dedicated power line for audio equipment

Rjtandiamonds and Thf99,
You're right. I had 20-amps for the house with a dedicated line for my system. I just installed 32 amps for the house and this is a huge upgrade for the SQ in my system -- unexpected.

thanks for the kind replies. I looked into some of the cryo treated wire. That may be a little bit out of my price range. I will probably end up going with 3 - 20amp lines using 10/2 romex. One line for each of my monoblocks and one line for my components that will be plugged into a power conditioner.

First get a electrician who is good with commercial installations. Pull a 100 amp feed and wire it to a Square D commercial panel with a on and off capability (switch or breaker), make sure it has enough circuits (one for each component). Make sure you balance the load between components, which a good electrician should know. Use a 1 inch conduit from panel to receptacle for each dedicated line to each component. From here you can experiment with different wiring techniques, different receptacles, etc. (most important part of the installation).

Like different components in an audio system, so is the difference in electrical components and set up behind your wall, everything makes a difference, and it starts with your electrical.

So if this is the first step one must do to build a stereo or home theater system, unfortunately its only step one of..... At least you started on the right foot, something I and probably everybody else hasn't.

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Whatever wire guage you use, as long as you have any say in it, don't let them staple the wire to the 2x4's inside the walls - the usual consrtuction practice and not a very sound-friendly thing to do. Work out some other solution that neither uses ferrous metal fasteners nor pinches the wiring when secured to the framing. The physical pinching can lead to a somewhat narrower audio bandwidth - easily avoided when having your home built, but to be sure you will probably have to be physically present to keep the workers from doing things the way they're used to.

I have 1 dedicated 32 amp line with a 8kva transformer and a high current power strip for the main audio system and 2 dedicated 20 amp lines for the rest of the equipment (av, etc). For me, the 32 amp line with the transformer certainly improves the overall sound of the system.

Look at your system. If you have only two channel audio system , then one dedicated line for each amp and another dedicated line for the low level equipment (which should be all plugged into a conditioner/multiple power outlet device). So, for example for me, I have two amps each with their own dedicated line to the power panel, one additional line for my pre-amp, tuner, cd transport, music server, DAC (1), DAC (2)(don't ask), Turn table, phono stage, all plugged into a power conditioner/outlet device.

If you have a home theater system in the same room, then I would run an additional dedicated line solely for the home theater equipment.

20 amp lines with 10/2 type Romex is adequate, however, look at the manufacturer's recommendation for each amp's power requirements.

also, for electrical purposes, make sure the power lines are balanced on each side of the power panel. Example would be if you have two amps, then one amp on one side and the other amp on the other side to balance the house load. Any respectable electrician will ask for specific loads per power line to determine how to split the load at the power panel. Most homes in the US have 220-240 volt or so coming into the home and it is split on each side at 115-120 volts on each side. Then they split the house load on each side to balance the load.

enjoy

I just rebuilt my house from scratch, added a dedicated listening/HT room as well.

I have two 20A (w/ 10/2 romex) dedicated lines on the sidewall for the source, two 20A dedicated lines to the front for the amps, one 20A line for the A/V equipment, one 20A line for the TV, and one 20A line for the projector.

All of them to a subpanel that also powers the lights and outlets for 1/2 of the house.

Originally I wanted to provide separation between digital and analog sources. That's why I have two dedicated lines for the source. But I ended up plugging everything into a PurePower conditioner. So I am only using one dedicated line.

For the TV & the Projector, I have the PS Audio Soloist installed into the wall. I used the PS Audio Premier Outlets for all the other dedicated lines.

Some people swears that converting the amp to 220V makes a big difference. But I didn't want to go there.

FrankC

I have three dedicated 20 amp circuits, one for each amp and one for the front end/rack components. From the panel I use three JPS Labs In-Wall cables terminated directly into Furutech IEC connectors bypassing outlets/connections completely. Two are plugged into the amps directly and the third goes into an Equi=Tech balanced power device which then supplies power to turntable and pre amps. This is a very direct, quiet solution.

Cryogenically treated wire may be a good suggestion but consider the fact that the wire is most likely cryo treated in a spool - when this is un-spooled you will eliminate at least some of the effect of the cryo treating.

Good luck

Peter

Dont use anything less than 10/2 romex,cerrowire.Bryonc's suggestion...wow, nice stuff($).I dont know that theres any differance between 10/2 romex or cerrowire.The 10/2 provides the current though.

We are building a new home and I was definitely going with dedicated 20 amp connections, but hadn't thought about using the 10/2 Romex. Thanks Andy for the thread and everyone who has commented!

Recently did a garage to listening room conversion installed 2 ea 220V dedicated lines, one on the amp wall and one on the front end wall. 6 each dedicated 117V lines (20A) 2 on the amp wall and 4 on the front end wall.

If your building a house consider running a 60 Amp, or larger, sub panel to your Listening room then run as many lines as you see fit from there. ( I did it the other way around - installed a sub panel to feed most of the rest of the house, then ran all the dedicated lines form the main panel). If you go this route you could consider installing a isolation transformer to feed the sub panel.

Csontos - theres no real danger to running 30A line but the connectors/outlets you'd be required to use upholding code would not be practical.

Good listening

Peter

What's the danger?

Btw, I meant that running dedicated lines is a good idea, not running a 30 amp line.

bc

Yes, 20 amp dedicated line. Some people with monoblocks run (2)20 amps lines, one per amp and then split off these lines for the rest of their gear.

It's a good idea. There's lots of useful information about this topic in the archives.

For my dedicated line, I recently changed from standard 12 gauge Romex to VH Audio's 10 gauge cryo'd Romex, and it sounds better, IMO.

Bryon

I ran (2) dedicated 20 amp lines and used 10/2 Romex.

Chuck

30 amp is overkill, and could even be dangerous. Dedicated 20A lines are usually more than adequate in most circumstances IMO.

I have total of 6 dedicated lines. 2 are at 30A, 4are at 20A. All are wired using 10gauge romex. Very happy with the result. I recommend using ps audio soloist or something similar. You will not regret this upgrade. Good luck.