Hi Alex,
Will having everything on a dedicated circuit limit the current available for the components vs. having certain pieces on separate (shared) circuits.?
Of course it will. But while it may seem advantageous in concept to run your HT equipment off of separate circuits, I can think of at least two reasons not to do so.
First is grounding. Separate circuits have the potential for introducing a grounding differential when all the components get connected together that may introduce an annoying 60 cycle hum. While Bryston components are engineered to be far less susceptible to this effect than most other brands, why tempt fate? :>)
Second is the controlled lighting and “other appliances”. Dimmers are notorious for introducing spurious noise into the power circuit and it is typically not a good idea to have HT/music equipment connected to the same circuit(s). Refrigerators and microwave ovens are also prime suspects for muddying the power circuits they are on, causing fluctuations when they cycle – so you don’t really want any of your components on the same circuit with them either.
Currently (so to speak) I have three Bryston 7B SSTs connected to one power circuit and so far, have not tripped the breaker. I might add that I also have a Bryston SP2, a Class A stereo power amp of a different brand and my universal player connected to the same circuit. (However, my front projector is on a different circuit, connected through a pure sine wave UPS.) Of course, it would be impossible to max out all these amps at one time, given the limitations of a single 15 amp circuit, but I am not planning to open a techno club in my HT any time soon. ;> )
So my advice is to try connecting your Bryston gear, the Velo sub and the source components on the circuit that does
NOT have the dimmers on it. Probably the TV, too. Try connecting the SP1.7 and amps using the 12c volt trigger mechanism. (Sp1.7 to one amp, then "daisy chain" the 12 volt trigger input on other amp or a 12 volt triggered power strip -- see recent thread on that -- that the amp is plugged into controlled from the 12 volt trigger output on first amp.) This will avoid having everything power up at once and thus reduce the chances of popping the breaker.
If you find that you overly tax the circuit with that combo, you may want to have an electrician run another circuit for the TV (since microwave ovens or refrigerators cycling can really play havoc with a video image), or have the electrician yank out the dimmers on one of the other circuits and get a ground isolation circuit device such as Klipsch’s Mondial “Magic Box” to use on the cable/antenna input for the broadcast video sources.
Hope that helps.
Burke
