What wire to use instead of Romex

I just stumbled across this thread, I went thru this earlier this year.  I bought a large amount of bulk Audience Hidden Treasure AC wire for 4 runs from a panel to my Audio room.  My electrician was smarter than me, he added a 50 A sub outside the Audio room that made for very short runs of the Hidden Treasure.

First, I would suggest if you are going thru the trouble of adding a dedicated line make it at least 3.  One for your amp ( I have monoblocks so I added one for each), one for your digital and one for analog.  The one thing I was told about this was to make sure they were all on the same leg (Phase?) of the panel.  Not an electrician so don't know what that means.

Second,  I have a lot of the Hidden Treasure, PM me if you want a good deal on it.  I can show you the invoice from The Cable Co.

First, I would suggest if you are going thru the trouble of adding a dedicated line make it at least 3.

@rikkipuu 

I actually plan on doing two duplex outlets. One for the power amp and the other for my Niagara 1200 which has my preamp, DAC and streamer plugged into it.  My TV and a couple of other things will remained plugged into my 79 cent 15 amp Home Depot outlet running off of a subpanel along with umpteen other outlets on the same circuit. 

The one thing I was told about this was to make sure they were all on the same leg (Phase?) of the panel.  Not an electrician so don't know what that means.

I've been told that that's a good idea too. I have a vague idea of what the means, and in a traditional panel with two bus bars, I know that mean to run both breakers off of the same bar, but with my new-fangled panels (see photos above in thread), I'm not sure how to tell whether or not two breakers are on the same leg/phase. I'll certainly clear that up before any work is done. I had an electrician come out the other day who said that the two side-by-side spots in my bottom panel would be on the same phase but couldn't explain to me how he knew that, so that didn't inspire confidence.  I have someone else coming out in about 2 weeks who's the nephew of a friend of a friend who is licensed and, by all accounts, knows what he's doing.

My electrician was smarter than me, he added a 50 A sub outside the Audio room that made for very short runs of the Hidden Treasure.

Given the layout of my home, a new subpanel would need to be on the wall right between my new outlets (at the same height and I'm guessing surface mounted) or above my garage door in my garage to shorten the run. I don't think I'd like the look of a panel on the wall below the windows in my living room even if it'd be mostly hidden by my TV/hi-fi stand and gear, and I doubt the HOA would like one on the garage wall above my garage door. It'd be a great idea given the right layout though. I took a rough measurement: the total distance from panel to outlet(s) is about 20 to 25 feet. I'll be in touch about the Audience cable.  Thanks!

@roccity said:

I had an electrician come out the other day who said that the two side-by-side spots in my bottom panel would be on the same phase but couldn’t explain to me how he knew that, so that didn’t inspire confidence. 

They are not on the same Leg, Line. One is on Leg, Line 1, and the other is on Leg, Line 2. He’s not an electrician. Keep looking. 

Why are you wanting to feed the two new dedicated branch circuits from the bottom panel? I would use the Top panel instead. There is one spare space available. 

Use this breaker to feed the two branch circuits.

Homeline 2-20 Amp Single-Pole Tandem Circuit Breaker 

Tell the electrician to feed the two new dedicated branch circuits out of the top right side of the panel. Save the top left side for a Type 2 SPD (Surge Protection Device). As I said in an earlier post, A Type 3 plug-in point of use SPD will not work because the length of the branch circuit wiring is less than 30ft.

As for this.

My TV and a couple of other things will remained plugged into my 79 cent 15 amp Home Depot outlet running off of a subpanel along with umpteen other outlets on the same circuit. 

As long as the TV and other things are not connected to the audio equipment with wire interconnects. 

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@jea48 

They are not on the same Leg, Line. One is on Leg, Line 1, and the other is on Leg, Line 2. He’s not an electrician. Keep looking. 

I suspected that every other spot on the s-shaped bus bar was the same leg since my 240 outlet runs off of two consecutive spots and yes, I have another estimate scheduled in about two weeks by someone I know to be a capable electrician. 

Why are you wanting to feed the two new dedicated branch circuits from the bottom panel? I would use the Top panel instead. There is one spare space available. 

Great idea to use a single pole tandem breaker. Placing it in the top panel also saves me a couple of feet of run.

Save the top left side for a Type 2 SPD

I’ve been thinking about how to address the risk of a surge. I’ll ask the electrician about installing one. I should definitely have some protection for my power amp.

As long as the TV and other things are not connected to the audio equipment with wire interconnects. 

The only thing running between them will be an optical cable from my TV to my DAC - complete electrical isolation.

Once again, your advice is invaluable!  Thanks!

@roccity said:

Great idea to use a single pole tandem breaker. Placing it in the top panel also saves me a couple of feet of run.

I would also recommend moving the 1 pole 15 amp breaker over to the space on the left next to the 2 pole 100 amp breaker, that feeds the sub-panel in the condo. Install the 20 20 tandem breaker in the right hand space. 

Reason? It moves the Tandem breaker at least one space over away from the 2 pole 100 amp feeder breaker for condo sub-panel. Therein from the Electromagnetic fields surrounding the breaker caused by the load current running through it. The greater the load current the stronger the electromagnetic fields around it. 

(FYI, speaking of the single pole 15 amp circuit breaker. I don’t think that’s a Square D Homeline breaker. The lug the branch circuit wire terminates in does not look right. When you pick up the Homeline 20 20 Tandem breaker,  pick up a single pole 15 amp Homeline breaker.  

Homeline 15 Amp Single-Pole Circuit Breaker(HOM115CP)

One more thing. Have the electrician install two wall  outlet boxes. One for each dedicated branch circuit.  Do not install both branch circuits in a common 2 gang box...

What type of branch circuit wiring have you settled on having installed for the two dedicated branch circuits?

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