20 amp or 15 amp power conditioner, and XLR or RCA

[ehurnie]

I have two questions I need help with.
1. I am going to run a dedicated 20A circuit for my home theater equipment. I plan on connecting an amp that says it draws 1800W max, processor that says is draws 70W, an xbox 360, and a dvd player. Will I need to buy a conditioner that is rated 20A or can I buy one that is 15A.
For 20A I was thinking about the Furman PS-PRO Series II 20 amp Power Conditioner.
For 15A I was thinking about The Belkin PF60 for APC H10.
Let me know what current rating to get and if you want to recommend a certain one I would appreciate it.
2. To connect my amp to processor and amp to subI was thinking of using balanced connects. Would the benefits sound wise justify the cost. I was thinking about building them also, let me know if it would be too hard or is it pretty simple.

Thanks, Joe

 

[mtrycrafts]

I have two questions I need help with.
1. I am going to run a dedicated 20A circuit for my home theater equipment. I plan on connecting an amp that says it draws 1800W max, processor that says is draws 70W, an xbox 360, and a dvd player. Will I need to buy a conditioner that is rated 20A or can I buy one that is 15A.
For 20A I was thinking about the Furman PS-PRO Series II 20 amp Power Conditioner.
For 15A I was thinking about The Belkin PF60 for APC H10.
Let me know what current rating to get and if you want to recommend a certain one I would appreciate it.
2. To connect my amp to processor and amp to subI was thinking of using balanced connects. Would the benefits sound wise justify the cost. I was thinking about building them also, let me know if it would be too hard or is it pretty simple.

Thanks, Joe

If that is the amp rating, you need a 20A unit.

 

[gene]

I have two questions I need help with.
1. I am going to run a dedicated 20A circuit for my home theater equipment. I plan on connecting an amp that says it draws 1800W max, processor that says is draws 70W, an xbox 360, and a dvd player. Will I need to buy a conditioner that is rated 20A or can I buy one that is 15A.
For 20A I was thinking about the Furman PS-PRO Series II 20 amp Power Conditioner.
For 15A I was thinking about The Belkin PF60 for APC H10.
Let me know what current rating to get and if you want to recommend a certain one I would appreciate it.
2. To connect my amp to processor and amp to subI was thinking of using balanced connects. Would the benefits sound wise justify the cost. I was thinking about building them also, let me know if it would be too hard or is it pretty simple.

That is sort of a trick question. Don't go solely by an amp rating for a power conditioner. It depends on what voltage it was rated at. For example, APC rates their conditioners at 120V, 12A = 1,440VA. They will work as low as 90V and sustain over 15A of current in that condition.

My advise is to pick a power conditioner that is UL/CSA tested and approved. This goes a long way to ensure safe operating conditions while also protecting your equipment and most importantly your family from dangerous voltages or surge scenarios.

Although your amp's max power rating is 1800WAtts, it will likely never consume that much power steady state unless someone sticks a fork across all the speaker terminals. At that point you have bigger concerns than if your power conditioner can handle it

 

[ehurnie]

Thanks for the input, I was thinking the amp would never draw that much also, so I'll go with a 15A unit.

 

[Johnd]

You'll be fine with a 15 amp circuit for those two devices, but you may want to ponder an additional 15a (or 20a) dedicated circuit for future upgrades or additional equipment. It's only the cost of the wire, breaker and outlet, after all. When I constructed my ht, I ran two dedicated circuits (1 20a & 1 15a), just in case. I am running my 5803 @ 7x170 watts (at a stated 12a draw, but this is not continuous...that is an extreme draw), and a Denon 2900 w/o ever pushing the envelope, but I have that additional dedicated circuit for "whatever". With regards to your second question, a balanced xlr is only beneficial if you have an excess of interference (noise, rf, etc).

 

[flyv65]

I've never run XLR lines, so take this with a grain of salt: it is my understanding that unless you're running exceptionally long lines, there is no audible benefit to using the balanced (XLR) lines instead of the RCA unbalanced lines. I have "seen" systems where the speaker/monoblack amp was 10 to 15 feet away from the processor and a balanced feed was run to the amp, but I couldn't tell you if it was necessary or merely a marketing ploy.

AFA the power conditioner goes, you've received some sound advice (heh, heh, that was a pun) so I'll merely say you might also consider the APC line of products besides the Furman: I'm not sure howthey compare price-wise, but their quality is very good.

Bryan...HTH...

 

[gene]

You'll be fine with a 15 amp circuit for those two devices, but you may want to ponder an additional 15a (or 20a) dedicated circuit for future upgrades or additional equipment.

Full agreed. In addition to the standard outlets every 6ft, at least according to Florida electrical code, I ran 2 dedicated 20A outlets to each home theater for future expandability. In my main theater room I have one APC S15 running half my system plugged into one dedicated line and the other APC S15 running the other half plugged into the other dedicated line. I then tied them together via chassis ground. This works great and i have tons of reserve power. All channels driven all the way baby

 

[ehurnie]

Thanks for all the help, Im going to buy the APC H15 and run a 20A line. The room already has a couple 15A circuits.
Thanks
Joe

 

[mtrycrafts]

That is sort of a trick question. Don't go solely by an amp rating for a power conditioner. It depends on what voltage it was rated at. For example, APC rates their conditioners at 120V, 12A = 1,440VA. They will work as low as 90V and sustain over 15A of current in that condition.

My advise is to pick a power conditioner that is UL/CSA tested and approved. This goes a long way to ensure safe operating conditions while also protecting your equipment and most importantly your family from dangerous voltages or surge scenarios.

Although your amp's max power rating is 1800WAtts, it will likely never consume that much power steady state unless someone sticks a fork across all the speaker terminals. At that point you have bigger concerns than if your power conditioner can handle it

Now my question would be is that 1800W is on the back panel, UL rating, or where did it come from?

 

[highfihoney]

i would run xlr over rca,not because of a better sound from one over the other but because you can buy xlr cables at a guitar shop that are bullet proof & spend less cash then buying monster,radio shack or accoustic research rca's.

 

[mtrycrafts]

buy xlr cables at a guitar shop that are bullet proof .

WOW. Now they come armor plated

 

[ehurnie]

The 1800W came from the website for the amp.