Home Wiring?

I suggest you do a search in the archives for this topic, as there has been a lot of great information posted there. I’m not sure where Musicnoise is coming from but everyone is welcome to their own opinion.

No1willfan, in each of three different homes where I ran dedicated electrical circuits to my audio system, the improvements were very noticeable and worthwhile. I recommend you move forward with your plans if costs permit. This need not be a hugely expensive venture, but you DO need an electrician.

What I have done each time is relatively simple assuming one has open tabs for additional breakers on the circuit panel:

1. Pull a separate 20 amp line for each electrical box. Don't put multiple boxes on the same line, don't have splices in the line, have the line pulled as a single continuous strand of cable from breaker box to outlet.

2. I used 10 gauge copper for my lines. Your electrician will tell you this is overkill. Do it anyway. I used standard "Romex" type cabling for two of the installations and I can't tell that I got any improvement running metal clad cabling in a third installation. (Assuming you are in a typical American house with solid masonry walls or wood studs (not a commercial building with metal studs), there is no advantage to running an isolated ground installation as I did with the metal clad cabling in one home. Just keep to single lines from breaker box to outlet and you'll get the same benefit.)

3. Use good quality 20 amp all-copper alloy outlets without any plating on the contacts. There definitely are differences in sound quality among the various outlets, but a primary factor is that the receptacle be built well enough to maintain good grip on the blades of the plug over time. I use the Jena Labs 20 amp outlets also sold by Walker Audio. These are 20 amp Hubbell all-copper alloy outlets that are deep immersion cyro treated. PorterPorts are also Hubbell outlets based on the Hubbell 20 amp outlet and deep immersion cryo treated. Both are reasonably priced, strong and long lasting, and with very neutral sound.

4. Buy some Walker Audio Extreme SST silver contact enhancer and have your electrician apply this at each electrical connection made in the circuit. (It will make a further improvement.)

There are additional things you can do to further improve results, but the steps I've listed will give you a very nice improvement and not cost too much money to accomplish.
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@Musicnoise: Everyone's entitled to their opinions, but the idea that there is no difference is not what I've heard from both people who've done this, and in my own experience listening to systems on and off dedicated lines.

@Lak: I'm rather new using these forums, what should I search for?

@Rushton: Thanks a lot, this is precisely the kind of information I was looking for. A few questions:

1) Can you have a separate electrical box installed and a new power line run to it? I ask because if I could do this and have it installed near my system, opposed to running a line from the current box that powers my house to my system, it would probably save me a lot of money because the box I have now is 50+ feet away from my system.

2) The cable I was looking at were those made by Oyaide and Acrolink. Acrolink makes a cable especially designed for AC wiring. I know another company has a dedicated cable as well, I think it's JPS Labs. I've wondered if there's any difference between them and 10-gauge Romex. I know of only one person who had both Romex and JPS Labs cable installed and he said the JPS Labs was a bit better.

3) Thanks for the links. I've heard of that silver contact enhancer before and was planning on buying some when I did this dedicated line.

If there's any other advice you can offer, please do. Thanks.

Your questions are such that you do need an electrician.

If you can find a couple of blanks in your switchbreaker panel, then run a couple of 20 amp dedicated circuits with #2 wire. Rather than Jena Labs outlets I prefer Porterports havaiable here at audiogon. Just add 'porterports' to home search engine.

No1willfan, if the cable run itself will be under 70 feet, I'd be inclined to just pull separate runs directly from the existing breaker box. The power company may or or may be willing to run a separate power line from the pole to a separate meter at your house.

The alternative approach some people have taken is to run a sub-panel off the main breaker panel using a run of 6 gauge to the sub-panel placed near your listening room. This may or may not be a better solution. It's certainly more complex with more connections. The trade-off is whether any benefit from a possible reduction in voltage drop is sufficient to offset the impact of more connections.

I've not experimented with speciality AC cable. I don't doubt there can be sonic differences, and I'm a believer in the benefits of cryo treatment in power cords and audio cables. But, given any funds limitations, this is were I've chosen to get some cost savings and just go for good quality copper.

Good luck with your project,