Need More power...My Receiver Sucks!

50amps of current driven into an 8ohm speaker load is 20,000 watts. I find this hard to fathom.

Sailor, the key word in that spec is "instantaneous", which sounds good but is essentially meaningless. What it indicates is that the quoted amperage would be available for only a brief instant, probably a few millionths of a second. As Lush correctly pointed out, 50 amperes into an 8ohm load is equivalent to 20,000 watts; this results from the form of Ohm's Law which states that power is equal to current squared times impedance(P=I[squared]R). The quoted spec might have been achieved by using a load impedance of a tenth of an ohm or less(e.g. 50[squared]x .1=250 watts)for a few millionths of a second, and is meaningless in real world operation.

The amount of current needed in a given situation is determined by Dr. Ohm, not by manufacturer hype about "high current". Less than 1 ampere is needed for an average comfortably loud listening level, and even for brief peaks which might take as much as 100 watts, only about 4 amperes are required, as the formula indicates.

John K. wrote: »

Sailor, the key word in that spec is "instantaneous", which sounds good but is essentially meaningless. What it indicates is that the quoted amperage would be available for only a brief instant, probably a few millionths of a second. As Lush correctly pointed out, 50 amperes into an 8ohm load is equivalent to 20,000 watts; this results from the form of Ohm's Law which states that power is equal to current squared times impedance(P=I[squared]R). The quoted spec might have been achieved by using a load impedance of a tenth of an ohm or less(e.g. 50[squared]x .1=250 watts)for a few millionths of a second, and is meaningless in real world operation.

The amount of current needed in a given situation is determined by Dr. Ohm, not by manufacturer hype about "high current". Less than 1 ampere is needed for an average comfortably loud listening level, and even for brief peaks which might take as much as 100 watts, only about 4 amperes are required, as the formula indicates.

Obviously spec’s are all relative; however comparative output between different manufacturer’s products is a valid and legitimate cause. High current amplification is a concept endorsed by virtually all companies recognized as being leaders in this field.

My only point is to recognize that H/K believes in this as well and it’s AVR receivers are designed accordingly. I can guarantee you that my Pioneer Elite does not have neat the amp. output capability of the H/K’s; that does not mean it does not sound good; it does. I simply believe that the H/K AVR’s sound superior. Ultimately you cannot judge sound quality based on what Dr. Ohm says.

I would assume that 50 amps is current DRAW and not output. My Crossfire car audio amp draws a max of 40 amps for 50x4. So that would be a max draw of 6000 amps or roughly 3 of my wifes hairdryers. Sounds about right for a 75x7 amp and as we all know, HK's are usually underrated so you can figure that thing is probably more like 85+x7. Again, this being a max draw, its very VERY unlikely youll ever get anywhere near that.

And for whoever asked about used 2 channels for $200, there is this Onkyo 2 channel new on Crutchfield, 100x2 for $300 shipped.

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=10450&i=580M282&tp=180