I am confused about 15A and 20A current.

Now, now don't take the Rotel back. This amp can't be drawing that much juice. What all else do you have plugged into this circuit? Or what all else shuts off then the circuit breaker pops? You might be able to simply rearrange things in your home and place them on different circuits.

Marty

Midfi,

Don't return anything just yet. Maybe I'm off base here, but it sounds to me like you are tripping the breaker with inrush current. When you first power on that amp, all the caps inside must charge and do so very quickly. This can cause a perfectly functioning circuit to trip as the initial momentary current exceeds the breaker's rating. However, those same caps discharge slowly unless drained.

I would suggest you try this: Power on the amp (with your pre off). If the breaker trips, turn the amp off then reset the breaker, then turn the amp back on. My guess is that after the breaker trips once (maybe twice), it doesn't trip again...until you turn the amp off for awhile and turn it back on. Instead of turning the amp off, leave it on all the time...it's better for the longevity of your electronics, anyway. Hope that helps and let us all know if that works...

Could the tripping maybe be from a worn out circuit breaker ?

I had a circuit breaker that seemed to trip too easily so I replaced it with a new one of the same vaule. The problem went away.

I have just completed development on a 15 to 20 amp "current upsampler" with breakthrough, patented, capacitorization technology. Let me kow if you are interested.

Enough has been written about the reasons why one should not change a 15 amp breaker to a 20 amp so I'll just add my 2 cents about a comment on 12-3 for the 20 amp circut. 12-2 is all that's needed. 12-2 has a black and white conductors plus a bare wire for ground. 12-3 has an additional red conductor. Small point sure, just don't want someone to look at their wire and think it's wrong.