[pbateman]

I tried to run a search on this but somehow I could not see anything so it must be a real stupid question. What is the relationship between watts and power, does more watts always equal more power?

This is why I am asking, as posted in another thread I am looking to upgrade my system which has supposedly 800watts of power according to Sony. I am really leaning towards Onkyo after reading this forum, but unlike Sony which likes to "boast" about how many total watts their systems have, Onkyo makes no mention of it.

So take for example the Onkyo 894 which I am leaning towards. If i just add the specs which say it has 110w per channel and 230w on the subwoofer, thats a total of 780watts, which is less than my current system theoretically which has some real tiny satellite speakers..and cost nearly half the amount the Onkyo does.

I know I must be missing something because the speakers on the onkyo look twice or 3 times as big as mine .....anyone care to shed some light? am I not supposed to add the watts per speaker channel and then the subwoofer to get total watts? or is Sony lying about the 800 watts?

Thanks!

 

[Jakeman02]

Different companies measure wattage in different way to get the numbers they think will appeal to customers, especially in the HTIB market. Sony is one that has a reputation for overstating their power ratings and are generally not recommened in the receiver or HTIB market.


If you're in the HTIB market stick with Onkyo or Yamaha. They both include quality receivers that are the equivilant to what you would get from them if you purchased a seperate receiver. The benifits of this are higher quality parts, more powerful amps and the ability to upgrade around the receiver if you should ever choose to.

 

[YerDugliness]

Here's a link to an answer I posted regarding a question very similar to yours:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...13#post9342113


Look for post # 4.


Hope this explains the issue of watts and power, although it doesn't specifically address youor question regarding adding all the channels' power ratings together. It's a bit more complicated than just that.


Doug