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advice on dedicated line

Hello.

I need to have an electrician do some work on my house, and am mulling over a dedicated line for my sound system while she or he is there.

I am new to this, though, and not especially sophisticated about electrical matters. So I am wondering what exactly I want to ask for, and thought maybe you all would know.

I have an amplifier, a cd player, a Sonos unit, and a DAC.

Do I want two dedicated lines--one for the amplifier and one for everything else? So 2 20 amp circuits with 10 gauge wire?

Do I need to say something else about ground wires etc? About the breaker box?

Can I get 3 outlets on one dedicated line?

What kind of outlets do I want?

Anything else I should know?

Thanks!

mc
mcanaday
Post removed 
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Excellent post Jim. Thanks. That's exactly where I'm heading. I may go for 2 or 3 dedicated Romex circuits. A 15 amp job for my CDP. A 15 or 20 amp line for just the amp, although I suspect 15 amps would be major overkill since the amp pulls about 800 watts (or 7.5+ amps when driving a heavy load). And a 3rd line for the rest of the my gear.
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,411 posts
 
Would it be workable for me to get 6 outlets instead if 4 in case I ever wanted to plug in a small fm receiver to listen to the news? Or is that pushing my luck?

IMO, a better idea is to use a high quality power strip for your low current components and plug your amp into the wall. Then you won't run out of receptacles and you'll be protected.

a very popular power strip by Furman...
http://www.amazon.com/Furman-Standard-Conditioning-Aluminum-Protection/dp/B0009GI65Q
Post removed 
mcanaday OP
169 posts
 

Thanks again, all. I've reread this, and if I get Al's point, I might be better off with 2 20 amp circuits; but if I end up with grounding issues then I can put everything on one circuit and then I'll be at the baseline of where I would have been if I just started with one. So two is a way to optimize my results...but of course I have to get an electrician who will do this all carefully. And I guess if I hit resistance with the electrician, I can always drop back to one line and this will still be better than what I have currently.

A lot of moving parts!

A few other questions:
-I'm gathering from Al's post above that I should I get around to upgrading power cords, longer is better? Is this also true of interconnects?

-Is it enough to tell the electrician I want 10 gauge wire? Or do I need to supply him or her with it? If so, where would I get #10-2 NMB? (I assume this is what I want.)

I confess that I had a dream last night that I burned down my house!

Thanks again, everyone.

Margot
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