200W is a lie...

Romeo Wolf

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So I found a video of someone disassembling the Aiwa Exos-9, and it's kind of a shock, considering they claim it to be 200W. But...is that true?

For my taste, it definitely doesn't sound like it. With the EQ off, to me it sounds thin, with like no low-end punch unless you seriously rack up the volume. With the EQ to my taste (or yours but with bass maxed) it becomes distorted even at low volumes on such bass heavy music. Put your ear close to it and there's a possibility the voice coil is hitting the magnet. Around 45/60Hz it distorts worst because those frequencies are more boosted than others. Upon removing the speakers after a sound test (no EQ) it becomes a surprise to the actual wattage. My father doesn't believe it only has so much wattage, which kinda sucks as there is no way a 6.5" woofer would handle 200W. But here:
 
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Power specs are nothing to worry about, for sure -
$300 seems like a lot of money for a fancy boombox - but I'm not in the market, its not something for folks like me!
 
Power specs are nothing to worry about, for sure -
$300 seems like a lot of money for a fancy boombox - but I'm not in the market, its not something for folks like me!
And hardcore audiophiles/bassheads like me.
 
I’m pretty sure that 200 Watts is the full tilt claim and not continuous wattage , with that said in the video it shows the ohms the speakers are rated at and the wattage they can handle so when you hear the distortion your definitely hearing the speakers being over driven . Doesn’t mean that speaker is bad just means it’s been pushed over it’s limit as all speakers have a limit .

Audiofreak71
 
I’m pretty sure that 200 Watts is the full tilt claim and not continuous wattage , with that said in the video it shows the ohms the speakers are rated at and the wattage they can handle so when you hear the distortion your definitely hearing the speakers being over driven . Doesn’t mean that speaker is bad just means it’s been pushed over it’s limit as all speakers have a limit .

Audiofreak71
They claim "Continuous 200W" but since the 5 speakers are rated 20W the unit is actually half the power all can take combined.
 
The specs are probably accurate -- it's possible to achieve significant power levels out of the "chip amp" integrated circuit Class-D circuits used in these and similar devices -- but often only at relatively high distortion levels. It could be 10% or higher distortion at a few watts, and probably more at full volume, and it will be inclined to clip significantly if the volume knob is cranked beyond that.

Also, it's almost certainly not powerful enough to drive the small single subwoofer element to chest-thumping levels without the speaker either being very lightweight and prone to mechanical distortion, or the amp being driven into serious clipping at relatively low volume, or both.
 
Well it all depends on the engineers and the budget they had from the company, some products from Japan have been crappy as well just like other companies. I’m not familiar with aiwa but when I hear them mentioned I do think of a budget product . The saying you get what you pay for more than not is true but occasionally a nice score comes about . Your learning right now and that’s a good thing , you’ll be very knowledgeable if you keep this up over the years .

Audiofreak71
 
The specs are probably accurate -- it's possible to achieve significant power levels out of the "chip amp" integrated circuit Class-D circuits used in these and similar devices -- but often only at relatively high distortion levels. It could be 10% or higher distortion at a few watts, and probably more at full volume, and it will be inclined to clip significantly if the volume knob is cranked beyond that.

Also, it's almost certainly not powerful enough to drive the small single subwoofer element to chest-thumping levels without the speaker either being very lightweight and prone to mechanical distortion, or the amp being driven into serious clipping at relatively low volume, or both.
It's pretty obvious there's not many portable Bluetooth Speaker that can take all that. The teufel rockster is one of them as it has a 15" woofer, but you can't import it to the U.S. the Devialet Phantom is a definite, if only it was battery powered and not so overpriced.
 
When it's turned off, it's just as powerful as 10,000 watt amplifier that is also turned off....:rolleyes:

When will the hi fi public ever realize the only equipment whose published specs having any pretensions to being anything close to accurate or meaningful are for two channel (stereo) components ONLY. Any equipment not falling in that category is not required to be rated according to FCC rule of November 1, 1974 governing amplifier output power ratings, ie: RMS Continuous power, across a specified frequency range, no more than x% THD with BOTH CHANNELS driven.

Multichannel AVRs, multichannel amplifiers, portable/personal sound systems & car audio equipment can otherwise be "rated" in any way the manufacturer chooses more or less.

While some equipment falling into the latter categories may be rated under the same standards as 2 channel, the majority is not! It all depends on the manufacturer.
 
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I had one of those little 200 watt EQ/boosters a while back that claimed to be 200 watt output. This was about 30 years ago and I do remember it very well because I remember the 200 watt claim on the box but never mentioned any specs.

It did work but only had enough power for puny little 5inch 5 watt speakers when the volume was low to pretty normal listening volumes but once you started to crank it up, distortion to the max.

I think it was something like 10 years later that I actually slapped it on a distortion analyzer to see what it had.

I think I remember that after 5 watts it started to show massive amounts of distortion and really started to heat up. 10 watts was almost like 90 percent distortion. :wtf:
 
I had one of those little 200 watt EQ/boosters a while back that claimed to be 200 watt output. This was about 30 years ago and I do remember it very well because I remember the 200 watt claim on the box but never mentioned any specs.

It did work but only had enough power for puny little 5inch 5 watt speakers when the volume was low to pretty normal listening volumes but once you started to crank it up, distortion to the max.

I think it was something like 10 years later that I actually slapped it on a distortion analyzer to see what it had.

I think I remember that after 5 watts it started to show massive amounts of distortion and really started to heat up. 10 watts was almost like 90 percent distortion. :wtf:

Kraco?
 
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