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House Amperage vs Stereo Amperage

I just read that standard house current is only 15 amps. If one buys an amp with a 30 amp draw, will it simply use 15 amps, leaving the buyer with a hole in his wallet for all the extra hardware he paid for or-

Is the transformer able to hold extra power and use it on demand? (would that be part of the dynamic headroom or is that stored in the caps? Ahhhh!)
doc777

Showing 3 responses by kr4

kr4's avatar
kr4
3,704 posts
 
Amplifiers store charge in the capacitor reservoire to permit short-term high current output. If an amplifier really needed a 30 amp draw from the wall, it would have a different power cord. Most wall outlets are limited by wiring and breaker to 15A.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,704 posts
 
All good points. Remember, as I said at the beginning, if the amp has a standard wall plug, it was designed to expect no more that 15A from the wall!

Kal
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,704 posts
 
Sean-

You are perfectly correct, of course, and one can draw more than 15A from a 15A line for varying periods of time. My point remains that the performance of any amp from an honest manufacturer is specified on the basis of a 15A line (whether they cut corners on the power lead or not).

The preactical limitation on performance is whether, considering everything else that may be in the system or on that power line, there are 15A available for the amplifier.

Kal
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