Amplifier current draw/wattage


Hello All,
Trying to figure my system's total power requirement.
I'll have 12 devices plugged into the wall, or some kind
of power supply. By reading fuse sizes and/or power
consumption, I come up with about 24.75 amps (120-VAC).
This is only steady-state operation and I don't think
includes startup surges. The power amps take most of this
draw.
I feel fairly comfortable with the accuracy of this figure.
Here's my point of uncertainty: I do not know if the
amplifiers draw more current as I increase the volume.
I have 4 amps (powering 4-way speakers):
Bryston 3B-ST..............5-A fuse
Linn 5105 - 2 of these....."6.3-A MAX"
NAD 2600a..................5-A fuse
So at peak current draw the 4 amplifiers would supposedly
draw about 22.6 amps.
Can anyone tell me what class each of these amplifiers
belongs to, I know only that none are class A.
********
I can certainly supply more info if anyone asks.
Does my reasoning seem sound ?
The whole result is that it appears I need to add
a new 30-A circuit from my breaker panel, probably
with 8-ga wire. This will be a fair amount of work.
noslepums

Showing 1 response by koestner

You can get a watt meter at Home Depot for about $20 that will give you a digital readout. It also reports current drawn, voltage, freq. and other cool stuff. I use mine to very accurately read idle watts being used on various equipment. If you plug all your stuff into a nice power strip, then into the meter then the wall you will get your answer.