US FTC proposed eliminating its amplifier power rule

mhardy6647

https://www.stereophile.com/content/ftc-proposes-eliminating-its-amplifier-rule

Politics aside I mention this because it gives a pretty good if abstracted summary of the '74 FTC regs (and why they happened), the 2000 update, and even reminds us that there's no such thing as an RMS watt.

I don't think this is a positive development for the "hifi industry" (if there still is one).

Emlyn

Interesting and funny at the same time. It was a request for the public's comments on an existing FTC regulation that's done every ten years. Only one person responded and had their comment posted. If FTC was going to actually repeal the regulations it would have taken a lot longer and the environment for such things changed on January 20 anyway.

The thing that was different than usual back in December was a statement from the FTC making a political statement about the need to deregulate everything and pointedly questioning whether the amplifier rule was still needed or whether some other industry body could certify amplifier testing and ratings. They questioned whether amplifier design was so different now than when the FTC last considered the amplifier rule that the regulations could be eliminated similar to how the regulation on vacuum tubes was eliminated for television sets because technology changed. Methinks the person who said that doesn't really understand the audio industry or that people are still using vacuum tubes for amplifiers and that the fundamentals of amplification for audio signals haven't really changed for decades.