Audio Precision Amplifier Testing Methods Class

At this year's 2008 Audioholics Expo we invited Jonathan Novick, Director of Sales for Audio Precision to talk about the measurements behind more meaningful multi-channel amplifier standards. For those of you unfamiliar with Audio Precision, they are the world’s leading manufacturer of high end audio test equipment. Every serious A/V magazine uses their equipment for evaluating amplifier performance and taking low level and high level measurements.

For as long as amplifiers have existed, specifications have dominated the PR and marketing material generated by manufacturers. Additionally, consumers have flooded the online forums to fluff their features and discuss who has the biggest"unit". Unlike some other aspects of AV measurements and testing, amplifier measurements are complex, and there is more than one test that needs to be taken in order to derive any truly useful information about a product. Even a trained eye will have difficulty determining which measurements and measurement techniques are most relevant. We see this as being most important in power measurements for home theater receivers and multi-channel amplifiers.

Jonathan outlines several different aspects of amplifier measurements and steers us towards what's important and some of the challenges in deriving meaningful information. While AP doesn't come out and endorse a particular measurement standard (or produce their own) they do have some very well thought out ideas that do a lot towards ensuring the All Channels Driven (ACD) controversy is put to bed as an outmoded method of determining an amplifier's prowess.

Stay tuned as we await our new APx585 8 Channel HDMI Audio Analyzer to bring amplifier measurements to the next level.