2. misc-audio
  3. 1015683906

What's 10 Volts between friends?

Moving into a new house 3 1/2 years ago really re-kindled my interest in music and audio because it was a move that put me about 5 minutes from work and greatly reduced my out-of-town travel time, meaning that I had a lot more opportunity to listen. It also meant going from "perfect" power to both a power grid that isn't as good and a house that is wired like crap. Watching the volt readings on my surge protector, it dips as I turn more gear on, quite regulary running below 110 volts. Way too much stuff on one circuit.

Yesterday, I finally had the wiring reworked and some dedicated circuits brought down (of course, this is all at the complete opposite end of the house from the breaker box, so it wasn't just a couple hundred bucks). Now, turning on the gear only barely fazes the volt reading (it still does somewhat), and CRIMINY! what a difference! To say that everything is crisper, cleaner, etc. only begins to describe the improvement.

If you have problems with your power and have not yet run dedicated power lines to your system, do so as your next upgrade - you won't regret it. -Kirk

kthomas

Showing 1 response by stehno

stehno
1,453 posts
 
Yes, the dedicated lines is perhaps the most significant and inexpensive (depends on who does it) tweak. While yer at it, pick out the best 10 gauge OFC romex for the power and try lifting/floating the ground which are the second/third most significant tweaks.

One last electrical tweak. Make certain all audio circuits are running off the same phase of 115 volts. This will eliminate/minimize any dirty AC line noise generated as a result of the opposing phases if some components are on one phase and others are on the opposing phase.

-John
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