# Power Requirements



## chris0228 (Feb 25, 2014)

We built a new house. Only have 1 15 amp circuit run to my media room. Pretty sure that's not enough. Will be putting a 7.2 channel system in, standard AVR, BDP, Proj, Sat, power chairs, 2x PB-2000s, and a few small things like Apple TV, Sonos Connect, etc. What are your suggestions for what I need to have my electrician add to this room? Thx.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

chris0228 said:


> We built a new house. Only have 1 15 amp circuit run to my media room. Pretty sure that's not enough. Will be putting a 7.2 channel system in, standard AVR, BDP, Proj, Sat, power chairs, 2x PB-2000s, and a few small things like Apple TV, Sonos Connect, etc. What are your suggestions for what I need to have my electrician add to this room? Thx.


I would say you need a 20 amp circuit as a minimum. Do you have all the equipment yet? You could look at the specs of all the pieces, and total up what the max is (you will want more capability than your power needs are for future expansion), and then give that info to your electrician. If you are using in-efficient speakers, and use large amps you could need more than 1 20 amp circuit or a 30 amp circuit. In our HT we are never using more than 6 amps (not including the projector) and that is while watching at reference levels, but my least efficient speaker is 100 db so we are not using more than a couple of watts per channel on peaks (except for the subs of course). We have 2 20 amp circuits in the room for our outlets... 1 for the equipment rack, projector and power seats, and another for our lighting (all LED lights).


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

it honestly depends on your equipment and if you're just using a receiver or multiple power amps. running just a receiver and and a couple subs with all that equipment, you'll be more than fine. but if you're adding in several power amps that opens up a whole nother can of worms...it's actually really simple. just ask your electrician to add in another 20 amp circuit or two to the existing breaker box. not hard


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

As long as he's there running stuff, I would use the existing 15A for convenience outlets. 

Add a 20A for lighting pending how many and what type
Add at least one 20A if not 2 for the AV equipment. Make sure these are on the same 110v leg

If you're going to have power recliners, power screen masking, etc., add a 15A for that and make sure that the lighting, chairs, and utility outlets are on the other 110v leg.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

If you use a Playstation or Xbox they are power hungry... They use as much power as my 4520 does.


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

Whether 15A or higher, it's always a good idea to keep amplifier mains separate from the source components. It's especially important to to keep anything with motors (i.e. your chairs, screen, etc.) off of the same circuit as the A/V gear. At minimum, choose a good power conditioning/isolation. 

As long as you have a qualified electrician at hand, you may want to consider installing either whole-home or at least media-room surge protection installed at the breaker box. These are often more effective at combating electronic disturbances which wear down your electronics over time.


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## video1 (Aug 9, 2014)

My feeling is the first thing that has to be done by the OP is to determine his power needs. These will mostly be driven by the kind of amplification his speakers require. Is he running multiple subwoofers? Are his speakers high or low efficiency? How many channels of amplification is he running? What other equipment is he running?

I had the electrician fun 4 dedicated 20 amp circuits to the media closet. That's because I have low efficiency Bohlender Greaebner Radia 520 speakers in a multi-channel setup. My amp puts out an honest 245w/ch x 5. I was going to put in a 7.2 system but may do an Atmos setup.

Now I found out about diysoundgroup's speakers and they're super efficient - so much so that my ATI amp is overkill. So I may not need those 20 amp circuits.

Figure out what kind of power you need before you put it in.


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## phillihp23 (Mar 14, 2012)

1 circuit for lighting.
1 circuit for projector (video)
1 circuit for reciever, cable box etc. (multiple outlets in av area)
1 circuit for subs and accesories around room (multiple outlets around room)

I have eight outlets in my theater room. And run off 4 circuits.
1 in my AV area that hooks to a surge/power unit with multiple outlets going to a circuit.
1 on the ceiling for the projector on its own circuit.
Lighting is straight to box on own circuit.
6 around room on own circuit. (two outlets in front for subs, two outlets in back incase i add subs, 2 outlets about mid room for accesories, laptop etc.)


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Anything that is connected to the AV system should be on 1 or more circuits that are on the same 110v leg of the box. Anything that is not, especially things like lights with dimmers, utility outlets that will have items not tied to the AV system, circuits that have motors like the kitchen, furnace, etc. should be on the other 110v leg. 

This helps with ground noise issues as well as other noise from motors, dimmers, switching power supplies, etc.


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## jnt412 (Aug 28, 2014)

OP,

The list of equipment you could be adding in your theater, seems to determine you most likely need 20a. Determine the wattage of the equipment and make a determination of either 20a or 15a. Sound like 20a to me.

I have 3 20a feeds going into my HT. 
1 - GrafikEye (lights)
2 - Subwoofer, projector, 20a outlet in riser, 20a outlet in equipment room, deadvent (HVAC/in-line fans)
3 - Outlet in equipment room (mainly for av equipment).

No need to run 15a here.. and 20a there. Go with one or the other in the room...


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Not to rain on the parade but I have all my gear on two dedicated 15amp circuits in my theater (see signature) and have used a clamp on amp meter with everything on and running at reference levels and have never gone above 3.5 amps on the one and 4.5 amps on the other (confirmed also by the meter displays on my two Ethereal power centres). I was actually rather surprised how little I was actually using. 
Two dedicated 15amp circuits is plenty. I agree keeping lights and chairs off of those circuits is a good plan.


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