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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
robert53
461 posts
 
Installing one Cardas AC receptacle for my Shunyata Venom PS8 made a noticeable improvement, so I can only imagine what a dedicated line would do. It's worth it just to eliminate power fluctuations and noise caused by appliances, if any are on the same circuit.
joemacsp's avatar
joemacsp
18 posts
 
Having a dedicated ground is the key! Improved background noise Bigly in my house!
I have had tube amps and SS improvement with all!

wwaterman2's avatar
wwaterman2
26 posts
 
I actually have experience with this! Had a very nice large A.B.B. control system installed at a storm water station and any little thing would send it into alarm. What we did not know was if you have anything on the circuit with capacitors or high on off frequency you will get ringing in the circuit and cause frequency distortion. Turns out hospitals, inspection terminals and microwaves will do this. So, with all that said the electrician is wrong and their is a gain to having a clean, dedicated circuit for you system. 
alfa100's avatar
alfa100
221 posts
 
I have I dedicated line for each of my Pass Labs mono blocks and a third for my digital kit.  Also a dedicated earth rod direct into my garden.   I heard the difference.   If I move house I will definitely do this for my Hifi .    And cheap compared to the price of my components.  
wwoodrum
55 posts
 
Let's face it, there are people who can't hear as well as others can. And there's a fair amount of training of the ears as far as the audiophile journey goes. I'd compare it to the way an artist experiences the art of others as opposed to some poor slob looking at a pretty picture.

Those people laugh and even ridicule sometimes. Who cares! Sometimes I don't know whether to feel sorry for them or envy them. But I like this hobby, and listening to and enjoying my system and my attempts to improve it make me happy.

I'm in the process of putting in an independent ground to my system. I can't tell you how much improvement it will make as yet, but I'm looking forward to finding out. (Putting in a dedicated circuit isn't an option at this point.)

Good luck.
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