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I am planning to have two dedicated AC lines run to my system, one for analog and one for digital. It's about 25 feet from breaker to outlet. Was also planning to have it grounded seperately from the rest of the panel, if possible.Was wondering specifically what's the best wire & breakers etc. to spec to my electrician. But there must be something better that Romex without going $18/ft for JPS labs wire, isn't there?
BTW, I have a Shunyata Hydra 6 and Shunyata Taipan power cords, for what it's worth. Thiel, Ayre System.
Follow Ups:
HowdyThe biggest difference (in my experience) is just having dedicated lines. I agree with Russ57 that #10 in conduit is fine and I also agree with him that your grounding plan is not a good idea: safety and code issues. Also your electrician will know what kinds of breakers are allowed by code for your breaker box.
First of all, make sure that both dedicated lines are on the same phase. As you look at the breakers in your panel every other right an left breakers, from top to bottom, are the same phase; i.e. the top pair are phase "A" and the next pair down are phase "B". Phases A & B are 180 deg. apart from each other All of your audio equipment should be on the same phase or you'll have problems. I think the ultimate tweak is to use cryo'd romex and treat all connections. If your outlets are 20A you must, by code, wire them with 20 ga. wire. If they're 15A outlets you can use either 14 or 20 ga. wire. Somwhere on the web I saw OFC cryo'd romex @ something like $2/ft. Do a Google or have your own romex cryo'd by a cryo service. IMHO the ultimate tweak is to treat every connection for the dedicated lines : the mains connection to the breakers, the dedicated lines to the breakers, and the dedicated lines', and neutral (white wires)and ground wire connections to the outlets lightly coated with SilClear. SilClear is a paste of sorts that is heavily loaded with finely divided silver and dramatically improves any electrical connection. Available from Mapleshade (888/236-2753) It's sold with a 30-day satisfaction guaranty. If you really want to go all the way, have the aluminum bus bars replaced with copper bus bars and SilClear all the lock down screws that have wire connections to them.
First of all, make sure that both dedicated lines are on the same phase. As you look at the breakers in your panel every other right an left breakers, from top to bottom, are the same phase; i.e. the top pair are phase "A" and the next pair down are phase "B". Phases A & B are 180 deg. apart from each other All of your audio equipment should be on the same phase or you'll have problems. I think the ultimate tweak is to use cryo'd romex and treat all connections. If your outlets are 20A you must, by code, wire them with 20 ga. wire. If they're 15A outlets you can use either 14 or 20 ga. wire. Somwhere on the web I saw OFC cryo'd romex @ something like $2/ft. Do a Google or have your own romex cryo'd by a cryo service. IMHO the ultimate tweak is to treat every connection for the dedicated lines : the mains connection to the breakers, the dedicated lines to the breakers, and the dedicated lines', and neutral (white wires)and ground wire connections to the outlets lightly coated with SilClear. SilClear is a paste of sorts that is heavily loaded with finely divided silver and dramatically improves any electrical connection. Available from Mapleshade (888/236-2753) It's sold with a 30-day satisfaction guaranty. If you really want to go all the way, have the aluminum bus bars replaced with copper bus bars and SilClear all the lock down screws that have wire connections to them.
As others on another forum tried to tell you.....you would do better to look at a balanced power transformer, one for analog and then individual small isolation transformers for each digital item.Your electrician can't do what you want on the grounding....or if he did he isn't to be trusted as it is highly illegal.
Nothing wrong with #10 THHN in EMT conduit or BX. If you want to spend extra on breakers get a panel that has "bolt-in" breakers.
Thnaks Russ and Ted for your input, and for steering me clear of the seperate grounding idea. I love my audio, but generally prefer to not get myself killed ;)I will trust that just doing the dedicated line will help. My electrician said earlier that he suspected most of my noise was coming from the "hot", not the ground.
Someone on another board mentioned cryogenically frozen romex at $1.99 a foot. Wouldn't hurt to try for $100 total or so.
If you want to do something more in line with shielding the AC lines run the cable in metal conduit and have that grounded on one end to your Service ground. I would assume that would be up to code.
AudioQuest makes some good ac wire, they have a 15 and 12 gauge.
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