[Vintage-Audio] Re Audio Power Rating Systems

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Hi All,

Just wondering.

The first real audio power rating system I remember is the infamous 'peak 
power'. Sure that speaker could handle 250 watts, but only for 1/10 of a 
second before it blew itself back into the atoms from whence it had come! 
Then in the late sixties, I think, somebody, Sony?, created the IHF - 
Institute of High Fidelity rating system. It was far more accurate and 
seemed quite well accepted.

then what happened? Did it change to RMS - Root Mean Square rating? Or was 
it the continuous RMS rating?

Perhaps one of you wizards of all things wire can tell me what the IHF 
system was based on and why it was abandoned for the RMS rating instead?

Thank you.

Duane Fischer, W8DBF
dfischer at usol.com