I have a Panamax M8C-EX on the way. It has 8 outlets, but should I plug all my components into it? I have a rear-projection 51" HDTV, Toshiba HD-DVD player, Onkyo 6.1 receiver, powered 8" sub, and motorola dtc 6200 cable box. Is it ok to plug all of these into one strip? Sorry for the noobish question, but unfortunately I am new.
You should not really worry about how many plug ins your strip has, but how many devices are going into a single circuit for your house's power distribution. Most of these circuits have either 15 or 20 amp breaker switches, some have 30, just look on the breaker that trips the circuit for your HT room (there may be more than one) and look at it, will display 15, 20, or 30.
So wattage = volts * amps
So, for most of North America your talking 120v per circuit, which means your looking at PROBABLY 15 * 120 = 1800 w, now we are not done yet... you should not exceed 80% of that number for total appliances wattage, so fudge it down to 1440. Now comes the fun part, add up the wattage of EVERY appliance hooked into that circuit (even light bulbs, use the max wattage for those, i.e. 40, 60 75, or 100). Your smaller devices like DVD players, tuners etc, prolly won't use a lot but your receiver, powered sub, TV will, just look at the back of them and read the specs plate, then add 'em all up. If you exceed 1440, try finding another circuit to spread the love around. The easiest way to find this, is trip the breaker to your system's outlets, then run around the room with a lamp in hand and plug it in to all the other outlets until it works, then you found another circuit.