Electrical question


While playing music I noticed my amp fell from 120 volts to 112 when the wife turned the microwave on…they must be on the same circuit..is that going to damage anything?…

charles007100

Sounds like your microwave and audio system are sharing the same circuit.   Less than ideal, but the temporary voltage drop should not cook your audio gear.   If this is prolonged, and your audio gear has a weak power supply, then it could cause premature failures of sensitive integrated circuits (chips).

Sonically, I would expect you would hear it, and that would annoy me to no end.   You could try AC regenerators, but the real solution is that both the microwave and your audio system should be on independent dedicated electrical circuits.

Once again there seems to be a lot of people who can't read or, and this is more likely, want to act like they know what's best and post info that isn't necessary nor asked for. Every, dang, time.

At the least need to get the microwave off that line..with the Pass XA-25 amp and First watt sit-4 going with the Pass pre-amp Dac and tv it maintains 119 to 118 volts…when my wife turns on the microwave and I am yelling at her don’t do it if falls to 113 to 112..

Hello charles007100!  Normal voltages in the USA run 110 - 120 volts AC. Do you take showers when the washing machine is running? Have you felt the surge of cooler water on your delicate hide? Did you survive? Don't sweat the small stuff! A surge is much worse that a drip of 10%. If your gear has reguated power supplies, it won't even notice a small fluctuation. We had a fire that damaged the power lines. The bulb in the bathroom night light actully scorched the wall paper behind it. I measured surges of 165 volts. All my gear survived. Relax! Enjoy the music.

@boomerbillone I usually have the Panamax where I can’t see the Volt meter which is on the same line where some stuff is plugged in when she turned on the microwave on it freaked me out. It’s been doing this for quite a while didn’t notice it before. Probably just get the microwave on a different line.