Hi Denf; 3 yrs. ago I had a dedicated AC system installed using a 60 ft. run of stranded 6/3 awg stranded from our main breaker box to a sub-main breaker box, and regular 12 awg THHN wire to Hubbell 8300 outlets. It was a really nice improvement over the regular old Romex house wiring (which was noisy and soft). Noise floor was lowered significantly and music had much greater clarity. However, there was also a slight but distinct overall brightness associated with this system, and I could only control the brightness with high quality power cords.
About 3 weeks ago I replaced (by electricians) the large Zaner 6/3 wire from main to submain with a new 60 ft. run of Virtual Dynamics Armored 10/4 BX cryo treated and cable cooked wire. Improvement in music quality/character was definitely worthwhile-- much more mellow, natural, and smooth w/o the previous brightness. I also replaced the old 50 amp standard breaker in our main breaker box with the Virtual Dynamics 30 amp cryo'ed breaker to match the 10/4 wire.
Obviously, I can't separate what part of the VD wire and breaker was most important in improving music quality, ie new wire, cryo treatment, cable cooking, new, cryo'ed breaker-- it all came as a package. But I can say that this VD wire/breaker combo produced an excellent benefit.
If I were building a dedicated listening room, I would put in better quality wire as the room is being built, rather than trying to (maybe) add it on later as I've done. Breakers and outlets can be easily changed later, but changing in-wall wiring can be a real hassle when done after construction and finishing is done.
In phase 2 of my ded. AC up-grade, I plan to change the existing 12/3 THHN with the Virtual Dynamics 10/4 cryo'ed wire to each of my 5 ded. outlets. I'm also going to add the VD cryo'ed Hubbell outlets and 20 amp cryo breakers in my sub-main panel.
It's my sense that the cryo treatment is an important part of this up-grade as 3 years ago I compared 4 different non-cryo'ed wires and non had this nice natural mellow sounding character. I'd also suggest checking the archives under cryo. There are some good posts on cryo product use there. A'Gon member Lak had some very good posts in this section. Good Luck, and Cheers. Craig
About 3 weeks ago I replaced (by electricians) the large Zaner 6/3 wire from main to submain with a new 60 ft. run of Virtual Dynamics Armored 10/4 BX cryo treated and cable cooked wire. Improvement in music quality/character was definitely worthwhile-- much more mellow, natural, and smooth w/o the previous brightness. I also replaced the old 50 amp standard breaker in our main breaker box with the Virtual Dynamics 30 amp cryo'ed breaker to match the 10/4 wire.
Obviously, I can't separate what part of the VD wire and breaker was most important in improving music quality, ie new wire, cryo treatment, cable cooking, new, cryo'ed breaker-- it all came as a package. But I can say that this VD wire/breaker combo produced an excellent benefit.
If I were building a dedicated listening room, I would put in better quality wire as the room is being built, rather than trying to (maybe) add it on later as I've done. Breakers and outlets can be easily changed later, but changing in-wall wiring can be a real hassle when done after construction and finishing is done.
In phase 2 of my ded. AC up-grade, I plan to change the existing 12/3 THHN with the Virtual Dynamics 10/4 cryo'ed wire to each of my 5 ded. outlets. I'm also going to add the VD cryo'ed Hubbell outlets and 20 amp cryo breakers in my sub-main panel.
It's my sense that the cryo treatment is an important part of this up-grade as 3 years ago I compared 4 different non-cryo'ed wires and non had this nice natural mellow sounding character. I'd also suggest checking the archives under cryo. There are some good posts on cryo product use there. A'Gon member Lak had some very good posts in this section. Good Luck, and Cheers. Craig