AC Dedicated Line

Thank you guys!

Im sorry, may be I wasn't clear enough.

The main power of my home is triphasic and, from the main board, all the monophasic circuits are connected to somehow balance each phase with similar current.

All the circuits share the same neutral. Its been running ok since 10 years and the electricity bill is cheaper here with triphasic. 

I first thought that connecting each of the three circuits to a different phase would provide better results as each one would be better isolated from the rest. Nevertheless, I think I find millercarbon's advice very useful and I will make it simple and just run one circuit with dedicated ground for the whole system and the subs.

PS: I already have two budget power conditioners (AC filter and a DC Blocker) and they are doing a great job, but at nights, when the power is cleaner, the sound is just so incredible that I want to give it a shot and try this dedicated circuit to see if it makes a difference. Many people claim that it helps a lot. 

I don’t agree that running 1 - 20amp circuit is all you need. Without knowing all the equipment you have today or you will get in the future, why only put in 1 circuit when running wire for 2 or more circuits isn’t that much more?
I agree, you need to see how much power you are pulling when everything gets powered up. To do this, have an electrician place their meter around the wire in the box to see the actual amps you are pulling. I did this 20 years ago and you would be surprised to see how many actual amps you draw. 
On top of that, you want to give yourself some headroom, meaning if you are pulling 12 -15 amps, I would go with multiple dedicated circuits.
I built my last 2 houses with dedicated listening rooms and each room I had them pull 4 dedicated 20 amp circuits, I think it cost me $450 for these. Better to do it before the drywall goes up or it gets much more expensive

Use a separate common for  each circuit from the receptical to the power board. You should consider a quality power condishiner.  I hooked one up to my tube amp and all the hum dissapeared without any need for extra wiring . I was going to do the same thing as you have planned. Good luck. 

I would just add to the foregoing comments that using a single neutral run for the three dedicated lines, all of which would presumably be on a single phase in your country, would seem likely to negate whatever benefit having multiple dedicated lines might otherwise provide. As indicated in the preceding post whatever amount of current is conducted by the hot wire that is connected to a given component is also conducted by the neutral wire that is connected to that component. So commingling the AC currents drawn by all of the components in that single neutral wire would seem likely to make the three dedicated lines essentially non-dedicated in terms of any potential benefits.

Regards,
-- Al

With AC the neutral wire carries as much amperage as the hot wire (the current goes back and forth). You cant hook up 3 hots to one neural and expect the neutral line to carry 3X the current. And how were you planning on wiring one neutral to three different breakers?
Were you planning on using just one 4 strand romex and using 3 as hots and one as neutral. I am pretty sure that would be against all codes in any country. You would be better off installing two outlets with the 4 strand cable with one hot and one neural to every breaker.(assuming that is allowed). Two 20 amp breakers should be more than enough for any sane system. You don’t need 60 amps with incorrect wiring.

Okay, actual experience here. Installed panels, drilled holes, run wires, done it all. Run my system off the conventional wiring, then ran my own dedicated line, upgraded that with a transformer, built my own- well you get it. I know what I'm talking about.

The 3 circuits you are planning are almost guaranteed to be a waste of time and money and even worse than that create more hum. Electricity always seeks the least resistance. The subs and all the rest of your system are all connected together. If it all has one ground on one circuit no problem. Using three there will be three paths to ground which almost guarantees hum.

One mistake often made is to take the wattage or amperage of each component and add them all up and assume that is how much power you need the circuit to handle. But almost never do any of them draw full power. And even less often do they draw it all at once. People think of playing full volume. When in fact the greatest power draw is usually right when first turned on. That is when the component power supply is empty and so that is when it draws full power for a second or two as the caps charge. So worst case is not blasting full power music. Worst case is having everything turned on and plugged into one switch and then you flip the switch. Even then worst that happens it trips a breaker.

Hope I made the point. You will get by just fine with one circuit. One 20A for sure. According to the interweb Argentina uses 220-240V so using a 20A with 240V is equivalent to a 40A with the 120V we have here in the States. My whole system runs on the equivalent of one 15A circuit so for sure you will be okay with 20A. 10A even should do you fine.

Whatever you decide, use whatever gauge wire and breaker Argentina code says is required for that load. 

Ideally you would run the one circuit to your system, connect a power conditioner, and plug everything into the conditioner. 

The extra dedicated earth ground may or may not help. My system uses one but it also uses a step-down transformer so its a special case. Before that when it was on a dedicated circuit, everything the same except the transformer, I used it both ways- common house ground and dedicated system ground. Never did notice the ground made any difference. It has however been reported to cause problems for some people. If it was me I would not go to the trouble unless there were ground/noise problems. Even then I would do my best to eliminate all other causes first.

So run just one circuit for your system. Then run another circuit for everything else in the room- lights, outlets, etc. As long as you are careful to make sure nothing connected to your system gets plugged into any of those outlets you should be fine.

 

You should consult or hire an electrician. If you run 3 lines of Romex 12/2, you will connect at the service panel to 3 separate circuit breakers (typically 20 amp).
Each line should have it’s own neutral and ground from wall receptacle to circuit panel. Plus this way the lines can all be wired to the same leg, or phase.

Cleeds states an important reason why you shouldn't share neutral and ground. Possible code violation and  sound quality may suffer.

You should check your local code. In the US, if you’re sharing neutrals, you’d need to have each of the circuits connected so that if one trips, they all trip, such as by using double breakers. That means the lines would be on different legs, which many think isn't ideal. I think common audiophile advice would recommend against doing that.