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What do I do for a dedacated circuit?

First off, Id like to say sorry for all the times this has been asked on this board. I have already read some of the other times this question has been asked. Now that I am ready to do this myself, I thought I would get the opinion of the experts first.

If I have an electrition install a dedicated circuit, would I want that circuit indapendantly grounded?

I am going to buy an outlet from First Impression Music, so I know that I would need copper wire only.

I dont know that much about electricity, but I am assuming I would need a 20 amperes circuit. Is that correct?

My amplifier is plugged directly into the wall recepticle, along with a power conditioner that feeds my pre and cd player.

Would I want to have two dedicated circuits installed so I can run just my power amp off one and my pre & cd player off the other? Or is one fine?

How would I know that the electricion actually did what he was supposed to do? Is there someone I could have come out to my house in the Sacramento, CA. area to actually inspect it? Or is there anyone who is an audiophile/electricion or just a trustworthy electricion who makes it out to the Sacramento, CA. area that you could suggest?

If you could answer my questions for me that would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you
verybestaudio
abstract7
541 posts
 
Get a licensed electrician to do the work. It's not worth messing up. The best way is to run a dedicated 220v 30amp circuit to a toroidal transformer to step it down to 110v. Break this off into 4 separate 20 amp circuits. These are going to have 55v on each pole out of phase (great noise cancelling). I recommend using 10 gauge solid wire (although there is some debate on solid vs stranded on this application). I use one circuit for amps, one for analog, one for digital, and one for the TV. Use hospital grade recepticals. You can independently ground the dedicated line (which I found helps quite a bit), but that can be a code violation in some areas (CA is probably pretty sticky on that point I imagine). Hope that helps--e-mail me if you need more info.
justlisten's avatar
justlisten
489 posts
 
Ive had mine done with 5 separate lines 2 for mono amps, 1 for digital, 1 for Preamp, 1 for front end (turntables). I live somewhat close to you, Oakland, 1.5 hrs away. The person who did my system 2 times is very knowlegable and is a Licensed electrition who works on weekends/evenings on the side. He charges between $25-$35 hr. If you were to pay him for his travel time plus the job it could be less than if you were to open the yellow pages and have some company do the work. I was getting real crazy quotes ($400-$800) and had to explain extensively to the receptionsist what I wanted to do. After a while I gave up and found this person. Email me direct if you would like his name and #
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
Sorry for posting a question on the discussion but I have one:
Why would you need 20amp for small signal components and sources?
I believe that you only need 20amp for power amplifier or 2X20 for monoblocks. The rest of equipment doesn't need that much of a dedicated power.
abstract7
541 posts
 
Marakanetz:
You're right, but the larger breakers typically have better contact and I've been told are quieter. I don't know if that's true--but it really doesn't cost any more, and there's no harm in it. Keep in mind there's another 220v breaker back at the panel--that's why it's okay to have 4 20amp circuits on a 60amp incoming source--and it's unlikely you'll trip that because you will never (as you pointed out) use anywhere close to the 20amps on source components.
garfish
1,840 posts
 
Veryb; Abstract7 and Justlisten give excellent advice, and I agree with them. I have five 20 amp dedicated outlets with a separate ground from the dedicated sub-main panel (I'm in Oregon). I had an electrician install my whole system, and I watched the whole process. IMO, electricians are pros and just as honest as you and I.

As Abstract7 says, you'll probably want more than 1 or 2 ded. outlets-- more are better, and it only costs a little more as long as the electrician is there. If you don't have them, you might want to go to good quality power cords also-- of your choice-- I found them necessary with ded. outlets. I applaud your choice of the FIM outlet(s)-- they're great. BTW, good quality AC is the foundation of high quality music and you're headed in the right direction. Good Luck. Craig
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