Separate circuit breaker for MPS-1?

adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
New MPS-1 coming to live at my house. :)

My question is this:

Should I install a new breaker specifically for the amp? If so what type?

I have heard I should NOT plug it into my Monster Power Center. How do others that have this amp protect it from surges/spikes? I live in the woods so I do get outages often which is why I invested in the power center to begin with.

Thanks as always.
 
G

Gov

Senior Audioholic
New MPS-1 coming to live at my house. :)

My question is this:

Should I install a new breaker specifically for the amp? If so what type?

I have heard I should NOT plug it into my Monster Power Center. How do others that have this amp protect it from surges/spikes? I live in the woods so I do get outages often which is why I invested in the power center to begin with.

Thanks as always.

My LPA-1 uses about 6 amps at serious ear bleeding levels. I really think you will be OK putting it on an exsisting circuit. BTW, Emotiva says to plug their amps directly into a wall outlet. Thats what I do.
 
W

whitestone

Audioholic Intern
I would also suggest that there is nothing else on that circuit that requires alot of power. Also at 6 amp draw the peaks might cause problems other equipment ie video monitors, projectors, tv.
 
G

Gov

Senior Audioholic
I would also suggest that there is nothing else on that circuit that requires alot of power. Also at 6 amp draw the peaks might cause problems other equipment ie video monitors, projectors, tv.

I just performed a test with an amp meter this week and I was suprised at the results. I have the following items on during the test on a 15amp circuit: 57 Sony RPTV, 300 watt Mirage sub, LPA-1, pre/pro, CD plalyer, DVD player. cable STB, ceiling fan and light, table lamp, treadmill, another 27" TV, another DVD player, VCR, and a few more lights.

I was running the LPA-1 at reference levels BTW

The meter was swinging between 9.0 to 11.5 amps. That was it with all that on one circuit!
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
I just performed a test with an amp meter this week and I was suprised at the results. I have the following items on during the test on a 15amp circuit: 57 Sony RPTV, 300 watt Mirage sub, LPA-1, pre/pro, CD plalyer, DVD player. cable STB, ceiling fan and light, table lamp, treadmill, another 27" TV, another DVD player, VCR, and a few more lights.

I was running the LPA-1 at reference levels BTW

The meter was swinging between 9.0 to 11.5 amps. That was it with all that on one circuit!
Was everything on that circuit on, lights, fan, treadmill, etc?
Don't forget, even the sub is not using much a lot of the time, it is those short bursts.
Did you check your voltage drop at those current draws?
 
F

flyv65

Full Audioholic
*If* you've got room in your breakerbox, and *if* you can afford it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to think about putting in a single, 15 or 20 amp circuit just for your A/V needs. I'm not saying that you'll see "blacker" blacks and hear "things you've never heard before on that disc", but in my old, older house I could tell every time the humidifier kicked on by the static in the sound and cool wavy lines in my picture. All that went away with a dedicated line.

Bryan
 
G

Gov

Senior Audioholic
Was everything on that circuit on, lights, fan, treadmill, etc?
Don't forget, even the sub is not using much a lot of the time, it is those short bursts.
Did you check your voltage drop at those current draws?
Yes....everything was on that same circuit. No, I did not check my voltage drop. The reason I checked it was because I wanted to put the a/v stuff on a separate circuit, but.... my old man is an electrician and told me I would be fine, so he brought over his amp meter to prove his theory. So, in the end, I will just be leaving it all on the 15 amp circuit. Besides, I never run all that stuff all on at the same time.
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
Yes....everything was on that same circuit. No, I did not check my voltage drop. The reason I checked it was because I wanted to put the a/v stuff on a separate circuit, but.... my old man is an electrician and told me I would be fine, so he brought over his amp meter to prove his theory. So, in the end, I will just be leaving it all on the 15 amp circuit. Besides, I never run all that stuff all on at the same time.
Yes, of course not everything is on at the same time but was just curious about the voltage drop. Maybe another experiment is in order? :D
Tell him it is to expand your knowledge. How can he object? ;)
 
G

Gov

Senior Audioholic
Yes, of course not everything is on at the same time but was just curious about the voltage drop. Maybe another experiment is in order? :D
Tell him it is to expand your knowledge. How can he object? ;)
Maybe............
 
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
After thinking about this more I think I will put the new circuit in. My theater I'm putting together is in the basement and my rack will be close to the breakerbox. As I looked around with what shares the circuit I could use (treadmill, dryer etc.) it would be smarter and easier to do it now.

Now say I want everything tv, amp, prepro, dvd etc and possibly a HTPC should I go with a 20 or will a 15 amp sufice?
 
Warpdrv

Warpdrv

Audioholic Ninja
Make sure you put all the dedicated Home Theater circuits on the same phase...

This is very important, so as to not introduce the erroneous humming problems many encounter with adding circuits.

My HT is in my living room, and there was already a couple of outlets close by.
As I had all my equipment on that circuit, I really didn't encounter any problems up until I got my SVS-Plus/2, fired up at reference levels, and above.
Funny how I started to notice that the lights started dimming/fluctuating.

There are usually more things on these single circuits in a room, and unless you have the electrical plan You don't know...

I ended up adding 2 dedicated 20amp 120v circuits, 1 for the Sub, and 1 for the Rotel AMP, and 1 for Plasma, receiver, xbox, & Sat box on the original. I had to move a couple of breakers around in the breaker box in order to keep everything on the same phase, but I have no humming or other issues....

Phases in home load centers alternate vertically; the top two breakers (both left and right) will be phase A, the next two (both left and right) will be phase B, etc. For each breaker pair, there is a single 'stab' that the breakers' connecting fingers attach to. If you look at a panel that is partially empty, you can see the stab layouts and how they alternate phases vertically.

[The reason this is done is so that a single 'dual' breaker can provide a 240V feed - like the one for your dryer, stove, or HVAC unit. If you check the voltage between two breakers, one immediately above the other, you will find that they read 240 V. If they were on the same phase, they would read 0.]

So the phasing layout looks like:

1 A 2
3 B 4
5 A 6
7 B 8
9 A 10
........

To have two feeds on the same phase, you need to either skip a breaker on the same side (i.e., use breaker positions 3 & 7), or use a side-by-side pair (i.e., breakers 3 & 4).
 
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
Thanks warp I would never have know about the phase issue. I will enlist my father to help with this one as he added breakers before.

Just got the MPS-1 yesterday. What a beast. The wife nearly freaked when I came in with three boxes.:eek: I explained how the amp was modular and started getting into specs until her eyes glazed over and I realized that all she cared was that there was not going to be 3 more pieces of electronics.

Now I just have to finish the rack so I have a place to put everything.:D
 
Haoleb

Haoleb

Audioholic Field Marshall
Now say I want everything tv, amp, prepro, dvd etc and possibly a HTPC should I go with a 20 or will a 15 amp sufice?

If your going to go through the trouble of adding another circuit, Do it as good as you can the first time around. 20 amp ;)
 
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