AC Power question

[Send Margaritas]

This may be a dumb question, but I'd appreciate the input. I'm running a Yamaha A2010, 2 subs with Dayton 950W plate amps, and a 2 channel 100 WPC Onkyo power amp off of 20 Amp AC service. I'm considering moving the Onkyo to the garage system (7.1 in the garage!), and getting a better power amp (XPA-3 or XPA-5) to replace the Onkyo on this system. I realize both EMOs are rated at 200 WPC, and the Onkyo only 100 WPC, so I expect to have a marginal increase in the AC load.

If I (initially) run two channels from the XPA-3 or XPA-5, would I likely be overtaxing the AC circuit? It may be a year or two until I want to run another 20-amp circuit for this system. Will the power supply suck 3 or 5 channels of AC running 2 active channels initially? My main goal is to fee up the lesser Onkyo amp, and get a bit more headroom from the new amp. Farther on down the road, I'd be running all 3/5 channels to take the load off of the receiver, but I'm not necessarily looking to play the system louder, I'd just prefer a little more headroom.

The system already can play louder than I usually ever do. It's rare I have this up to -12db, and that is usually only for a single song or two. I'm just fearing that I'm approaching the limits of the AC for this room.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[Hi Ho]

You should be perfectly fine. What else is plugged into the circuit? Unless you're running a space heater or two on the same circuit I would not be at all worried. Your "950w" plate amps are not pulling 950 watts constantly. In fact, they probably never pull that much power from the wall.

I'm playing some music right now and I just turned it up, way up, as a test and put my Kill-A-Watt meter on my sub. at -3db on the volume scale (ear bleeding) with a very bass heavy song my RX-V2700 pulled about 170W max according to my APC UPS and my Rythmik sub pulled about 50W max on the lowest bass notes while hovering around 10-30 the rest of the time. That's 220W on a 20 amp circuit and not even close to maxxing it out. Even if you add another amp or two or three you would still be fine.

 

[Send Margaritas]

You should be perfectly fine. What else is plugged into the circuit? Unless you're running a space heater or two on the same circuit I would not be at all worried. Your "950w" plate amps are not pulling 950 watts constantly. In fact, they probably never pull that much power from the wall.

I'm playing some music right now and I just turned it up, way up, as a test and put my Kill-A-Watt meter on my sub. at -3db on the volume scale (ear bleeding) with a very bass heavy song my RX-V2700 pulled about 170W max according to my APC UPS and my Rythmik sub pulled about 50W max on the lowest bass notes while hovering around 10-30 the rest of the time. That's 220W on a 20 amp circuit and not even close to maxxing it out. Even if you add another amp or two or three you would still be fine.

Thanks much Hi Ho. I figured I was getting close to the limit, for once (at the creshendo of the Hospital explosion in the Batman movie), I believe one of the surge protecters tripped. Maybe I just need another surge rated for more joules and to split the load on the surges more. (There is only audio on this circuit. The video and BDP are on another circuit, but I'd fear ground loops splitting audio on multiple circuits at the moment.)

Maybe the XPA-5 is the way to go. I could let that do the mains, center, and surround l/r, leaving the A2010 to power the SBL/SBR and l/r front presence channels? Is there any reason to pick the XPA-3 over the XPA-5?

 

[Send Margaritas]

Thanks again HiHo. I did get an XPA-5, and it is running my mains, centers, and surrounds just fine on that circuit so far. I left the surround backs and front presence on the receiver's amps, and the receiver does run cooler.

I will say, the XPA-5 is massive! It weighs in at like 55 lbs more than the cheap onkyo stereo amp it replaced. The XPA seems to run cooler too. Go figure. Maybe it's all the heat sinks.

Very happy, thanks again.