Should Subwoofer Be Plugged Into Same Circuit?


I am running electrical lines for my theater myself. Should I make the outlet for the sub on the same circuit as the rest of the AV equipment, or put it on a separate circuit?

i could have sworn I read something that said it needs to be on the same circuit to help prevent ground loops.
craigert

Showing 1 response by millercarbon

Run one line, 10 ga copper if you can. Not the cheaper aluminum. One run only, direct from panel to the one system outlet. Plug your power conditioner into it, and plug everything into the conditioner. Or power strip if you're not using a conditioner. 

Hum happens when there's more than one path to ground. But its unpredictable. You could plug into ten different circuits and have no problem, or you could use two and have intolerable hum. Why risk it? One and done. 

This is btw based on actual experience having run several circuits myself and heard the effect of different methods first hand. Also this will be enough no matter how many subs or watts you add down the road. Because contrary to what most probably think the greatest power load is not when the volume is cranked to 11 but the instant things are turned on and drawing full load to fill the power supply caps.

Bit of a shame going to all this trouble for multi-channel. Someday though you may decide to go for sound quality, put a stereo rig in there, and then it will all have been worth it.