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Dedicated power,long power cords - waste of time?

I am thinking about putting in a couple of dedicated lines but if I do this I will require extra long power cords, say about 20 feet in length, as the dedicated outlets must be installed across the room from where my system resides? There is no way around this.

Currently I have 3 pieces on 1 15 amp line. Bryston amp, Hovland preamp and my digital gear is plugged into a small BPT conditioner also on the same line. Installing 2 lines would allow me to drive the preamp and amp on their own lines and leave the digital alone on its own.

The downside is having to run 2 really long power cords which I would plug directly into the amp and preamp's IEC inlets.

Am I spinning my wheels here? Is this money down a rathole???

All opinions and/or related personal experiences are most welcome.
rgd
Post removed 
lacee
811 posts
 
I run 2 dedicated 20 amp lines across my carpeted basement floor from my panel to my equipment. I use 10 guage waterproof, shielded cable bought at Home Depot. I have seen this cable run outdoors at concerts so electrocution is not an issue.You can not run Romex solid core in this fashion.The waterproof cable also goes around corners and stays where you put it, much like a good power cord. Try an IEC connector at the end of the cord going to your power amp and forget about an after-market cord for awhile.
rannagarden
44 posts
 
Jea48 - No worries Jim. My cellar hides plenty of not so nice things... But no asbestos ;) I will clean that place up a bit when the rest of the house is done.

The cable I used is the "ÖLMASS" 3x13 AWG and is approved in all ways for this type of installation. The braided "shield" of the cabel is connected to "earth" at fusebox. The fuse is a 16A gold-fuse for audio use.

Best,
Mike
budt3210
19 posts
 
The only advantage to dedicated lines is the fact that you have more available power.However audio components use very little power so I doubt it is neccessary unless you are running multiple amps for a H.T setup as I am.
A dedicated line does not isolate noise as many audiophiles imagine.I have no idea where they get this idea from.All the wires in your house meet back at the fuse panel and so they all share the same bus bar and therefore share feedback.
czbbcl's avatar
czbbcl
1,752 posts
 
Tvd

No problem but that was the point of my comment that I heard very little if any improvement. I installed the dedicated circuit because it was easy. I was busy wiring my basement and figured why not. I ended creating a ground loop on my CD player; solved by lifting the ground. Budt3210 makes a good point in his comment about a dedicated circuit (share a common panel) versus a dedicated line (new run from source prior to meter). I had an opportunity to hear a system with an isolation transformer (audio consulting) and in theory this methodology IMO makes the most sense for creating good clean power. I played around with a passive conditioner and felt it made my sytem sound more closed in and compressed (rolled off); so I sold it. In closing adding a PS Audio power cord to my CD player made more of an impact (blacker background) than did any dedicated circuit. Given Rgd's situation I wouldn't go through the trouble.

Chuck
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