HOW THE
NEW FTC
Hl -Fl RULES
AFFECT YOU!
EFFECTIVE November
4, 1974,
new rules
governing the disclo-
sure of
the
output
power
of audio am-
plifiers
and
receivers
go
into
effect.
The new rules were
promulgated by
the Federal Trade
Commission after
several years
of study.
They follow a
long period
of advertising abuse by
some segments
of
the
electronic
home
-entertainment
industry.
Well- known "low -fi" productsclaim-
ing
output
power
capabilities of
as
much as 100 watts
"instantaneous
peak
power (IPP)" have
been
mea-
sured by reputable laboratories
and
have
consistently produced
no
more
than a few watts
of output power per
channel at best. Meaningless terms
such as
IPP,
peak power, peak
music
power, and dynamic music
power
-if
they are
to be used
in
the future
at
all -will have
to be given less typo-
graphical prominence
in
all advertis-
ing media.
Still Room for
Ambiguities.
Will
the FTC rule
end the
confusion about
BY LEONARD
FELDMAN
1.0
0.2
ALL
AMPL FIERS
REFERENCED TO
8 -OHM LOADS
C
-
/ '
I
i
/
A
10
20
30
40
50
POWER
OUTPUT /CHANNEL
(WATTS)
Fig. 1. When
all three
amplifiers are measured
the
same
way,
"lower
spec"
amplifier A turns
out
to be the
highest
powered unit
among the three.
60
70
NOVEMBER 1974 39
Comments to this Manuals