Acronym for peak momentary power output.
This term refers to the maximum power
output
achieved for a speaker system under perfect conditions. PMPO is a controversy
term, as many feel it is used as a marketing ploy, since the perfect conditions
on which PMPO are based are next to impossible to achieve in a home where the
speaker system is set up. The PMPO of a speaker is actually based on the maximum
power output in a very small period of time (microseconds).
Since no musical note lasts for such a short amount of time this peak
performance cannot be reproduced in real usage of the speaker. The PMPO value is
often seen listed as "watts PMPO" on product packaging. PMPO is also called peak
music power output.
The alternative to PMPO is
RMS (Root
Mean Square), which is an accurate mathematical representation of a speaker's
power output, measured over time rather than a few microseconds.
See also
RMS.
