The manual states a dedicated 20A circuit is recommended for the 755. My HT is in my family room which is on a 15A circuit shared by all the HT equipment as well as room lights. Does anyone have experience they can share when running the 755 in this type of power situation.

I did a search and found the following, which is a partial answer: "Also, something to keep in mind is the difference between max rated load and real-world load. 1800W is the maximum that can be provided by a single 15A residential receptacle circuit, if I remember correctly, so if the 755 ran at a constant 1800W it would require its own dedicated circuit just to keep from tripping the breaker. In reality, the load will be significantly lower than that."

I suppose that if everything I have on one 15A circuit were to pull the max all at once, the equipment would need about 30A, yet I have not tripped the breaker once. The bottom line is that the sum of my gear averages about 20% of the sum of the rated maximum consumption. Even during rare moments when I purposely listen at uncomfortably loud levels, my peak demand has neither tripped the mains circuit breaker, nor tripped the protection in the power strips. And no, the lights have not ever dimmed because of power demands from the audio gear.

If you wish to be cautious, yes, go with a dedicated circuit. Some people swear by them. Many of us get by without them.

A question along these same lines. When I built my house I had them install a dedicated circuit for my 755. However, I just noticed they installed a 15 amp breaker on the line. Would I benefit from switching the 15 amp breaker to a 20 amp? I have never tripped the 15 amp.

The capacity of the circuit breaker is based on the rating of the wiring carrying the current from the breaker. Unless the wiring that was installed is rated for 20 amps or more, merely changing the breaker from 15 amps to 20 is not an option that keeps you within code.

If you are concerned with the sum total of the current being drawn via that breaker, a qualified person can measure the current being drawn under maximum conditions and advise you.

To add to bestbang4thebuck's response, I'd suggest that 15A is almost certainly just fine.

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

the 755 being played at extremely loud levels is drawing around 4 to 5 amps, so 15 a 15 amp ckt. should not be a problem at all, unless you have several devices pulling high current on that circuit.

I had the same question when I bought my amp as I was concerned about running my entire room off a single 15 amp breaker. I usually keep my computer running ( approx 250 watts ), a large screen tv, the HT system including the LFM-1 subwoofer and 755 amp, etc etc and it gets quite loud at times and i have never blown a circuit breaker!

Bandit. I'm not entirely clear on your response but it appears to me that you are recommending that a person go to their fuse/breaker box and just randomly replace a fuse/breaker with a higher rated one? If that is indeed what you are saying this has to be by far the worst advise I have ever seen posted on any internet board! For god's sake man, are you serious? Circuits are designed based on National Electrical Code and/or local codes. These codes have been developed over the course of the last century to protect people and property. The fuses/breakers are spec'd out for a very good reason, to keep your house from burning down. Overloading a circuit intentionally while impairing the safety net built into that circuit is at best foolhardy and at worst a criminal act that could get people hurt or killed.

I'd have to confirm with my EE co-workers to be certain, but if your 14/2 wire is only rated for 15A then you would want to use a breaker that was rated for 15A (or less, assuming you could find a 10A breaker). The idea is to count on the breaker tripping before the amperage in the line gets higher than the wiring and devices downstream are rated for. With a 20A breaker on a circuit that uses wire rated for only 15A, you could exceed the wire's rating without tripping the breaker.

I'll do my homework, but maybe a licenced electrician would be better to advise on this subject. That way if I did something wrong I'll be more appreciative of the heads up.

Hullguy is an licensed electrician, so if he wanders past this thread he might be able to shed some light on the subject. In the interim, here\'s a good FAQ I found on google that offers some guidelines. It includes a wire size chart about half way down the page. The chart gives the following values: 14ga for 15A, 12ga for 20A, 10ga for 30A, 8ga for 40A, and 6ga for 65A. It also recommends increasing wire size for runs longer than 100 feet. Based on that, a 20A circuit should use 12ga wire. If it's long run, it should use 10ga.

Circuit breakers are interchangeable because it makes electrical panels significantly less expensive. The same space in the panel can hold a 15A breaker or a 20A breaker, and two spaces can be used for larger breakers. This interchangeability should not be construed as suggesting that you can swap out different sized breakers any time you want. The installer must still make sure that the wiring used for each circuit is properly sized for the length of run and the load.

Nutone can of course sell their units, but when they say "20A circuit" they mean the entire circuit, including wiring. If you don't have a 20A circuit available, they assume you will either run one or pay to have one run. If you don't run one, it would be better to keep the 15A breaker - it would be more likely to be tripped under certain circumstances, but it would also reduce the risk of overheating that 14ga conductor (thereby reducing the risk of fire). Outlaw recommends a 20A circuit for the 770 because its power supply is capable of using 20A of power if it is available and there is a call for it. Most 770's are connected to 15A circuits and typically share that circuit with other devices, but they still work because the 770 does not "need" that full 20A under normal circumstances. If you had a system where you were trying to wring a full 1400W of power out of the 770 at one time, you would need to either put in a dedicated 20A circuit or get used to resetting the 15A breaker. Of course, that would also require some severely loud listening levels, some very unusual source material, and probably some pretty inefficient speakers.

Speaking of speakers, I'm running my Studio 60's and CC470 on large, and surrounds on small, oh I also have a Klipsch RSW 10" Sub, 385 Watts w/front and rear firing woofers.

If I get the 755, do you think my system would benefit from the Outlaw Audio ICBM-1, according to the Outlaw write up, it's more for large fronts with no sub, or a satleite system with a sub?? My Sony STRDA3ES suprising has allot of high, mid and bass management for a receiver.

Time for spring in new orleans....and I'll celebrate with a new amp!!

I used the 750 (the 755's predecessor) with the Studio/60's set to large for a year or so (prior to getting a subwoofer) with very good results. I would have no qualms about recommending it - especially if you are currently driving them with a receiver. As for multichannel, well, that's pretty much the 755's reason for being, and it does it well.

I don't know much about the Sony's bass management, but the ICBM is intended to provide flexible bass management (separate crossover adjustment for front, center, surround, and surround back) for any sort of speaker combination.

I am currently running 7 M200s, my sub amp, my RPTV, the rest of my components and the room lights on a 15amp circuit. I have never tripped the circuit. In the kitchen, however, a microwave and the refrigerator share a circuit that I have tripped. I am not an electrician. But I did a fair amount of research on this topic before running some electrical circuits in a basement. In exposed space, I was required, by code, to run 20amp circuits.

If you want a 20amp circuit, you need a 20 amp breaker, 12 gauge wiring and a 20 amp receptacle. The code is very clear that is NOT ok to use 14 gauge wiring for a 20amp circuit. Today, 12 gauge Romex has yellow outer sheathing while 14 gauge Romex has white outer sheathing.

I’m sure the code has a lot of over-kill built into it. Although most places use the standardized code, they do not have to. I see that Bandit is from New Orleans, and Louisiana does have a different legal system vs. the rest of the country. So I do not know if the advice Bandit got from the home inspector is acceptable where HE lives. I do know that it is NOT acceptable where I live. As Wharf Rat said, I believe you are opening yourself up to legal liability, if damage is caused by work that wasn’t up to code.

Since I have an "affliction" for knowledge (wonder if there's a support group?) and have a pretty good background in building codes because of work, I checked into Louisiana's codes. The state-adopted codes are the 2000 International Building Code, the 1999 National Electric Code, and the 2003 NFPA. IBC is becoming the national standard (Tennessee is adopting it in place of the Standard Building Code this summer because SBC is being phased out). NEC and NFPA are both widespread and have been for quite some time.

gonk, if you really need help with your "problem", perhaps writing all that knowledge down on paper would help.staple it together,call it GONK:THE OUTLAW,and sell it through the outlaw store.i'll preorder mine now!

Always remember that the sole purpose of a breaker (Main or Circuit) is to protect what it is feeding. In most cases the breaker is feeding an electrical wire (Circuit), except for the MAIN breaker, which protects the electrical BUS bars in the breaker box to what the breaker box, is rated for (i.e. 100A, 200A, etc.).

If you did put a larger BREAKER on a smaller gauge wire (NOTE: The higher the # the smaller the wire) then you have put that given circuit at risk of getting the wire hot which could cause it to melt or worse, catch on fire.

So with that being said, you should NEVER increase the breaker size unless you are FOR SURE that the wire meets the gauge requirements for the circuit.

GONK has the correct gauge sizes above...

Also, if running all equipment on the same circuit, it is not a bad idea to get something like a Monster Power HTS 2600 or some other type of power stabilizing device.

http://www.monstercable.com/power/lineRefPower.asp

This has circuitry to help protect the sensitive equipment while higher current devices like an AMP need that immediate power.