Dedicated 20 Amp Line for Audio

I have two dedicated 20 amp circuits. I use one for the amp, and place everything else on the other. I have two quad sets for a total of 8 plug-ins in my audio room. I don’t use line conditioner’s. This is good enough.

I don't know about the difference in price, but I do know the difference cryo makes. The guy who runs Cryo-One in Orting is into shifter karts, when he heard I was PCA track instructor we hit it off and so now I know all about cryo. Pulled all my wire and had him cryo, 50 cents a pound. So I know exactly the difference cryo makes from having heard the same wire in the same system before and after. 

Audio gear is unique compared to the average appliance that the electrical system in your house was designed to accommodate a century ago.  The original pioneers in household electrical design were designing around predictable resistive loads like toasters and incandescent lamps that demand X amount of amps continuously, but modern amplifiers are extremely dynamic electrical loads.  Also, most amplifiers are more sensitive than you may think to the many different challenges presented to them by home wiring and nearby equipment.  Even if you aren't actually fixing a problem that exists now, you are future-proofing your audio room so it can accommodate larger amplifiers or future nearby noise producing appliances.  I commend you for your effort and your sound system will reward you with better sound.

You are getting great advice from previous posts but I would like to add two recommendations. The single best thing I can recommend you do to eliminate most of those electrical problems is have a small subpanel installed very close to your audio gear and only use one electrical phase for all of the audio gear no matter how many breakers you decide to install.  For example installing a 24 space subpanel you could have a maximum 12 breakers for audio gear leaving another 12 unused breaker spaces.  This way you will have much larger wiring running most of the way to your amplifiers that can easily supply the  instantaneous current they demand.  Then, if you want to use 12 AWG the last couple feet to your outlet it doesn't matter much, but I prefer to use 6 AWG in conduits feeding a single audiophile outlet.  An audiophile power cord that doesn't break the bank like a Pangea Audio AC-9 MkII Power Cable uses 7 AWG so using a similar size wiring in the wall would make sense.  After your licensed electrician has finished the work you can hide your electrical subpanel behind a picture or sound treatment panel.  The electrician may give you grief for requesting oversize wire but they won't refuse to install it like they would if you were requesting undersized wire which would be a safety issue.

The next best thing you can do for your system is plug your amps directly into an outlet because almost all but the most expensive power conditioners will make your amps sound worse.  If you insist on plugging your amplifiers into a power conditioner, then buy something like the AudioQuest Niagara 7000 that can handle the instantaneous current demands of an amplifier.

cleeds:

bpoletti

Why a "dedicated circuit" when everything gets lumped together upstream of the comnpponent?

Dedicated lines can avoid the noise and voltage drop that may result from daisy chained convenience circuits. It’s a difference you can measure, so it’s silly to debate it.

Many users do both. It's not an either/or choice.

I stepped in some of that the last time I crossed the pasture.  It wasn't hard to scrape off my shoes but left a lingering odor.  

Physics and engineering does not support your claim.

Elimination of daisy chained outlets is huge. Mine was wired that way at first. Of all the things I have done with AC - cryo, 4awg, 240/120 step down - the biggest was the cheapest, eliminating the daisy chain going direct.

Considering this was the first thing I did, way back in the 90's when my system wasn't nearly as transparent and revealing of improvements as today, that is really saying something.