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Dedicated 20 amp circuit - Electrician laughed!

I brought my electrician out to my house today to show him where I would like to install a dedicated 20a circuit for my system.  He laughed and said that's the stupidest thing he's heard and laughs when people talk about it.  It said, if you're going to do it, you have to have it separately grounded (shoving a new 8 foot rod into the ground) but even then, he sees no way there can be an audible improvement.

Now, he's not just an electrician though. He rebuilds tube amps on the side and tears apart amps and such all the time so he's quite well versed in audio electronics and how they operate.

He basically said anyone who thinks they hear a difference is fooling themselves.  

Personally, I'm still not sure, I'm no engineer, my room's not perfect, and I can't spend hours on end critical listening...  But, he does kinda pull me farther to the "snake oil" side and the "suggestive hearing" side (aka, you hear an improvement because you want to hear it).

I'm not taking a side here but I thought it was interesting how definitive he was that this not only WILL not make a difference but ALMOST CANNOT make a difference. 
dtximages

Showing 4 responses by arrwax

arrwax
11 posts
 
Also make sure the U.P.S.power cord / outlet are "twist lock".
arrwax
11 posts
 
I would ask if a 20amp dedicated circuit is enough? What is the total current draw of all your devices? 

How about a quality, properly sized U.P.S.? The correct U.P.S. will provide protection from Spikes, Sags in voltage, and filtering there by providing you "clean" power to any device you plug in.

In the normal mode most U.P.S.s would be running off battery and the line power will be charging the batteries.

One other thing to remember is "ground is ground the whole world round"
arrwax
11 posts
 
In the old days there were 3 main ground sources that could be available in residential construction. I is not uncommon to use more than one should any source go open.

1. electrical panel ground which is most likely a metal cold water pipe comming from the street side of the meter with a strap around the meter.
2. a ground rod driven to the proper depth, also based on the moisture     content of the soil at that point.
3. attach the ground with proper ground clamp to a metal electrical conduit if grounded, on the outside of the home

arrwax
11 posts
 
It appears as if your Electrician is not familiar with mission critical installations.
I wonder if he would have laughed if you told him you were going to be running a computer that required a 99999  reliability rating.

There are many electricians out there however, they all don't have the same level of experience!
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