Average current draw of typical hifi system?

[Gazjam]

Lots of articles online about wattage, not a lot about current.
Just curious, looking into a mains related project.
What about valve kit...pulls more or less amps than solid state?

Thanks :)

[struth]

Divide the mains wattage by supply voltage to get max current draw. Ie.. 2400 watts divided by 240 volts is 10 amps max

[Ali Tait]

Your commercial kit should say, or you should be able to find out, the wattage rating. From this, as Grant says, you can work out the required current. Nick will advise on the amp.

In any case, the most a normal domestic supply can give is 100A, and often it's 60A - check what size the main circuit breaker or fuse is.

Your system will obviously draw far less than this, so as long as a suitably sized cable is used you will be fine.

[CageyH]

It's actually fairly small when used normally. When you wind the wick up, it may consume a little more.
I have a smart plug which I used to see what the current draw was, and in normal use mine was less than an amp.
10 amps seems excessive, but I guess it all depends on your system.

[Ali Tait]

The amp is Class A, so current draw is constant.

[DSJR]

At Hifi shows years ago, the biggest power amps used to have issues with the mains regulations for the hotel rooms. Many of these drew up to 8A on switch-on which was too much. I think these amps had to be pre-conditioned somehow. Idle current is far less I believe.

[Gazjam]

Thanks Guys,
Was asking as I wanted to rewire my entire system and the balanced mains setup with the solid core cable Marco uses.
It was rated up to 40A and just wanted to be sure. :)

I've done the re-wire throughout and everythings now hardwired with the same cable (Thanks Marco for the reccy) and happy to say its a big step up from the various bits of Lapp and other stranded cables of various sizes I had in there before.
Over the years I swapped and moved about a lot of kit so mains cables kinda got out of control.
Much tidier now and most importantly the systems sounding noticably better.
More grip at the lower end and the sound has opened up.

Was a lot of work and I've a vicious case of "screwdriver palm", but well worth it.
Result :)

[struth]

Thanks Guys,
Was asking as I wanted to rewire my entire system and the balanced mains setup with the solid core cable Marco uses.
It was 4rated up to 40A and just wanted to be sure. :)

I've done the re-wire throughout and everythings now hardwired with the same cable (Thanks Marco for the reccy) and happy to say its a big step up from the various bits of Lapp and other stranded cables of various sizes I had in there before.
Over the years I swapped and moved about a lot of kit so mains cables kinda got out of control.
Much tidier now and most importantly the systems sounding noticably better.
More grip at the lower end and the sound has opened up.

Was a lot of work and I've a vicious case of "screwdriver palm", but well worth it.
Result :)

sure it was the screwdriver ;)

[Gazjam]

sure it was the screwdriver ;)

I plead the fifth...