Dedicated Power Line - Directions for Electrician?


My understanding is that having a dedicated power line from where my electricity enters my house, to the outlet where I plug in my audio components would do a great deal to improve the sound I am getting from my system.

My guess, however, is that a regular electricion might not know optimal way to do this. How I can describe to the non-audiophile electician what kind of wiring, AMPS (110 or 220 or whatever) and set up to do.

Is there someone here who can tell me exactly what I need to do to have this work done is such a way that it will result in the best power set up for my system (Mac c-46, Mac 352, B&W 802D's)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
tomehunt

Showing 1 response by esoteric-audio

Not knowing your exact situation makes this difficult, but here are some guidelines:

The two obvious ones:

1) Install a 20A circuit
2) Use a high-grade receptacle. Some like the "hospital grade" receptacles and others (myself included) spent a ridiculous amount of money on audiophile grade receptacles. The most important thing here is that it be "isolated ground."

If you are having more than 1 circuit installed then the following are useful:

1) Install all audio circuits on the same phase leg
2) Ground all audio circuits to the same lug on the ground bar
3) Wire all neutrals to the same lug on the neutral bus

#2 and #3 may not be possible depending on the type of panel you have and whether or not your electrician feels like bending the code.

Other things that can be useful:

1) Install audio circuits into the first stabs in the panel (closest to the power feed)
2) Have your electrician check your ground. If he can't find rods, or you live in an older home then have him drive 2 8ft ground rods at least 8ft apart. The best location is in a place where the rods will get wet (mine get watered by the sprinklers).
3) Have your electrician check and tighten the screws to all outlets/light switches in the house. (This one can make a big difference)
4) Have your electrician move as many noisy things (refrigerator, computers, light dimmers, etc) to the other phase leg (the one that doesn't have the audio on it).

As you can see this can quickly get out of hand.

If I were you I aside from having the circuit installed I would have the grounds done and have all of the outlets/switches checked and tightened.