The power rating on the back only gives us a max, it doesn't give a clue to the efficiency of the amplifier, or even how much the digital circuitry draws. For instance, DSPs and other internal processors may draw 100W just on their own.
Rule of thumbs are great, but may not apply in all cases.
It's despicable that A/V manufacturers have been allowed to continue to use false advertising to plug their products for years and years. It's not like testing equipment is too expensive. Fact is there's nothing wrong with a 30Wpc receiver. That's plenty of power in many cases, as long as it's well designed, when you consider that the typical loud speaker can generate 90+ dB of sound volume (at 1m) from just 1W. Even when you double that a few times to compensate for listening distance, that's still plenty loud for most people (you guys are not most people).
Years ago I owned a consumer-level Sony receiver that they rated at over 100W per channel, and while it couldn't actually come close, my problem with it wasn't a lack of loudness - my problem was that the thing added a lot of hiss whenever the sound processor was enabled.
Rule of thumbs are great, but may not apply in all cases.
It's despicable that A/V manufacturers have been allowed to continue to use false advertising to plug their products for years and years. It's not like testing equipment is too expensive. Fact is there's nothing wrong with a 30Wpc receiver. That's plenty of power in many cases, as long as it's well designed, when you consider that the typical loud speaker can generate 90+ dB of sound volume (at 1m) from just 1W. Even when you double that a few times to compensate for listening distance, that's still plenty loud for most people (you guys are not most people).
Years ago I owned a consumer-level Sony receiver that they rated at over 100W per channel, and while it couldn't actually come close, my problem with it wasn't a lack of loudness - my problem was that the thing added a lot of hiss whenever the sound processor was enabled.
