I did the same thing a few years ago. Use 12awg solid copper Romex and connect to an unused circuit with 20 amp breaker. By the best breaker you can. Try to use the leg with the fewest appliances and large power draws.
Stranded vs Solid Copper
I am making a home made outlet box with Hospital grade receptacles. I am hard wiring into the existing outlet box that was poorly installed.(to far recessed) Does it matter if I use solid or stranded wire for the extension wire/cord in terms of its effect on sound? The length is 4’ to 5’
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Thanks for your response. Luckily the circuit is 5 outlets with one overhead light. I never turn on the overhead light and typically use one lamp. It would be nice to have a dedicated circuit, but I didn’t build the house. What I’m asking if 12 gauge stranded wire has inferior sonic characteristics? It would make a more flexible cord. I’ll look into a better breaker. |
I assume the other 5 outlets and light are wired with Romex 12/2 if it's a 20amp circuit back to the breaker box. I guess using 4 or 5 feet of stranded at the end of this run might make a sonic difference but I really don't see how. You can use stranded and it is more flexible though it should be terminated at the outlets slightly different than solid to keep the strands tight. |
The plastic box was buried in the wall so far that the electrician used 2 + inch screws to connect the receptacle to the plastic box. When I plugged my Silnote cord into the receptacle it pushed the receptacle back into the wall and broke the plastic cover. i could have mounted the metal box right over the existing box, but I thought this might afford me the chance to gain some flexibility and expand the number of outlets to two. |
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You can get outlet extenders and / or spacers to keep the receptacle from pushing in and breaking the face plate. You could remove the old box and install a double gang if you want 2 receptacles in that location or install another box and run a wire from the existing box to your new box if you want them in seperate locations. |
Thanks for the input... you've given me some new ideas. I'm going to mount an exterior metal box with a solid cover over the top of the existing outlet box. Then I'll run a piece solid cooper romex in conduit horizontally over to another surface mounted box with hospital grade receptacles that is directly behind my rack/entertainment center. Then when it is time to move, (rental) I'll remove the exterior boxes (5 screws) and conduit and restore the crappy receptacle the was originally there. |
djones51.. I’ve used small diameter copper tubing as a spacer in the past.. works great because you can custom make your lengths. As for some of the other comments.. I’ve built a number of homes myself and have functioned as my own electrician under a friends license. Not particularly worried about burning the house down. Just trying to get a good solid connection for these new power cords I recently purchased. |
Myself Use Verastars excellent high purityCopper foil speaker cable,and Silvergold alloy foil interconnects . A flat foil has more surface area then equal size awg guage wire.and very thin diaelectric. That may why it sounds very balanced . I have had several very good brands for me this is high enough in quality without breaking the bank. |
Your decision on solid core is good. If you ever wanted to go stranded, Litz 9.5 awg from partsconnexion would also work great. You do need a soldering pot to prep the ends. Each individual wire has a coating. It must be removed. If your going to build a box, do an internet search; X capacitors and Y capacitors. These little beauties remove hash from the power lines. Unless I'm mistaken, the X caps go from hot to ground, and neutral to ground. The Y caps go from hot to neutral. A world of difference almost forgotten in the diy world. |
sleepwalker65 There is only one correct breaker for each panel. That is the one that is the correct current rating (regular/GFCI/AFCI) specified by the manufacturer of your panel. Any other breaker is the wrong breaker. Period.This is mistaken. There are instances where there are alternatives to using the OEM's breaker. For example, Siemens makes substitutes for some Square D breakers. UL listed, too. See this. |
Skin effect has zero role in signal transmission at audio frequencies. This is simply more snake oil promoted by cable manufacturers and their "believers." Cables are passive devices and as a result have a linear response. Only at very high frequencies, way beyond those of human hearing, does skin effect play a significant role. |
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tedag For my dedicated cuircut I used was a 30amp breaker, 10/2 solid copper, and a self grounded heavy duty outlet.Are you using a 30A receptacle? That's unusual for household use and would probably require putting new AC plugs on your amplifiers. If you're using a 20A receptacle, that would be a code violation in many jurisdictions. |