Wiring my house for sound

There are some existing theads that may help you. Search for Romex or Hubble. It's worth doing. I put in a deicated sub pannel and built in more dedicated circuits than I'll ever need in my basement listening room. Enjoy the project.

If you want to get extreme, hard wire your mains to whatever uses them. For example, cut off the male connector of what usually plugs into the wall and solder the wires directly to the leads coming out of the wall (have a pro electrician do this of course). Doing this to an amp is the most logical application (could be risky due to electrical storms, power surges, etc. unless you trip the breaker when not in use). Sounds like you'd get the last drop of juice this way!

Here's an excerpt from a previous thread on this subject:

There are numerous upgrade wires available for dedicated lines which I've read about (try to find those archive threads; Kimber is one definite source) but I used #10 solid copper THHN. Mike VansEvers gave me this idea which has worked so well that I'm just amazed.
You make up a bundle of black white & green conductors, all aligned with the printing running in the same direction. Fasten the ends of the bundle with electrical tape, clamp one end in a vice & put the other end in your variable speed 3/8" drill chuck. Slowly spin the bundle to wind it up like a spring; when you release power it will uncoil considerably. Then exchange ends & finish the twist. This twisted configuration is similar to the way many upgrade AC cords are made, it cancels stray magnetic fields outside the conductors. Lay the bundle in across the floor & connect it temporarily, then listen for awhile to test & determine which direction sounds better than the other direction. When you install in conduit or Greenfield, then burnish the exposed wire ends nice & shiny with crocus cloth (or an ink eraser in a pinch)& clean them thoroughly with Kontact, etc. Also shine up & Kontact clean the male prongs of your AC cords. Use a high grade outlet; FIM etc. Also consider isolated grounding. Your electrician won't understand any of this "audio nonsense" & will probably try to tell you that it makes no difference, but believe me it absolutely does. If you can get him to install a small fusebox & use a ceramic fuse (vs. glass) that will sound better than any circuit breaker. The newer plastic fuses seem to be OK too. He'll say you're insane but hey you're the paying customer so get it done the way that YOU want it done. Also polish & clean the fuse itself & any elecrical contacting surfaces in the distribution box.

Here's a link to a search of all archived threads on the subject of dedicated lines; read up!

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr_srch.pl?ANY&&purlsrch&EXY&st26&&&zzdedicated=line

Dweller that is some interesting advise. Sounds like a good way for an Electrician to lose his license. There is a very basic code rule that has to do with disconnecting an appliance (that includes amps) The cord/cordcap is in fact the servicing disconnect (or disconnecting means). If you had to go to the extreme's you've mentioned you would have to wire the amp to the load side of a disconnect first. The amp would be considered a permanently installed appliance at that point. I DO NOT RECOMEND THIS INSTALLATION!!!

And if it causes a fire, your insurance will not cover you!

KP

Gee fellas, I said it was extreme. If the amp (or whatever) employs a detachable (IEC?) power cord, couldn't said electrician pull extra wire through the outlet box, into the room and terminate it with the female plug? this would give you an uniterupted cord from the fuse box to the appliance. Thanks for not keeping me "in the box".
Ken

Dweller, If you put it that way, yea I guess you could :^) Why didn't I think of that :~(

I'm using Belden 83802 for both the mains AND DIY PCs. Nothing like consistency, eh? Nice tinned 12AWG in Teflon, and fire engine red!

Dweller's advise sounds dangerous to say the least and a lot of work to say the most.

But to take Dweller's idea a step further and perhaps much safer(Glen can validate or invalidate), when installing the dedicated 10 gauge OFC romex runs from the service panel to the the outlet, you could make the romex runs about ten feet extra in length, attach male IEC WattaGate plugs directly to the ends of the romex and then plug directly into the component.

You could install attractive tv cable faceplates for the romex to come thru the walls also.

This will provide the straightest non-interrupting path for electricty to travel from the service panel to the component, perhaps minimize RF interference, etc..

What do you think, Glen? This is something I've wanted to try for the last six months.

-John