Yet another Grounding Question-Separate 'Earth'

Many thanks to all of you, and to Nsgarch, for the timely responses. Work will be done by the book, according to Code and to Hoyle. The balanced power idea is also intriguing. I will let you know how it goes and will scream if I have questions in the midst of it. Thanks again, everybody.

Whart, glad to hear you will not be using a separate equipment grounding conductor and ground rods for the sub panel that does not connect back to the main electrical service panel grounding electrode system.
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>>"My electrician has installed a separate subpanel for the audio system which is 'upstream' even of the main breaker panel in the house."<<
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Just curious how did the electrician do this? Did he tap into the Hot conductor/s ahead of the main breaker, of the main service electrical panel? What size is the main 2 pole breaker, 100 amp, 200 amp? Did he install a new breaker and enclosure at this tapped location to protect the feeder that runs to the new sub panel? How did he connect to the neutral conductor ahead of the main service panel? How far is the sub panel from the main electrical panel? What size of wire did he install to the new sub panel? How many conductors, wires?

If the ground wire is only connected to a ground rod or an underground metal or copper water pipe, the circuit breaker usually will not trip if there is a short to ground. There has to be a connection to the neutral from the ground to trip the breaker. Power from the hot wire goes to ground and then to the neutral to trip a breaker in a ground fault. A sub panel does not have the neutral and the ground connected (bonded) together, the main panel does. If there was a ground fault or a short circuit on one of the circuits in the sub panel and there was two seperate grounding systems for each panel this is what will happen. The power will go to the sub panel ground rod and try to go through the earth and make a connection to the main panel ground rod which is connected to the neutral so the breaker will trip. You can not use the earth as a grounding conductor. The main neutral wire from the street makes the breaker trip and not the ground. Thats the reason that all grounds have to be connected together so the fault can go to the neutral and trip the breaker.

Whart, what is the problem (power, safety or audible) that you are trying to cure? Why do you need a separate panel? Maybe there is a simpler way.

>>By using separate or multiple grounds, the possibility exists that a short circuit may be routed away from the breaker, causing a dangerous situation.<< Only the hot side of the circut is fed through the breaker, so multiple paths back to the panel are immaterial. The current has already been through the breaker and cannot be routed away. The ground wire itself is a separate path, parallel to the neutral.

I do agree that not connecting new grounds to the exsiting panel or connecting the subpanel neutral to ground anywhere but the main panel are REALLY BAD IDEAS.

Let's talk about the underlying problem and try not to create new ones.

I hadn't been down to the basement to look at his work- here's what we have right now: a Square D subpanel is feeding off the main panel, fed by a metal insulated cable that appears to be close to an inch in diameter. No further work has been done (yet)- he will return later this week. I suspect that when he said he wired this panel in, 'upstream' of the existing box, he really meant upstream of all the existing breakers, perhaps, save for the main power breaker on the incoming service.
The ground wire out of the main box is a massive thing, looks like its multistrand, also probably an inch thick, wrapped in a light grey, rubber-type insulator.

I'll make sure I discuss these postings with him. He has done good work for us in the past, and is pretty meticulous. Perhaps he didn't mean that the ground to the subpanel would be totally isolated, and that the panel wouldn't also grounded to the main house system, but I sure heard it that way.
As to problems I'm trying to solve, well...

The room in which the hi-fi exists is already overcrowded with other equipment for the video system. My preference would be to install the audio only system in another room, but at least for now, that's not possible.
I'm pretty fanatical about the noise level in the system, and have tried myriad ways so far to reduce the noise level at idle. (As mentioned in another post, an industry guy who I respect for his technical knowledge heard the system a couple weeks ago, and scoffed at my complaint that the system was noisy).
In any event, the video system is powered by its own dedicated 240v stepdown transformer. That in turn handles the power for the various 'audio for video' amps and also supplies the juice to a big Richard Grey box which powers the projector, line doubler, and small signal video stuff.

I want the audio system totally isolated from that, and I'm moving the audio equipment (other than the speakers) to another area of the room --partly to get it away from my ears, and partly because the compressor for the Air Line arm can then be stashed in its own little room, isolated from the listening environment.

In doing this, I just want to make sure I have the best possible AC feeding the system. The current demands made by the system are modest. While I am currently using Shunyata Hydras, I'd also like to hook up without them, and see what the difference is. At present, the other outlets in the room are not 'dedicated' and are part of the standard electrical system that was installed in the room about 5-6 years ago, when the upper floors of the house were substantially renovated.