Queries regarding the power consumption figures of the AVRs

[vasishta.sushant]

I am planning to get myself a new HT setup. Have thought of starting up with a receiver and a pair of floor-standers initially and then I'll ramp it up later to a full 5.1/7/1 system.

Since i am more of a music listener I am going for this kind of setup initially.

I could have chosen a stereo power amplifier with a pair of decent floor-standers but I do not want to miss on the scalability.

The only option left is getting a multichannel receiver and a pair of speakers.

My only worry is the power consumption figures. Its strange that no one here really seems to be noting/questioning about them.

From what I've collected, the power consumption of a decent AVR is in the tune of 450W and a stereo amplifier costs like 100W.

This 450W is like 3 times what my HDTV consumes and nearly double of what my HTPC consumes (at average load). Adding them all together, I can project the figures to a decent power consumption bill at the month end.

This thing might not affect most of the guys around but just for GREEN minded folks like me (alright I just circumvented tagging myself as frugal), can you guys recommend any AVR that is really power efficient and doesn't screw up my power consumption bill ?

Even if you guys do not have any suggestions, what would be your thoughts on this power consumption thing.

Kindly do comment.

 

[NetFreak]

450 W is "peak" power consumption. I.e. when all 7 channels are being driven at reference volumes.

If you are using only 2 channels, power consumption would be significantly lower.

 

[Kittu]

450 W is "peak" power consumption. I.e. when all 7 channels are being driven at reference volumes.

If you are using only 2 channels, power consumption would be significantly lower.

What about the time when it is power on / off ? Does it take the peak power or is there a minimum ?

 

[vasishta.sushant]

Thanks.

I thought so but do we have any information about the actual power consumption figures ?

 

[NetFreak]

What about the time when it is power on / off ? Does it take the peak power or is there a minimum ?

When turned off by remote / switch on AVR, it is on "standby" mode. Only function that are active are:

1. Remote (so that it can be turned on by remote)
2. HDMI Passthrough

Power consumption is less than 1 Watt in this mode.

I thought so but do we have any information about the actual power consumption figures ?

Don't have actual figures. You can buy "clamp type" multimeter to measure actual amperage / voltage and wattage.

 

[Kittu]

When turned off by remote / switch on AVR, it is on "standby" mode. Only function that are active are:

1. Remote (so that it can be turned on by remote)
2. HDMI Passthrough

Power consumption is less than 1 Watt in this mode.




Don't have actual figures. You can buy "clamp type" multimeter to measure actual amperage / voltage and wattage.

Well what I meant was when moved from Standby to On mode using remote/AVR button howmuch power does it take ?

Is there a way to measure this ?

 

[NetFreak]

Only sure way s to use actual multimeter that can measure wattage. Usually electricians don't have it (its called clamp type meter).

EDIT: Found one of the reviews mention this value to be around 50 to 90 watts

power-on consumption with no audio signal hovers right around 88 Watts in the default >6ohm speaker setting. In the standby state its consumption is below what our equipment can measure so it can be assumed to be less than 2 Watts which is excellent! As we expect, when switched to the >4ohm speaker setting idle consumption drops to just 56 Watts.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/receivers/469-a-secrets-receiver-review.html?start=5

 

[vasishta.sushant]

Thats freaking too much, even when nothing is going on

Thanks for that link brother.

 

[NetFreak]

HT components are power drains in general. My plasma alone draws ~300 watts. And then you will have things like subs / dvd players etc.

Total consumption (nominal not peak) would be around 1 KWH. Around 10 Rs per hour (rates as per Mumbai, elsewhere it would be lower).

 

[vasishta.sushant]

In that case, isn't it better to get a 2 channel system (considering my case).

Another query: If I look at Onkyo 3300 with passive sub and the 5500 with active sub, seems like the consumption of 5500 will be much more because of the active sub. Ain't it ?

 

[cmsajith]

I can understand your frustration about the power consumption. But physics says Energy cannot be created, can only be transferred from one form to other. So for pushing the speaker cones to our desired level we have to convert the electrical energy into mechanical energy, no way out..

Any idea how much your powerful HTPC consumes?

 

[hemantwaghe]

BTW some puarists like class A ampsand any "green" person will faint looking at class A power consumption!!

 

[NetFreak]

In that case, isn't it better to get a 2 channel system (considering my case).

Don't think a 5.1 or 7.1 system will consume more power (if only 2 channels are being used). Manual configuration or Auto (Audyssy / YPAO etc) would set output on rest of channels to 0 dB.

But a 2 channel system can deliver more power to two channels and be pushed higher.

 

[vasishta.sushant]

I can understand your frustration about the power consumption. But physics says Energy cannot be created, can only be transferred from one form to other. So for pushing the speaker cones to our desired level we have to convert the electrical energy into mechanical energy, no way out..

Any idea how much your powerful HTPC consumes?

I have an AMD based system. Its not actually an HTPC but a full fledged gaming PC which has been toned down to consume as little power as possible.
Few optimizations that I did are:
1) Disabled two cores of the quad core Phenom X4 925 (Chosen 925 only because of its lower TDP), reduced VCore, using AMD Cool n Quite.
2) Specially bought ATI 5770 for its 18W on idle power consumption.
3) Using SSD as main OS drive and WD Green as the storage drive.

The whole system on idle would never cross 150W mark.

Even while buying my HDTV, power consumption played a major role. I wanted a plasma but only because they are power guzzlers, I opted for the LCD. And even in the LCDs I opted for the one that was eating min power.

 

[cmsajith]

I have an AMD based system. Its not actually an HTPC but a full fledged gaming PC which has been toned down to consume as little power as possible.
Few optimizations that I did are:
1) Disabled two cores of the quad core Phenom X4 925 (Chosen 925 only because of its lower TDP), reduced VCore, using AMD Cool n Quite.
2) Specially bought ATI 5770 for its 18W on idle power consumption.
3) Using SSD as main OS drive and WD Green as the storage drive.

The whole system on idle would never cross 150W mark.

Even while buying my HDTV, power consumption played a major role. I wanted a plasma but only because they are power guzzlers, I opted for the LCD. And even in the LCDs I opted for the one that was eating min power.

For idle its 150w, what about while running.. atleast with half load?

 

[vasishta.sushant]

I am sorry I should have written On Medium Load (foobar running / KMPlayer running), few webpages open, it shouldn't cross the 150W mark.

Only at full load, like in gaming etc the consumption shoots up.