RMS performance
The indication of a Performance in watts (RMS) is the official, international and only meaningful statement. RMS means Root Mean Square and is a complex measurement method that measures performance over the entire relevant frequency range by means of a so-called pink noise (Pink noise) recorded. Pink noise has compared to white noise (White Noise) a drop in level of 3dB/octave upwards, which ensures that the energy content of the noise signal is constant per octave.
Continuous sine wave performance
This measurement method is outdated and only applicable to power amplifiers. Loudspeakers would when measuring the maximum community-led approach easily destroyed with sine tones. Due to the great popularity of the term "continuous sine wave power" it is used occasionally. The values are close to those resulting from the RMS method.
Peak Power/Peak Power
The peak power is the power that one final stage can emit for a short time (in the millisecond range) or which a loudspeaker can cope with for a short time. The peak power is always much higher than the RMS value. However, its importance lies more in the advertising effectiveness than in its expressiveness. At most, it makes sense to compare the ratio of peak power: RMS power. Higher values can translate into better impulse handling.
music performance
This is an outdated measurement technique, underlying the idea that music is not constant level and therefore the performance of a system can be significantly higher than after the measurement with sine tones. The actual background, however, should be the advertising effectiveness of the values, which are about twice as high as those of the sine wave continuous tone output.
rated capacity
Another term that contributes to the ambiguity. It actually comes from heavy current technology. In the context of power amplifiers, it roughly corresponds to the RMS power. However, it is not certain that the standardized measuring method was used.
Power dissipation
The power amplifier does not convert part of the power drawn from the socket into usable signals, but rather into waste heat. The power loss provides information about this part that has been converted into heat. If it is high, you may need appropriate cooling.
PMPO-Perfomance
PMP (Peak Music Power) and PMPO (Peak Music Power Output) are two power ratings that are mostly used by underpowered amplifiers to make their performance look good. It is a purely fictitious value with no relation to real performance.
Example of PMPO performance: Click to enlarge the image and compare the performance of 2800 watts given above for this compact system with the sine values in the description below!