Q. Should I run 2 seperate lines from 2 dedicated curcuits?
A. Absolutely. In fact, you should have a minimum of 3 dedicated circuits. One 20 amp dedicated circuit for the amplifier, one 15 amp dedicated circuit for your digital cd player, and one 15 amp dedicated circuit for your pre-amp. This is the only way to ensure max. power draw to expand the dynamic headroom of the amplifier, as well as keeping the digital noise generated by a cd player back into the power line from entering your analog components i.e. preamp and amp. Not to mention keep AC noises from entering your equipment via every other electrical thing in the house like dimmers, vacuums, microwaves, blowdryers, etc..
Q. Should I use a 20 amp breaker?
A. 15 amp breakers for the digital and preamp circuits. 20 amp breaker for the amplifier's circuit.
Q. What about an isolated ground?
A. The best sounding ground is no ground. Grounding has a way of generating noise into the lines and eventually into the sonics. There are those here that would vehemently state that you should never lift or float the ground, but the best sonics are achieved only when that is down. The next best thing would be to have all of your audio components except perhaps the digital source sharing the same isolated ground.
Q. I was going to use the PS Audio power ports for outlets. Are these worth 50 bucks apiece or is it overkill?
A. It depends on what another had already stated. If you've already got an extremely revealing, high-end system, then yes, and at $50 a pop, why not? I am using the PS Audio Power Ports on each of my dedicated circuits. The main thing you want is to ensure that good strong grasping contact is made between the outlet and the plug. A hospital-grade $10 20 amp outlet from Home Depot will also provide this same taught grasp between outlet and plug. In fact, most $2.00 20 amp outlets generally will grasp a plug much tighter than a $0.59 15 amp outlet.
An audio-grade wall outlet removes doubt that you could do better. However, if you install an audio-grade outlet, 10 gauge 99.95% OFC romex straight from the service panel with no breaks, etc. (like I've done), you would still have that cheap middle-of-the-road poorly crafted service panel to deal with. I have a friend who installed a new $1200 service panel to eliminate that as a potential problem. Most service panels would cost you about $100 to $175 at Home Depot. And that service panel you and I are currently using probably cost $8.00 back when our houses were built.
IMO, -John
