Is this still as important?

No. Let the consumer decide. We have plenty of outstanding products to choose from.

Was it ever?

I’m old enough to have been around and shopping for my first stereo back before any of these regulations existed. We had reading and writing even before the internet, shocking I know, and so there was all kinds of information. It was perfectly clear to me as a little kid with paper route money that you could not trust amplifier specs. All the different tricks of measuring intermittent peak power, at a select frequency, etc etc were known.

Again, this is me at about 13 years old, riding a bicycle to Radio Shack, and yet perfectly capable of figuring out all by myself with no one to help me that the smart thing is to go and listen. So anyone who thinks we need government regulation is not only wrong, they are insulting, basically telling every grown educated human being they have less on the ball than their paper boy. So there’s that.

Then there’s the problems with what always happens with regulators and regulations. Instead of just saying power must be RMS continuous across the full 20Hz to 20kHz they insist it be measured after running the amp at huge power output that gets it hotter than just about any normal user would ever do, and THEN measure. This adds enormous cost in terms of heat sinks and so on.

Then there’s the problem of all this does is put way too much emphasis on the amplifier. If the speakers are reasonably efficient then hardly any amplifier power is needed anyway. A few watts will do nicely. Instead thanks to the FCC we got the power wars of the 1970’s that resulted in all these 200 watt amps that measured great but sounded awful. Horrible time.

Full disclosure, saw the moron doing the video, know he’s a moron, not interested in wasting my time listening to another moron. Life’s too short.

What else? Oh yeah. Look around at high end audio today. Almost all the finest amps are tube amps, many of them little different than what was around before the FCC started messing around. Some of the most magical amps are SET that make single digit watts, just like back when I was a paper boy.

Would be nice if maybe there was one time when government regulation actually made something better. Dream on. I prefer reality. 

This means next to nothing if you have brains.

@Millercarbon - well, then stop driving on roads, drinking water from your faucet, don't call 911 for the police or an ambulance, don't worry about doctors being licensed. Rip out your smoke detectors and seat belts. I believe you like to fish - who needs clean lakes, waterways and enjoy the  mercury in your fish. Please, stop using Medicare and return your Social Security checks. Oh, and when you were unemployed that one time, return that money also. But the big one, stop whining and become part of improving things rather then sitting around moaning. My wife and I get involved in helping our city, state and country be just a little bit better. It's hard and slow, but you should try it. It feels really good, my wife says it will help get us into heaven, and you might not be so cranky all the time. I do wish you well regardless. I loved going to Radio Shack and ended up working at one for a short time. The pay was awful. 

"... Please, stop using Medicare and return your Social Security checks. Oh, and when you were unemployed that one time, return that money also..."

Medicare, Social Security, and unemployment insurance are not gifts from the government. We paid for those "benefits" by payroll deduction. So far, I payed in far more than I collected. And to get back on track, We don't need government or laws for everything we do. 

A regulation of measured numbers to uniformize standards is NOT a political intervention of the government at all...

It is a way to protect consumers and designers....

What russ69 said, plus ONE.

Reality?
Bizarro.

Is this still as important?

It's very simple

We need independent tested specs, to keep all manufacturers honest about their published specs.

Cheers George

+1 georgehifi

Independent tests are great, but we also need to set a bar for consequences for misleading the consumer.

"...but we also need to set a bar for consequences for misleading the consumer..."

I don’t think I want un-elected officials to use the vast powers of government to monitor and penalize a company that produces an amp that’s a few watts short. Especially when doubling the power is only a 3db difference.