Could there be too much current draw for my home theater?

[Inertia]

I have a Crown 2000 watt amp and just hooked up 2 12W7's I also have 2 towers powered with 300 watsts to each by an Acurus amp... sometimes when theres a heavy bass song the sound level lowers... do I not have enough juice flowing thru my house?

 

[Rickster71]

Depends on the circuit (15 or 20 amp?)and what else is on it.
A dedicated circuit would be nice.
You could get something like this; P3 - Kill A Watt
To see what you're drawing. You'd have to check to see what else is on that circuit first and shut all of that off. To get an accurate reading of what's being used.

 

[Inertia]

I have a projectorand my computer hooked up to the same outlet.... Should I try to put those on a different circuit?

 

[ImcLoud]

I ran separate 220 lines to where my amp plugs in {didnt cost much- 12-3 romex , 20amp 2 pole breakers and the boxes}. I ran one to the theater which my xpa5 plugs into and nothing else, and one to my front parlor which my XPA2 plugs into with nothing else... When the bass hit before my processor lights would dim... Now, my amps run more better...

 

[macddmac]

Are both your 20 amp circuits run off the same bus? If so, that's a problem.
Google; "shared neutral" and select the DIY chat room discussion for a plain english explanation of what's going on. If this is your case, the solution can be as simple as moving your double pole breaker so that both busses are contacted.
Cheers, Mac

 

[ImcLoud]

Are both your 20 amp circuits run off the same bus? If so, that's a problem.
Google; "shared neutral" and select the DIY chat room discussion for a plain english explanation of what's going on. If this is your case, the solution can be as simple as moving your double pole breaker so that both busses are contacted.
Cheers, Mac

Is this directed towards me or the OP? Mine works perfectly. I ran a 12/3 with a 20a 220v outlet {looks like a regular outlet except one pin is sideways instead of both straight up and down, like its winking at you}. They both have 220v 20 amp breakers and are grounded... Never have any problems with my setup...

Anyone with a large amp {800w and over} should either have a designated 120v circuit {best 12-2 20a}, or like me a designated 220/20a circuit... I didnt run one to each sub or anything like that, just for the 2 large amps, and you have to make sure your amps will take 220v, some need to be opened and swap some wires around, some like the emotivas just flip a switch... The amps run cooler and work less... Its really inexpensive if you do it yourself, if you hire an electrician I would imagine that could get expensive... I put the one in my 2.2 system in the wall with a regular 120v above it, and my home theater 220 plug is in the floor with a metal floor box... I think I paid about $200 for materials and it took me about 3 hours all together...

 

[macddmac]

Is this directed towards me or the OP? Mine works perfectly. I ran a 12/3 with a 20a 220v outlet {looks like a regular outlet except one pin is sideways instead of both straight up and down, like its winking at you}. They both have 220v 20 amp breakers and are grounded... Never have any problems with my setup...

Anyone with a large amp {800w and over} should either have a designated 120v circuit {best 12-2 20a}, or like me a designated 220/20a circuit... I didnt run one to each sub or anything like that, just for the 2 large amps, and you have to make sure your amps will take 220v, some need to be opened and swap some wires around, some like the emotivas just flip a switch... The amps run cooler and work less... Its really inexpensive if you do it yourself, if you hire an electrician I would imagine that could get expensive... I put the one in my 2.2 system in the wall with a regular 120v above it, and my home theater 220 plug is in the floor with a metal floor box... I think I paid about $200 for materials and it took me about 3 hours all together...

My bad, so your running your emotiva a @ 220v.. Brilliant solution! And another reason to look at Emotiva.
Cheers, Mac
3 hrs? That's impressive!

 

[ImcLoud]

My bad, so your running your emotiva a @ 220v.. Brilliant solution! And another reason to look at Emotiva.
Cheers, Mac
3 hrs? That's impressive!

They are on my first floor so I just drilled a hole down from behind my home theater rack, rite through the floor, used my jig saw to make it sq for the box, popped the box in, then for the one in my 2.2 system, I just ran another wire in the existing box, and bought the plug with 120 on top and 220 on bottom, then I ran the wires in the basement from the boxes to the panel, pushed them through existing pop outs, clicked the new breakers into the panel, wired them to the wires, and popped the pop outs out of the panel cover... Simple...

Emotivas are even better on 220 ...
My subs still run off the regular 115 outlets, but they are all around 300 watts each so they dont pull as much as the big amps do... The HSU and Wharfedales can also be wired 220..

 

[Rickster71]

220...221, whatever it takes.

 

[Nestor]

Is this directed towards me or the OP? Mine works perfectly. I ran a 12/3 with a 20a 220v outlet {looks like a regular outlet except one pin is sideways instead of both straight up and down, like its winking at you}. They both have 220v 20 amp breakers and are grounded... Never have any problems with my setup...

Anyone with a large amp {800w and over} should either have a designated 120v circuit {best 12-2 20a}, or like me a designated 220/20a circuit... I didnt run one to each sub or anything like that, just for the 2 large amps, and you have to make sure your amps will take 220v, some need to be opened and swap some wires around, some like the emotivas just flip a switch... The amps run cooler and work less... Its really inexpensive if you do it yourself, if you hire an electrician I would imagine that could get expensive... I put the one in my 2.2 system in the wall with a regular 120v above it, and my home theater 220 plug is in the floor with a metal floor box... I think I paid about $200 for materials and it took me about 3 hours all together...

Why would they run cooler? Watts is Watts.

 

[ImcLoud]

Why would they run cooler? Watts is Watts.

cant argue with that, you are 100% correct "Watts is Watts" ?

I guess my answer is "Amps is Amps", lol...

But seriously, the amp {for example} is pulling 15 amps @ 110v it is going to pull 1/2 that at 220v, so now only pulling 7a is going to work half as hard using two legs instead of one... make sense? Probably not, I have no idea what Im doing, tomorrow I am going to rewire my refrigerator to 460v 3 phase, its going to be wicked cold....

 

[PENG]

Why would they run cooler? Watts is Watts.

It may get slightly, very slightly cooler due to slightly lower losses on the primary (high voltage) side of the transformer. On the secondary (l.v.) side the curent draw would be the same for the same watts of load.

 

[ImcLoud]

They run much cooler, believe it or not...
I am in Hvac and have a thermal imaging camera, I took some before and after shots, both after watching the same movie at the same volume with my houses interior thermostat at the same temp {so identical ambient}, both from a cold start. Just felt like seeing the difference for myself... And it is a big temp difference.. I will try to get the pics on here...

 

[PENG]

They run much cooler, believe it or not...
I am in Hvac and have a thermal imaging camera, I took some before and after shots, both after watching the same movie at the same volume with my houses interior thermostat at the same temp {so identical ambient}, both from a cold start. Just felt like seeing the difference for myself... And it is a big temp difference.. I will try to get the pics on here...

If it ran 'much' cooler, then there must be other factors at play in your particular case, going from 120 to 220v alone would not have done it.

 

[ImcLoud]

Nope, thats the only change I made, I can change it back and forth at will, just change the cable plug it into the regular outlet and flip the switch... E Z PZ Lemon squeezy ... Before If my tv was on all day, I would put my hand on the amp and felt warm, not hot just warm,, now after all day being on, its not even warm, maybe a couple degrees over ambient... I wouldn't just say it. I notice less of a diff. with my xpa2 since its usually only played for a couple hours at a time.. And never even gets a work out, it pushes my evo towers effortlessly and I dont listen in there loud, maybe about 80db, the second light on the amp never even blinks... I swear after an hour of listening the amp feels colder than the ambient.

 

[slipperybidness]

Nope, thats the only change I made, I can change it back and forth at will, just change the cable plug it into the regular outlet and flip the switch... E Z PZ Lemon squeezy ... Before If my tv was on all day, I would put my hand on the amp and felt warm, not hot just warm,, now after all day being on, its not even warm, maybe a couple degrees over ambient... I wouldn't just say it. I notice less of a diff. with my xpa2 since its usually only played for a couple hours at a time.. And never even gets a work out, it pushes my evo towers effortlessly and I dont listen in there loud about 80db, the second light on the map never blinks..

Power = Volts x Amperes

Double the Volts, half the Amperes, power stays the same. Same power should mean same heat dissipated.

Something else would seem to be at play here?

 

[ImcLoud]

Power supplies tend to have higher efficiency at the higher voltage, this is a known fact, google it...

I read an article about 3 months ago, on why they are going to be raising the voltage and lowering the amps they fed led lights, because a set of tests showed doing so multiplied the led's life over 80%...

Same thing with power supplies, When building my work comp. system Iused to have a 120v 60a and when we built the new building I went to a 240v 30a. Now I know in this case a lot changed, new equipment {but more of it} in a different room {but a smaller tighter room}... But my old stack used to be in a 10X8 room full of office supplies and when the comp was running, you couldnt stand in there it was like a 100K btu heater, we used to put a fan in the door in the winter to scavenge the heat, now the new system is in its own non vented closet {very small} and its never HOT, warm, but not like the old system..

 

[Rickster71]

I know that when electric motors are wired for 220 or 240/480V, wiring it to run at the higher voltage will automatically cut the amperage in half.
That will allow the motor to run cooler and slightly more efficiently.

As for the amp, my understanding is that on 220v the amp will run cooler, with better high voltage regulation.
I've been wrong before...my wife will verify that.

 

[Nestor]

cant argue with that, you are 100% correct "Watts is Watts" ?

I guess my answer is "Amps is Amps", lol...

But seriously, the amp {for example} is pulling 15 amps @ 110v it is going to pull 1/2 that at 220v, so now only pulling 7a is going to work half as hard using two legs instead of one... make sense? Probably not, I have no idea what Im doing, tomorrow I am going to rewire my refrigerator to 460v 3 phase, its going to be wicked cold....

The fact that you ran a 12 gauge dedicated cct. has more to do with it.

 

[ImcLoud]

The fact that you ran a 12 gauge dedicated cct. has more to do with it.

IM happy to test this theory out, since my entire house is wired with 12g wire {except the basement outlets for some reason he did them 14-2}, so Tomorrow I will plug the amp into the 115 with nothing else running off that circuit. And see what happens... I dont see how it will make a difference because before the only other devices on that circuit was the processor, ipod dock, cable box and ps3, which never run at the same time...