15 amp circuit VS. 20 amp Circuit


Hello,

I’m in a situation where my audio room has one ( three outlets ) 15 amp circuit. It appears to me that the 3 outlets in this room are connected in series , meaning drawing current from one outlet will drain the other two .

For 2 channel audio , I have connected my C12000 pre amp, McD12000 and through MPC1500 conditioner and to one of the 15 amp outlets . This should be okay? However, problem could arise once I connect the McIntosh 1.2k power AMPs to the other 2 outlets.

I would like to know if I need any dedicated circuit for my equipment . It appears I need more power than 1400 watts ( 15 amp circuit can provide ) when I use my home theater Where I will have Four 1000 watt woofers and 3 additional AHB2 amps.

 

 

Question :

howmany dedicated 15 amp or 20 amp circuits do I need to ensure smooth power without dimming the lights around the house / prevent possible fire ?

Please provide your suggestion based on the below equipment .

 

DAC: McIntosh MCD12000

Power Conditioner: MPC15000

preamp : McIntosh C12000

AV Processor : Marantz 7015

power AMP: Two McIntosh 1.2k

power AMP: Three AHB2 , one used in MonoBlock

Streamer : One Streamer

 

 

 

joshziggie2021

Showing 6 responses by invalid

@speelerr  tripping the breaker is a separate issue, an amplifier can draw huge amounts of current for very short durations, which will not tripp the breaker, but it will cause a voltage drop. 

@joshziggie2021 Don't lisen to @impaler he doesn't know what he is talking about, you will get better performance from your equipment with dedicated 20 amp  circuits. The problem with people who use math on this type of problem is they don't realize just how much the current draw is for really short durations, you can't measure it with a multimeter.

@joshziggie2021 what you looked up is correct, but some people would say you could get a ground loop from two different legs, though I have never had this happen. There definitely is voltage drop with a 15 amp circuit, stereophile measures it all the time when measuring high powered amps.

@speelerr  I must be misunderstanding your post, most breakers have a trip curve chart, a 15 amp circuit breaker will not trip at 15 amps for a certain time period, which means your equipment could actually draw many times that 15 amps and not trip the breaker if it's for a very short duration of time and it can cause voltage drop.