165 watts ?????

[SEAWOLF97]

.
I borrowed one of those "Kill-a-Watt" gadgets from the library ...you plug in an appliance and read its draw ....all seem to be right in range.

then I attached it to the main stereo , ran the power conditioner into it and it into the wall ...everything is plugged into the conditioner.

with both BGW amps, the NAD receiver (runs the subs) , preamp and CD player all ON , but at idle it read out 145 watts ....started a CD , turned up the gain to normal levels and the meter went to 165 watts.

do these readings seem reasonable ?

(the amps are 375wpc,125wpc and 40wpc)

[grumpy]

one way to think about it is with the amplifiers being (for discussion's sake)
50% efficient (how much power goes to the speakers vs. dissipated in the
heat sinks)... then the 20w difference (idle to operating) means something
like 5w/ch going to your speakers (which is pretty dang loud if kept at that level).

I doubt a meter like that would pick up impulse/bass transients very well,
so the numbers don't seem that odd to me.

[SEAWOLF97]

if it is correct, its nice to know that I can play tunes on a powerful system for the same op
cost as running 2 light bulbs..

[Eaulive]

I doubt a meter like that would pick up impulse/bass transients very well, so the numbers don't seem that odd to me.

The peaks and transients get their power mosly from the capacitive reserve in the power supply, all you will see is is a reading relative to the average power output of the amplifier. And just like Grumpy said, at low volume most of the consumption of the amp is the idle current of the PA stage and all the other circuitry, the little power consumed by the speakers is drowned in the mass

At higher volumes you will see a consistent current draw.