Power strips.... (1 Viewer)

[Danny_JP]

I've heard somewhere that recievers and subwoofers are limited in the power they can put out by the normal house jacks that we use (which are 180W jacks). Now, I only have 2 wall plugs in the general area of my home theater system, which includes a powered sub, tv, xbox, etc, so I need a powerstrip to get juice to everything. Does a powerstrip divide that 180W between the things plugged into it? If that is the case, than plugging either my 150W RMS Subwoofer or my reciever into the powerstrip wouln't be a good idea I would guess, because my tv and other crap is going to take juice away. Plus, would it be dangerous for me to do so, in terms of the powerstrip getting fried I mean...

Thx in advance

 

[John Garcia]

There is a post that completely covers this in the tweaks & connections forum.

 

[Danny_JP]

Oops. sorry. I did run a search on powerstrips, but came up empty handed.

Edit: actually, that thread only covers surges. Doesn't quite answer my other question about dividing wattage.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Danny,

Not really sure what you mean by “180w house jacks,” but generally power strips are rated for the capacity of the outlet they’re plugged into, or less. This means if you have a 15-amp wall plug, the total load of the items plugged into the strip should not exceed 15-amps. Many strips have built-in circuit breakers to assure this.

That aside, most power strips are pretty cheesy. I’ve dissected a few of them, and the build quality is pretty scary. If you must use one, get one that real electrical outlets built-in (i.e., look like what’s in the wall at your house).

Another device you might consider is one that plugs into a regular wall outlet and expands it to six plugs

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Bob McElfresh]

If you mean: "Does a 4-outlet power strip only provide 1/4 of the wall power to each device?" - the answer is no.

All the devices plugged into the power strip share the AVAILABLE power.

The AC wall power was designed/rated to drive 3-phase motors. (like the funny 3-prong plug on your electric dryer) This is a very different application from modern electronics, let alone home theater electronics.

The power-strip or wall-outlet are usually not the problem when it comes to power.

The problem is this: lots of low-frequency sound appears like a direct short-circuit to the electronics. You have a amp/receiver with AC power on one side that it pulls power from, and a nearly direct short on the other side that it provides power to.

The electronics in the middle cannot handle the high-current/power needs for more than a few continous seconds without over heating.

 

[Kris_T]

I am a newb to all of this but a simple solution to your problem may be a Monster Power center...I purchased a Monster Power 5100 and it is a huge improvement in providing power to my system. Picture is clearer, sound is noticably better (no tremendously but noticably). System is a bit pricey $699 but I may consider selling it and upgrading to the 7100. Let me know if you are interested. Email me: [email protected]

 

[Kevin. W]

Your wall socket is probably rated at 15A or 3000watts. This is standard in North America. Most powerstrips are rated to 15A and basically take the power from the socket it and supply it to the sockets of the powerstrip. You'll hookup your components to the powerstrip and they'll draw the power needed. You'll be lucky if your setup would draw more than 3A at any given time. My setup consists of:

Panasonic 47RPTV
Pioneer 56TXi
NAD S250(5x125W)
DVD player
Monster HTPS 7000
Monster AVS 2000
Paradigm Studio(v3) 40/20/570

Maximum power draw while watching a movie is 3A.

Just don't go cheap on your powercord. Checkout a MonsterCable HTS1000mkII or Belkin, Panamax equivalents. Don't go for those cheap under $20 ones.

Kevin

 

[chuckg]

Yikes! A little math error here and there, and things look bad.

Most electrical outlets in homes are 15A rated. Some are 20 Amp rated. Let's just say 15 amp, for example. 15 Amp x 120 Volt = 1800 Watts. Somebody left out a zero up there, somebody else multiplied in some new way. Your wall outlet supplies 1800 Watts, plus or minus a few.

Now, how much power does all your equipment together require? You need to add up the "wattages" on the name plates. If they report "amps" then just multiply the amperage by 120 Volts to get watts (more or less - not all places have exactly 120 Volts, but it will be fine).

Less than 1800? fine.

Now, there is another little twist. Your audio amplifier is probably the biggest power hog in the pile. But, gues what, it is usually running at MUCH LESS than what the name plate says. Don't confuse the audio output power with electrical input power -- it's more of a guideline than actual rules)

PLUS the outlet will give you quite a bit more than 1800 watts for a moment - it might take a minute or so at 1800 watts to trip a breaker.

I say get a decent-quality power strip and don't worry too much about it. Anything with "monster" in the name is priced to pay for the fancy label, not necessarily for better stuff.

 

[Chu Gai]

I was in a gentlemen's establishment not too long ago and paid $10 for a power strip. I must take issue with Wayne's statement as the build quality looked pretty good from where I was sitting and got to examine it from various angles. Might be different down in Texas though

 

[Robert Cowan]

it depends more on your system than you think...

ive had many power stuff in the past. im still waiting to see what i need to do for my power needs, but going beyond the power strip makes some pretty big differences.

at one time i had dual hts5100's. i had two of them because of the amps in my system. i had one for video, and one for audio. they DO limit the current. you can notice it on higher powered amps.

i got rid of thse because it was just too much with too little benefit. they did clean up the signal, but i didnt like the idea that i had to have two of them.

i now have a single hts3500 that im making do with until i can get a richard gray piece. its amazing that when i have my subs plugged into the power center, it sounds terrible. they just draw too much power for the filter to handle.

typically, a large tv and a receiver and sub will be fine for a monster piece. but anything more than that will run into the current limiting problem. if you dont want to have all those issues, go with a decent surge protector like panamax or something.

most of all this is really insignificant if you dont use a TON of power. my system drains the wall outlet right now. i can see the power meter on my power center dropping from 120v down to around 105v with large bass notes. i really NEED something. however, things like the AVS2000 are much too slow to compensate for something like that. so, dont worry about it. get a $50 power strip and be happy.

 

[joseFMJ]

I use Tripplite Ultra surge bars, average price around 50$ and does the job.

 

[Chu Gai]

Presumably those bass notes are being fed by the capacitors in your amp.

 

[Kevin. W]

My AVS2000 has no problem keeping the voltage within spec. Have yet see readout on my 7000 dip. Stays at a steady reading throughout.

Kevin

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Kevin,

It only means that Robert’s amplifiers and/or system demands are greater than yours.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Robert Cowan]

wayne hit it on the head... i have dual subs, and 4 separate amps on the same circuit with the tv and everything else. in addition, my speakers are 4ohm, 85dB sensitivity, and the room is 20' x 25' x 15'. so, it takes a lot of juice.

Chu,

im not sure if the caps are feeding those bass notes. if they were, i wouldnt see a drop in the voltage. OR, the voltage drop could be them recharging... BUT, the bass notes are coming from the subs, which are class D plate amps, which dont have much in the way of psu filtering caps.

kevin,

monster doesnt lie in thier specs, nor am i claiming that they do. ask the monster reps (not salespeople), but an actual monster salesperson/technician. they will be pretty upfront that their equipment limits the current of your gear, IF you are using a lot of juice. bryston amps HATE running with monster for some reason. its different for all systems. my rotels dont mind it at all, but my velodyne plate amps hate it. they sound VERY muddy plugged into the monster (its a HUGE difference). but they rotels sound the same...

and as for the AVS2000, unless you are drawing a TON of power from the wall, you would have steady power. that variac (due to mechanical limiations) can only move so fast. when a huge bass note hits on my system, i can see the meter moving pretty darn fast. it dips almost 10v sometimes. with the system off, the power is DEAD steady. so my system is really draining it. the avs2000 would have a very hard time with thie particular situation because it has a slight lag to move the variac, and by the time its there, that surge is gone, and it would need to move back. for smaller transients and for a general sag it works like a charm.

every system is different. im sure it works wonders for you, but not every piece is perfect for everyone. thats all im trying to get across.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

That’ll for sure do it! You might want to consider a couple of dedicated circuits, of you don’t have them already...

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Robert Cowan]

i have ONE dedicated circuit, but thats all. i dont own the house, so i cant add in more circuits. but, when i buy a house, i certainly will!