Dedicated circuit

R

rockdrummer

New member
Hello everybody.  I am a stereomour owner, however, it is still in a box while I am living with my inlaws and building a house.  I started the build with the first board but really needed to stop until I got a better place to work with more time.

Anyway, my wife and I have been feeling like we are spending money hand over fist.  Putting in a dedicated circuit for my home theater/stereo space in the lower level family room is $125.  Really not much, but I am picking my battles over upgrades with my wife.  How many people have a dedicated circuit for their gear?  If it matters, there won't be much else running downstairs on that circuit.

I am asking if it is really worth it or should I put some money towards a bottlehead power cord for my amp and call that good? 

Ben
 
It'll be cheaper and easier to do it now with your walls open.  I'm in the middle of something similar right now. Will it make a difference? I don't know, but it's worth a shot. If nothing else, the dedicated line will prevent anyone from plugging a noisy power supply of some kind (computers, appliances, tools) into my line. $125 is a pretty small battle. I'd say do it.
 
I can run it for free while the sheetrock is not there.  Where is the house?

FYI, I did it in the house we live in now.  I don't think I could say it made a difference.  But, I put in two dedicated outlets, #10 AWG from a 15A breaker to each.  The key is that I put all digital devices on one outlet, all analog on the other.  The two breakers are on opposite incoming phases.  So the impedance of the distribution transformer isolates Digital from Analog. 

In my experience power regeneration does more than dedicated outlets.

Make certain that the electricians use the screws and not the clips for termination!  I can't stress this enough.  I think the clips will be outlawed shortly.
 
$125 does seem a small battle. You mentioned home theater, not just a music system. Might need the power. How about a compromise, run the wire and hook it later when you need it.

not if...John   
 
Grainger, the house is near Minneapolis. Thanks so much for the offer.

I will be using it for 80% music and 20% HT. There will be two sub amps as part of the front speakers and the other mainstream stuff plugged in back there. Tv, cable box, dvd/cd, stereomour, receiver, xbox and wii.

Really isnt that much money. I might do it.

Thanks again.
Ben
 
I've fooled around with dedicated circuits (usually 20A) and I can't say that it made a difference that is obvious in my case.
IMHO, people have more problems with ground issues and being sure that the dedicated circuit is properly grounded can be a huge plus.
The more complex your system is, the more that you'll reap benefits.
I have a friend whose system is crazy complex (HT and audio). He had a guy come out and set up dedicated grounds and he says he's never had a grounding issue (if you saw behind his rig, you'd never believe that was possible!).
So, in other words, I think that dedicated audio system circuits are great for avoiding problems rather than improving the day to day sound.
 
Yes, get it done right the first time and then any undesirables that may happen later, you know it is not your electrical setup....nice piece of mind for small money....
 
When it comes to power, I stay as basic as possible. This means a dedicated circuit is best place to start. It's relatively simple at this point in the construction of your home/room. It's one of things stressed when I worked in telephone equipment installation for central offices. Grated, they have a BUNCH more stuff going on, but I hold that standard true. It is one less thing to worry about. I totally agree with Grainger about the regeneration AC products though. And like him, I used a dedicated circuit for the regenerator. It's a better safe than sorry concept, as I had to run my dedicated line in a home built in the 1930's. A real pain of an afterthought.
 
In my case I had a great opportunity to install a dedicated circuit while my system was running off another circuit -- the breaker panel was located in my listening room and simply by switching the system from the south to the north wall, it was super easy for the electrician to drop a 5 foot piece of wire straight down from the panel and install a 20 A quad outlet.  I used a pair of jena labs 20 a cryoed outlets, then moved the system and was floored by how much of an improvement the dedicated circuit made.  Caveats -- I live in a condo and at least 2/3 of the people in that building worked at home, meaning all kinds of computers and other things online all day and night, plus 2 units down from the boiler room with all it's pumps controls, fire panel, etc., and I used a piece of the JPS labs house wiring wire, so not sure how much of all that stuff figures into the end result as my system sounded decent before this change, but easily far better, and at all times of day afterwards, and with no additional power filtering, just an outlet strip and the dedicated outlets on the wall.

Now I'm using an equitech balanced power box and it's significantly better than the dedicated outlet was (assuming all devices are plugged into the box), and that's in this new house where there is no possibility of a dedicated circuit.

So, in my case, even though I didn't think I had any particular power problem, the dedicated circuit made a very significant improvement to the sound of my system.

HTH,

Jim
 
Okay, now I feel like I really need to do this.  So here is another question.  That end of the lower level has a 14 foot wall that will serve as the front wall.  I am not sure I follow how to separate the digital from analog.  If I have one quad outlet set up on the dedicated circuit, do I just want to keep the different gear on separate outlets in that circuit? But since I will have two twelve inch servo subs on each side with their own amp, etc. should I have two normal outlets flanking the front wall?  Does it even matter?  I'm going to do the circuit, now I am making a big deal out of a quad or two dual outlets.

Ben
 
AliceBen,

Just remember to take a sip from the little bottle when you get to bottom of that rabbit hole...

;)
Adam
 
Ben,

Probably best to use outboard filters to separate analog and digital, otherwise the best way to do it is with separate dedicated circuits. So, that doesn't really answer your question but if you have a filter box with a couple of outlets for the digital stuff and another filter/distribution box for analog, then a duplex outlet will do.  If you have 3 or less pieces other than the digital stuff, a quad will save the cost of another distribution box.  Also, have your contractor use a metal box instead of a plastic one.

One can go crazy with this stuff and in my new place since there is no possibility of a dedicated line I replaced the plastic duplex box with a metal quad one and used a mapleshade ultra minimalist quad outlet and that by itself was great for a simple setup with 4 or less pieces.  Then I borrowed the Furutech etp-60  6 outlet box from the other system and that gave me more outlets and sounded better than it ever did, and now I have the equitech Son of Q jr. plugged into the mapleshade outlet and it is by far the best electrical delivery system for audio that I've had. The equitech box has separate zones for digital and analog, and two more isolated outlets that are always hot regardless of the setting of the power switches on the front -- 12 outlets in all, and 1000 watts total power handling -- far more than I'll need, even with two active subs and two Aleph J monoblocks. (my worst case setup.)

Again, hth,

Jim
 
Wow, thanks Jim.  So many little things to learn in this hobby.  I love it!

I'm happy and well on my way to a decent audio setup.  Now to get to my own builds, HA!

I am building two GR Research monitors and a sealed servo sub for my brother.  Much fun, and keeps me busy until I move into my new place with my own work space for my own builds so I can spend more time!

Thanks again,
Ben
 
  Alll I'm building today is shelving :'(

  I have a strong belief that the AC is the base of any good system allowing maximum results from that system. Strange for me to say, but we are just manipulating the AC in such a way as to produce sound from our speakers.

  To go full bore may not be necc. As said before, balanced power conditioners seem to do as much good as any over the top attempt with dedicated line, i.e. running a dedicated line for the analog, and yet another dedicated line(in a separate jacket) for the digital.
 
Greg,

You hit the nail on the head.  Your system is only as good as the sources you have, and the AC power should be considered as another source -- no more and no less important than any other source.

I didn't have the equitech box at the old house with the dedicated line, though equitech does recommend a dedicated line if it is possible, so I can't say how much more that would do -- my guess is that with a low power consumption system, not a whole lot, but if you're running big SS mega-amps, it is probably a good thing.

The ultimate of course would to have a whole house equitech system, then the ground will be kept clean and power factor corrected and you might even see lower electric bills -- industrial customers certainly do, but theiir electricity is based on an entirely different kind of calculation based on peak current demand and other factors.  Next house - hah, if there is a next house.

-- Jim
 
I paid an electrician to run a dedicated circuit when I bought my current house and had my entertainment area remodeled to accommodate my equipment. 
Little did I know several years later, I was having some electrical work done and the electrician (unbeknownst to me) took it upon himself to rewire the box to accommodate the changes!!!!  I didn't even know he'd done it until a year or so later and had no idea how to contact him.

Lesson here:  Make sure to make clear notation in your electrical box that the circuit is not to be touched by human or alien hands.
 
I suppose I could hire someone to come back out and change it back...if he messed it up at the box, I'm sure it could be redone at the box.  Maybe I'll do that now....
 
I'm lucky in that I've had the same electrician for almost 10 years now and he definitely knows about my audio power needs.  As most electricians do, he thought it was a load of BS when I first hired him, but I've swapped poewr cords and did other before and after stuff when he's installed special outlets, etc. and now he doesn't question it at all -- he's heard it with his own two ears, knows nothing about high end audio, the relative prices of cables, etc.

-- Jim
 
In your breaker panel every other breaker is on a different phase.  So if you have two breakers, one above the other you have them fed from opposite phases of your incoming power.  You will feed a duplex outlet or dual duplex outlets from each breaker.

Your electrician will know this and might show you how the panel is set up.
 
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