power can also damage your speaker — in fact, it's actually more common than damage caused by overpowering.

When the volume is turned up and the amp doesn't have enough power, the signal becomes distorted, or "clipped." This distorted signal can cause parts of the speaker to overheat, warp and melt. Not good!

You don't have to match speaker and amp wattages exactly. An amp with a higher output than the speaker's rating won't necessarily damage the speaker — just turn the amp down a bit if you hear distortion from the speaker and don't run the speaker at extremely loud volumes for lengthy periods. Likewise, you'll be OK with a lower powered amp if you keep the volume down and don't feed a distorted signal to the speaker.

Answer 3

4 x 50 watt rms is how much power it can put out day in day out so 50w x 4 channels. 600w is max combined output of roughly when it goes BANG !!!!! and like all electrical components, they run on smoke, and once you let the smoke out it wont work anymore......

2ohms is not so stable most stereos run 4 ohms home stereos run 8ohm

Answer 4

4x50 RMS

RMS is the "Root Mean Square"... basically it's the power that your amplifier can put out at a solid level.

600W Max

Max is the maximum output that the ampifier will hit during loud runs in music, it's never at this level for more than a second or two..

4 Channel MOSFET

Tells you that it's a 4 channel amplifier, and that it uses mosfets to cool them. MOSFETs are a transistor that are used to dissipate heat, usually to the outter case of the amplifier.

2 Ohm Stable

This means that you can wire a 2 ohm load onto the amplifier (Running 2 speakers in series will do this).  This is how you will get your 50W RMS is with a 2 ohm load, with a 4 ohm load you will only get 25W RMS.  

Running in 2 ohms will not hurt your speakers, they will still see a 4 ohm load, it's the amplifier that sees 2 ohm.