The power supply line for my entertainment center is a multi outlet & switch common wall line.
A Hubble IG5362 and a Furman PST-8D made a noticeable difference. I want to dig the rabbit hole deeper with a solo line.
Anyone install a dedicated a/v gear power line?

The web wizards suggest 10/3 awg multi strand shielded copper wire. How many strands is good, better or bad? I've looked at 7, 37 & 100+ strand all 10ga & rated at 600 volts.

I'm interested to see what is posted here. I did run a dedicated circuit for my A/V equip and TV, not for sound quality but so that it was less likely to be affected from micro-surges like a vacuum being plugged into the same circuit or other equipment or electronics failing.

Also why 10/3? What are you using that is 240v and 30A? My dedicated circuit was 14-2.

Also I am not sure I have ever seen wiring that can be used within the walls of a house that is a multicircuit stranded wire.

I ran 12/2 with a ground on two separate dedicated lines for my A/V equipment and projector. Everything is being run through Panamax (sp) conditioners/filters. The lines support (2) Emotiva XPA-5 amps, (2) QSC amps dedicated to subs, (1) Integra DHC 60.7, Oppo 105 and an Epson 5040UB. A friend runs an HT install shop and she did the electric.

quote:

A Hubble IG5362 and a Furman PST-8D made a noticeable difference

What kind of problem did it improve?

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

A Hubble IG5362 and a Furman PST-8D made a noticeable difference

What kind of problem did it improve?

Subjectively, a little crisper, clearer sound for lack of a better explanation.
My wife asked me what I did to the tv. She said the picture looked better.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I'm interested to see what is posted here. I did run a dedicated circuit for my A/V equip and TV, not for sound quality but so that it was less likely to be affected from micro-surges like a vacuum being plugged into the same circuit or other equipment or electronics failing.

Also why 10/3? What are you using that is 240v
and 30A? My dedicated circuit was 14-2.

Also I am not sure I have ever seen wiring that can be used within the walls of a house that is a multicircuit stranded wire.

enjoythemusic.com
The article is about cleaning up your AC power source. Audio engineer suggests overbuilding to
30 amp specs. He mentions 3 leg stranded copper wire that is UL listed for in wall use.

I am envious of those who have the ability to put in dedicated circuits for their audio/video gear. Unfortunately, I finished my basement, where my audio gear is located, 15 years ago. At the time, I was more into vintage military and ham radio gear - so I added a couple rooms in the basement with 4 dedicated 20 amp outlets, and two 240 volt outlets.

My audio/video gear is in another portion of the basement. All I have is a single 15 amp circuit. The lights dim momentarily just from switching my power amp on.

If I could, I would have three separate and dedicated circuits, all 20 amp 120 volts. One would be dedicated to the power amp and subwoofer, one for source components including pre-amp, and one for video gear.

Right now, I am running most of my gear through an AudioQuest Niagara 1000 conditioner. I might upgrade this to the new Niagara 1200, as it adds an additional high amperage outlet I could use for the subwoofer. Right now, my subwoofer is plugged directly into the wall.

Between subwoofer and two channels of stereo, I have 1500 Watts RMS of power. Although I have never blown the breaker, no doubt that's a lot of gear to run through a single 15 amp circuit.

Recording Studios have ran dedicated power and/or used Regulators/Conditioners and UPS like devices for decades, fwiw. For my hifi/HTPC setup I just run a rack mount Voltage Regulator and Conditioner made by Furman. Mine was about $500 several years ago. Good ones start around there and go upwards of $2000+.

Even with a dedicated line it's not necessarily any cleaner or more stable, and as such can only do so much. It isn't magic. Gear is made to operate within a range of values for voltage and it needs a certain amount of clean power to operate at its optimum, and it needs enough electricity on hand to handle the transient peaks during bass or explosions and the like. Your devices either get enough power or they don't (whether direct or via ten Daisy chained power strips), and your power source is either clean or it isn't. It varies wildly.

Just running direct power, and/or just adding a Voltage Regulator / Conditioner, without knowing whether either of the problems those things address is actually affecting you is a garden variety shot in the dark and may make no difference at all, or 1% better, or 41% better, who knows, but if you're bored and have extra loot and just want to see what happens, knock yourself out. It can't hurt, beyond maybe "wasting" some time and cash.

If it were me, I'd examine whether or not you have the symptoms of needing any such things in the first place, and unless you have killer gear and push it hard or you have particularly shitty power in your house or hifi location, you probably don't need any of it.

There are exceptions, but that's basically the deal in one page or less.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I'm interested to see what is posted here.
Also why 10/3?

Also I am not sure I have ever seen wiring that can be used within the walls of a house that is a multicircuit stranded wire.

Hubble IG5362 has the plug ground isolated from the mounting strap... (had to look it up). That might require a 4 conductor cable? The strap would have to still be grounded right? He stated 10/3 stranded and shielded wire. So, 4 conductors counting one for the receptacle ground and one for the mounting strap / box.
Hot, Neutral, Insulated ground, and the grounded shield... ? I guess.

I could see a shielded cable being of possible benefit in an electrically noisy environment. There might be a specially cable for that?

You have to remember some of those those Audiophiles are crazy over the top particular about their setups.

A dedicated line is a good start... but if you want to do it the way the best recording studios do it, you want what’s called “Balanced power”...see here, for one write-up.

I actually started to do this in my house... but never finished the project.

A dedicated line makes a huge difference. Use audiophile outlets as well. A power conditioner also is a big help. I run the Audience Adept Response AR12 TSS OX.

When i redid my basement I dropped a 12awg 20 amp circuit to a quad outlet for my home theater. I ran a second 20amp circuit to the treadmill and it is on a different leg than my HT. From there I run a Brickwall line conditioner. From there I have a UPS for my TV but that is a throwback to my DLP TV which needed to cool down after power loss. A good line conditioner can also save your equipment from line spikes.

A couple of questions if I may...

quote:

A Hubble IG5362 and a Furman PST-8D made a noticeable difference

How did you connnect the ground on the IG5362? Did you run some kind of dedicated ground back to the breaker box? How is this different from the existing stock outlet and ground connection?

quote:

The web wizards suggest 10/3 awg multi strand shielded copper wire. How many strands is good, better or bad? I've looked at 7, 37 & 100+ strand all 10ga & rated at 600 volts.

I can understand the shielded part, but why multi-strand (stranded) wire? Other than mechanical flexibility is there something else, performance wise? I looked in enjoythemusic.com but didn't find anything about this.

Skins said...

quote:

I did run a dedicated circuit for my A/V equip and TV, not for sound quality but so that it was less likely to be affected from micro-surges like a vacuum being plugged into the same circuit or other equipment or electronics failing.

I agree, and I recall my old CRT TV "breathing" due to voltage sag when my old table saw was turned on. They shared a breaker / line. Common problem.