20A power conditioner on 15A line?

[Willief23]

I was wondering if a 20 amp power conditioner would be fine on a 15amp line? None of my gear or power cords are 20amp. My power amp pulls the most power but its only pulling between 700-800 watts since I only use it to power 3 speakers. I have had an audio company in the past say its fine to run something that is 20amp if your equipment only pulls 15amp since the equipment is what pulls the power. let me know your thoughts on this.

[mcpaf76]

Yes, I do just that. This is less of an audio question than a basic NEC electrical code question. If you draw less than 15 amps you're fine. Current draw is dictated by the devices themselves hooked up to the conditioner, not the conditioner. If you draw more, the safe design of electrical code dictates you should blow the breaker before exceeding anything wire, or receptacle related. Keep in mind a 20 amp cord to feed the conditioner with appropriate connector is usually required.

[Puma Cat]

Yep, been doing it for years...

My Shunyata Everest works just fine with using a Shunyata Sigma XC power cord on a 15 amp line. And....Everest provides in incredible and rather astonishing improvement in performance to the system, as a whole.

[cleeds]

You'd be fine doing this but - all other things being equal - you may very likely get better results from installing a dedicated line first.

[edkoz]

Originally Posted by cleeds

You'd be fine doing this but - all other things being equal - you may very likely get better results from installing a dedicated line first.

[prepress]

Are there other power-hungry appliances or devices on this line besides the stereo? If so, be mindful of total current draw with everything running. My system was on a 15A line (later upgraded to 20A) as well (the apartment has only two lines), and not on it alone, but I had no problems due to the low draw of my system.

If you are able a dedicated line is a good idea, as mentioned previously.