Understood. I'm not clear on that either.
Not always. If they don't state RMS in the spec, it's not safe to assume they mean RMS. Likewise for "continuous" (which isn't the same thing as RMS).
There pretty much aren't any regulations.Not sure just how strict regulations on measuring procedure are though!
There ain't no "have-to's." They have two power amps in the box, each rated at 500 watts. Whether the power supply will let them operate at their rated power is a different question. Back in the day, manufacturers used the phrase "with both channels driven" to indicate that the power supply was up to the task of powering both amps.
If you say so...
One might e.g. give noise specs based on certain weightings or not, which makes a big difference to the figure itself. However, if an amp is rated 500W "continuous" it obviously has to deliver that.
I'm running out of ways to says this.
I'm running out of ways to says this.
There's no "has to." Seriously. Regulations are sparse to non-existent. "Continuous" could mean anything from a couple of seconds to 48 hours (as it did in the old days, when there actually were some meaningful regulations). And it might mean "continuous RMS," "continuous peak," "continuous 'music power,'" or a bunch of other things which can multiply or divide the number by a factor of four or more. And it's common for a built-in amplifier to be rated at a certain number of watts, while the entire assembly (amps/speakers/power supply) has no hope of delivering that power.
The manufacturers hope you'll believe they have to adhere to whatever testing and reporting standards you think there are. Actually, most of them hope you won't think too hard about it, and just accept their specs at face value.
It's the common way to rate power output and I'm quite sure one must use sustained sine wave(s), measuring RMS voltage at the output. But yeah, it doesn't really say much when they leave out both bandwidth and THD. Likely 500 W continuous @ 1 kHz, 1% THD then!
It has no consistent meaning for testing purposes.
That's a bit of an exaggeration. The word "continuous" has no standard, measurable meaning, but it clearly refers to time, which pretty much rules out bananas.It could be continuous....banana, if they so desired?
It's just one common way to rate power. Common usage of a term is one thing; defining it is something different.
There is no "must do" when it comes to this stuff. If you can show where these regulations exist and who enforces them, I'll admit error here.
If it doesn't say RMS, it doesn't mean RMS. "Continuous" and "RMS" don't refer to the same thing, and one term doesn't require the other term's inclusion. RMS refers to a way to average a sine wave over one cycle. At 2 KHz, that's only half a millisecond.
Now you're talkin'! That's the art of manufacturers' specs: don't say much, but sound like you are saying something.
That's one way to test a device: feed a sine wave to its input.
How else can I say it? "Continuous" does not imply an RMS measurement.
I'm running out of ways to say this, too.
"Continuous" doesn't mean "nothing." It's just that the word's meaning is not consistent.Regulations don't intervene; organizations do. And lawyers cost money. What organization is going to waste money to sue a company for misuse of a word that has no consistent meaning in the first place? That's just an expensive way to lose.
It doesn't have "absolutely no meaning." It has a time-based meaning that's not consistent. If you don't believe me, try this. Tell us what the "real" definition of "continuous" is. Not the definition you think it should have, but the actual, official definition. Then identify the organization that created that definition, and who is obligated to follow it.