Choosing speakers with right watts

When buying speakers or amplifiers, we get tempted with the big watts wrote in big fancy letters on the boxes. And when we start to use it, we wouldn’t get the result that we wanted. If we look closely at the big watts written on the box, we could see four small letters right after watts. Those are PMPO.

So who is this guy, and what is his relation with watts? Let’s have a look.

PMPO or peak music power output is a bogus measurement to make sure the speaker looks powerful.
Generally, PMPO is a marketing ploy to make a set of speakers sound powerful than they are. Never buy speakers based on PMPO measurement. We can see the word PMPO using in advertisements though it has no real value.

However, many people pay attention to PMPO, simply because they have drawn in large numbers. Also, most people need high power speakers. PMPO is not an accurate representation of speakers’ power output. If speakers were to sustain the PMPO level of power, it would most likely cause damage to the amplifier.

When it comes to buying new speakers, it is good to know whether they will be right for your setup. Along with physical, knowing the speaker’s real power is useful obviously.

Instead of looking at PMPO, look at RMS when you buy speakers.
RMS stands for Root Mean Square and is used to measure the real power output of speakers/ amplifiers.

I’m not going to the maths of calculating the RMS, because that knowledge doesn’t require to buy new speakers.

If a speaker has an RMS of 100 watts, it can comfortably produce 100 watts for several hours. On the other hand, a speaker with 100 watts PMPO cannot generate 100 watts for over a period.

So, instead of attracted by PMPO watts with more zeros, look for RMS watts. Speakers with good RMS watts can handle audio decently.