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  3. 192697-100050

Outlet Requirements

I had my old house’s wiring upgraded to include two 20A outlets and one 30A outlet for dedicated audio equipment.  It may have been overkill but it’s done.  I recently acquired a pair of ML no. 436s, a McIntosh C2700, and a pair of MG 3.5r.  My question is do I have to run each amp to separate outlets or can one 20A outlet handle a pair of amps.  Associated equipment is PS Audio Perfect-wave Direct Stream Jr/PS Audio Perfect-wave transport, Oppo Blu-ray player, Bluesound Node X streamer, Revel F52 speakers, and two REL T/9x Subs.  I also have a Furman 15 elite power conditioner.  Could anyone offer suggestions as to the best way to connect these components?  Thank you.

128x128jokomo
ditusa's avatar
ditusa
1,897 posts
 

@yogiboy Wrote:

 I have never seen a piece of audio gear with a 30 amp power cord!  

My Crown Studio Reference 1 amp has a factory install non detachable 10 AWG power cord and a 30 amp plug. See here image two

Mike

thecarpathian's avatar
thecarpathian
4,744 posts
 

Holy moly, they do exist!

8th-note
415 posts
 

I'm goingt to assume that you had the electrician install 3 separate circuits (2 @ 20 amps each + 1 @ 30 amps). If this is not the case please let us know. Does the 30 amp circuit have a 30 amp receptacle? That would be an odd choice because it wouldn't accept a standard 3 prong 120 volt 15 or 20 amp power cord. I'm going to make another assumption that your electrician installed a 20 amp 3 prong receptacle for the 30 amp circuit.

The main reason for installing a 20 amp or larger circuit is that it uses a larger gauge wire than a 15 amp circuit. That means that if you turn your system up loud and it draws lots of wattage, there is less voltage sag. Your Maggies are very power hungry and if you rock the house, those amps could suck a lot of juice. That means that it could be a good idea to plug each amp into its own 20 amp circuit and use the other circuit for all of your other components.

I just built a house with a dedicated listening room. I had it wired with 3 20 amp circuits but I had one circuit wired with 10 gauge wire instead of 12 gauge, which is what code requires. I did this because I'm running a Krell KSA 300s with very low sensitive speakers and sometimes I listen really loud. The amp has to work a lot less hard if there is little voltage sag as the power usage goes up.

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