@peng are you thinking of a different article than the one I linked above (post 11) ?
OP--a bench test of multiple channels driven will give you a better idea of total power the avr may be able to put out....
The one you linked is a good one, but the one I referred to is the one linked below, that's why I cited D+M's way of specifying their "power consumption", based on Gene's comments:
Ever wonder how your favorite manufacturer rates power consumption on their AV receivers and how it relates to maximum available output power to your speakers? The answer may surprise you so read on.
www.audioholics.com
Even then, we have to be careful, to recognize that Gene cited D+M's as an example, so we
cannot assume Sony, Yamaha, and others took the same approach.
I emailed our friends at Sound United to inquire about how they rate the back panel power consumption of their products and the answer was very revealing.
What does the back panel power consumption rating mean?
- Unless it says "max power" don't assume it's a max power rating with all channels driven.
- ·According to Sound United, they follow IEC 62368-1 electrical safety standard for rating power, specifically Annex B for operating conditions and Annex E for test conditions.
- Amplifier to be tested at 1/8th unclipped de-rated power @ 1kHz & rated load impedance.
- Sound United follows IEC 62368-1, the electrical safety standard for audio, video and similar equipment for their AV receivers.
- Follow operating condition under Annex B: Normal operating condition tests, abnormal operating condition tests and single fault condition tests, and the amplifier output conditions defined under Annex E: Test conditions for equipment containing audio amplifiers.
- Measured input current/power under normal operating conditions shall NOT exceed the rated current/power by > 10%. Note: ACD testing is NOT considered a "normal operating" condition.
It is unfortunate that despite Gene's, and others including a few on ASR, had made the point that people should not take the power consumption spec as "maximum", or any particular interpretation, when in reality we really don't have the information, people such as
@danielllle (not his fault obviously) continued to get misled by their half useless specs offered by many manufacturers. The best we could use those figures would be to compare models within the same line by the same manufacturers and perhaps reasonably assume that the ones with higher consumption are more powerful, on all else being equal basis.
For example:
Compare a Sony class AB vs another Sony class AB AVR, the one that has power consumption 240 W will be about/approximately half as power as one that has power consumption 480 W, if both have the same amp channel counts, same class AB, and same processing channel counts. That's it, we
cannot assume anything else, such as the actual power output into speakers. With D+M's, we could in fact try to estimate the AVR's, such as the X4800H's actual output into 8 ohms, because Gene was able to get Sound United/Masimo to confirm the standard and practice they use, to specify their power consumption specs.
