Hi dave,it depends,even though your amplifiers max power draw is rated at 2400 watts most likely your only using a max of 1800 watts to feed them,if your powering them from a standard 15 amp outlet the wattage is limited to 1800 watts before the breaker pop's,for 15 amp service your power cords are fine.
Unless you have 20 amp service you'll never feed the amps the full 2400 watts they are rated for,a 20 amp line will give you the 2400 watts,if you have 20 amp service allready you should replace the power cords with either 12 gauge or 10 gauge but again if your service is 15 amp there is no reason to replace them.
Not so! There are a host of factors to consider before you have a tidy answer of yea or nay but the ones cited above are simply in error.
1.) A 15A circuit can provide a heck of a lot more instantaneous power than you believe. This is due to the operating characteristic of branch circuit breakers. They are NOT a current limiting device but a circuit interrupter. They integrate current flow over time. And for short periods of time, a 15A one can supply as much power as a 20A, 50A or 100A circuit breaker. It is only when they exceed their rating that they open and cut power flow to the load. The hitch here is "for short periods of time", bigger breakers hold for longer periods. But there are ways around this as in #5.
2.) The true ampacity of wire is a function ONLY of its impedance. This IS a current limiting device due to Ohm’s law i = v/Z. And its impedance is SOLEY a function of length. So the shorter the wire, the more current it will carry. A 6 ft length of #14 copper at 120 vac 60Hz will carry 120/(6*0.002525) A or 7,920 A continuously. Note that impedance is frequency dependent. This is the basis for bi-wiring speakers.
3.) “Rated ampacity” for safety codes start with wire conducting in free air. For #14 copper, it is 20A for use in buildings but for electronic chassis wiring, it is 32A. The wire is then de-rated according to other factors primarily insulation class and bundling. For 3 conductor #14 AWG THHN a.k.a. ROMEX (typical house wiring) is de-rated to 15 amp.
4.) Since music is transient and not periodic in nature, continuous max power mean a completely different thing to the listener than sinusoidal output measurement to an ad-man. It is in fact that level that can produce the most powerful transient without clipping, i.e. over driving the amp into distortion. It is paradoxical that compressed music (FM radio) will have a higher continuous power usage/consumption than a CD or super CD/DVD with wider dynamic range when played at levels just below clipping. So how loud an amp "plays" is source dependent. Some CD’s will play "louder" than others using this criteria. And driving an amp into clipping is dangerous to your speakers—all your speakers: woofers, mids and tweeters. For as an amplifier clips the waveform, the output approaches pure DC causing voice coils to overheat and melt. Besides better sound is to be had by turning down the gain and avoiding clipping altogether. Isn’t that the point of all this, better sound?
5.) Class AB amps, especially high-end ones, have enormous power supplies that act as energy reservoirs to provide power reserves for transients. A good analogy is a water tower. One does not have to size the pump to supply the tank at anywhere near peak demand, only fast enough to keep it from being emptied for a certain period. Still one can dump a heck of a lots of water at one time if necessary. Time is on the pump’s side. A flywheel, too, stores energy that can be used as needed but the motor turning it does not have to supply anymore that enough to turn the wheel initially.
6.) All consumer electronic equipment is subject to stringent safety codes and testing (UL). It is folly to think the power cord is improperly sized and without a considerable safety factor, too—the company couldn’t stand the lawsuits! Secondly, good design dictates designing for the lowest common denominator. Here, it certainly would be that 15A circuit, which is the minimum by code and by law in most places/markets and the most prevalent.
So will he or won’t he get full power? I would venture yes initially. Then maybe. Will it sound as good as it could—the absolute sound? No way! That is unquantifiable and totally subjective. But one can still tweak.
Hope this helps.
