Yeah, all great suggestions, right up there with putting CD's in the microwave. :-) The breaker that is tripping is in the Panamax and I wanted to run the Samson/Subs through another circut bypassing the Panamax. But, I do like the Samson, I don't want that to get hurt.

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MeanGene's Home

Ahhhh... I was reading your original post and thinking that the circuit breaker in your panel was tripping. Is the Samson currently on one of the high current "amp" outlets on the 5300? If not, you might try moving it there as a first step. Otherwise, it would probably be easiest to pick up a surge suppressor for the Samson and pull it off of the 5300.

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

It's just occured to me... how do people protect their powered subs. Do they have surge protection/line filteration between each powered sub?

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MeanGene's Home

I put in a dedicated circuits -- 2 20 amp lines for my audio system that features three amps: 100 w tube amp, 400 w ss amp and a 1200w ss sub amp. I run the tube amp (high current) and all the front end equipment through Panamax 5100 on one circuit and the 2 ss amps through Triplite surge suppressor on the other. You can do this yourself if you are handy or hire an electrition like I did. It cost me about half as much as Panamax 5100. It was definitely one of the better buys.

That sounds like what I am going to have to do. Did they run the conduct externally or internally through the walls?

I am fortunate to have my music room in a basement with a drop ceiling. The electrician ran the wires over the ceiling and into the wall. It should be done correctly -- in the wall or covered by a conduit. You do have to use a heavier wire for 20 amp circuit.

In my old house, I added a single dedicated 15A circuit for the home theater equipment. In that case, the conduit ran exposed on the exterior of the house from the panel (which was outside) to the double duplex receptacle (which was on an exterior wall). It wasn't pretty, but that was a house that already had wiring run exposed on the exterior for cable and phone. Ideally, new wiring would be concealed in the wall. It is possible (and usually cheaper) to run exposed conduit either inside or outside the house, but it's never pretty.

I've had my powered sub connected without power protection on occasion in the past, but currently I have it on one of the high current outlets of my Panamax. In my case, the sub amp is a much smaller load than that required by a Samson S1000 driving a pair of 15" drivers so it isn't enough to max out the circuit.

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

I am running both 15" subs at 4 ohms and that has added to the problem. I think I will set them back to 8 ohm which will make the Samson's work at little easier.

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MeanGene's Home

Could you elaborate on how you're going to do that?

Sure, the DVC (Dual Voice Coil) of each sub is 4 ohm and I am only using a single VC of each sub which is giving the Samson S1000 a 4 ohm load for each channel. I am thinking of going back to running the DVC in a series configuration which will increase the impendence to 8 ohms. This will reduce the output of the subs, but at the same time require less from the amp and reliving me of having to reset the 15 amp breaker.

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MeanGene's Home