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dedicated power circuit for amp

I have a mark levinson 336 driving a pair of b&w nautilus 802's. I have run a dedicated 30A circuit for the amp. I used #10 gauge solid wire. I swapped out the 30A breaker for a 100A breaker and the sound improvement is substantial. Deeper bass, more solid, and most of all, a much fuller sound. If I were reading this post right now I'd be thinking the same thing you are. But it's the truth... I am at a loss to explain it. I don't want to leave the 336 on a 100A circuit. So am going to replace the #10 gauge wire with some other wire that is stranded instead of solid. Probably #6 gauge. The run of wire is about 60 ft from fuse box to amp. Any one know who makes/sells really good wire for this type of application, or have any other ideas on why the 100A breaker sounds sooooo much better then the 30A breaker???

Thanks in advance.
jjurich

Showing 1 response by alexanderj

alexanderj
139 posts
 
My idea (I'm not a metalurgist and I didn't design your breakers)of why your 100 amp breaker sounds better is due to the construction of the breaker with it's bimetallic strip and contact surfaces both of which would be larger in a 100 amp breaker. For your safety and to stay code approved (6 gauge is still way to small for 100 A) you're going to have to put in some current limiting device somewhere before your amplifier. A simply constructed (not slo blo) cartridge type fuse may be a good option.

Besides a commercial electrical contractor you might want to contact mega buck home theatre specialists (in your area) for who they sub contract the electrical portion of their installations. Commercial contractors mostly use smaller fuses for motor protection, not specialized audio installs.
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