bypass outlet and hook wires directly to romex??

Could be better to attach power cords directly to Romex. Honestly, I have never tried it. Other than the obvious inconvenience, I suspect such a rig would be against local electrical code as well as a safety issue.

My city requires any splices or connections to be inside a plastic or metal electrical box. Many of the high end power cords I like are so large it would require cutting a custom plate for the outlet box just to get the splice inside, this assuming there is space in the box.

Your idea makes sense on one hand, yet raises issues that complicate what most of us consider an already complicated sound system.

You will probably burn your house down if you do.

A friend of mine did this years ago, and it did not burn down the house, but it has it's risks. It IS an inconvenient thing to do( his amp weighed 130# to boot).This was before all the new power cords came out,back in about 86. His system was amazing as he had payed attention to every detail. I would not reccomend it today. Get yourself a good outlet and get a good buy on a power cord(look for the most bang for your buck, I hear that the FIM outlets are great for $50 and try a CPCC "High Value" power cord $130). You will be glad you did every time you want to move that amp for any reason. I think that it is possible that this approach could sound even better than the direct romex due to the fact that the romex is not sheilded.

I've got a better solution for you.If your talking about connecting to a dedicated line (you wouldn't want to connect to an existing branch circuit anyway)instead of buying a hospital grade duplex outlet or one of the expensive alternatives go to Home Depot and buy a Leviton or other industrial quality brand female plug to connect to your line.These are the same plugs that Synergistic and other manuf.use on thier power cords(the male counterpart)and are very sturdily made with better contact pressure than most outlets and you get a perfectly matched detatchable connection.Also you can use a blank wall plate with a whole drilled to pass your wire through.

My thought for the last 6 months has been to run the romex straight from the service panel through the hole in the wall (where the outlet would normally be) straight to a WATTaGATE male IEC plug that goes straight into the component.

No breaks in the line, little or no need for power conditioners, or high priced wall outlets, or high priced power cords, no electrical leaks, less RF, and cheap too. If you do this with say 10 gauge OFC romex, I would think the results would be great.

And yes, to pretty things up at the wall, purchase a wallplate with the tv cable hole in the center.

If this is what you are talking about doing, I'd love to hear what you think after it's done.

-John