[BleedingStar]

I have just been curious about Power Consumption of stereo amplifiers. When an amp is on, is the power consumption determined solely by the gain, or is it dependent on the actual sound level being sent through it. Say my sub amp is on, however I am listening to a song or movie soundtrack with very little bass... is it consuming less power than when it is working much harder. This seems to make the most sense to me, but I have also heard that it is solely based on the gain settings regardless of signal being created, and that it takes the same power to amplify the sound regardless of the signal level.

My case in point is this... my system is roughly 2000 watts max output. I would assume that would mean that I would only actually be consuming 2000 watts of power if all the gains and volumes where maxed out and the audio was peaking? However at a lower reasonable level watching an average movie soundtrack it should be consuming much much less power than that, only consuming power for peaks as need correct?

Just curious.