15 amp circuit VS. 20 amp Circuit

And also presupposes a dedicated feed for your audio gear, as I was alluding to in my original post.

Most responses are correct. The most important factor is to dedicate the power supply run to your audio console; i.e., run a 12/2 cable (with ground) directly from your power entry panel in your home/apt. to a dedicated outlet for your audio gear. Using that outlet to then feed a surge protected and individually filtered multi outlet strip to feed each component.  This will be a "quiet" feed with no influence on that direct circuit, and also reduces/eliminates ground loops within your system. Of course there will be some voltage drops/spikes/noise at the AC panel from refer's, blowers, AC, etc. but that will be somewhat attenuated by the filtering of the strip. If you really want to get into high performance, low noise power distribution there are books describing how to set up home/commercial recording studios, specifically dealing with power distribution. BTW, standard OTS electrical components and wire are fine. Save your money for your audio gear.

FYI am an electrical engineer by trade, mostly designing power distribution for mobile and marine applications, but many of the principles' remain constant for home/commercial applications.

Tempest in a tea cup. The power draw (E x I) from an average home audio system is negligible, unless you're running quad Class A mono blocks at 100 wpc each to supplement your home heating system. Even 200/300 wpc class AB amps average less than 5 amps , and 15 amp circuits will handle this even added to preamp, DAC, PC, Streamer, Turntable, etc. It's clean power you're after, and no noise (ground) loops. Also, well designed audio gear will have power supplies that are deigned to operate in real world conditions, so again spending a fortune on cables/outlets, magic fuses is a waste of capital.

PS

Some equipment is designed to run on 220 VAC; I recommend that for any high power gear as it minimizes the IR losses (voltage drop) in your feeds.

invalid

Sorry to agree to disagree. What you are referring to is the instantaneous peak load response and what you would call droop in that particular measurement, measured in microseconds. To some extent effected by wire gauge and contact resistance in the power delivery circuit, source impedance etc. My point was you would need a great deal of that differential to notice a 15 or 20 amp circuit difference. This can be verifiable if you want to take it to that level. Sometimes sound science and engineering are good things so people aren't wasting their money on snake oil. Again no disrespect to your opinion.

joshziggie2021

In your particular case, I am indeed puzzled by the specs you are stating. 4kW for subs and 3.4kW from other amps? This represents a truly incredible amount of energy and, in your case if you are experiencing anywhere near these load values, that would best be served by a minimum of a 60 amp circuit at 120VAC, (30 @ 220VAC)Running 6 or 8 AWG cable. Those load values would be similar to a sound reinforcement system for a small stage. Please guys, I do this for a living. I'm very much all about a solid power supply system, but science and math should dictate, not guesswork. 

bigtwin

Exactly correct, wattage rating for a particular appliance is a UL/CE requirement based on very specific tests and results. As I mentioned, those power levels (continuous) are unheard of in home audio. The dimming lights is another issue altogether, and the breaker size isn't going to help that. This is a source power issue, and could be poor connections in the primary feed, under-rated house/apt current supply, generally lower than normal voltage at source, or even an under rated/over utilized transformer at the pole. You have to id the problem before you can fix it.