Dedicated Line, Surge and Safety

That's right. But more importantly, I suggest that you set up TWO dedicated lines, in order to isolate digital components from analog...or at least use your pre-existing house line to maintain isolation. I also believe that using better cable (Teflon insulation) results in better performance most of the time. Many folks know that a cheap-insulation NEW dedicated line can take a long time to burn in, and that an OLD house line, if dedicated, will sound better. (DISCLAIMER: I sell Teflon-insulated Belden cable for dedicated line use). A good compromise might be to set up one Teflon 12AWG line and one 10-12AWG Romex one. Barring that, I'd install two 12AWG Romex instead of one 10AWG...again to allow separation of digital and analog....

10 gauge is not any more dangerous than 12 gauge ... it is in fact, safer. 12 gauge is the MINIMUM for 20 amps, not the only. 10 gauge will work fine - as long as it fits in the terminals on your receptacles.

Timo - 10/2 is the standard designation for 2 insulated 10ga wires in combination with an uninsulated ground wire. It's a three-wire cable.

Subaruguru - I'm interested in reading your explanation as to how two dedicated lines somehow isolate components from each other. If you put both lines on the same power leg to avoid ground potential problems, you're riding on the same big bus. Any noise or AC distortion is going to ride that bus, and every circuit on it will be affected. Neither the wire nor the circuit breaker have filters in them, and they flow current both ways.

So can you tell me how this constitutes isolation? If there's something I'm missing, please enlighten me.

Jdombrow, very funny. I figured if he wanted factual information, he'd just listen to his electrician, whom I simply agreed with. I guess I should have simply said to listen to his electrician.
I am not an electrician, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night. Seriously though, I do know a few, and they all will say that 10 gauge is overkill. Meaning you can get away with thinner wire (12 gauge), safely and legally and cheaper. Most folks associated with audio choose for overkill though. Many of us could get by with cheaper and thinner cables in our systems. I had to fight with my electrician to get 10/3 wire, he's a friend who was hell bent on saving me a couple bucks. He simply thought going from 12/3 to 10/3 was a waste of money. When I told him how much my power cords cost, he rolled his eyes and gave in.

Timo- Rex is correct, 10/2 actually has 3 conductors, they don't count the ground conductor. So 10/3 would have 4 conductors.