Dedicated 20 amp circuit - Electrician laughed!

put your hifi on a battery. it don't get any better than that

@elevick he actually recommended a whole house surge protector.

@tomic601 he mentioned hospital grade outlets and grounding and all but I really don't remember exactly what he said.  But he did act familiar with high end outlets like those from PS Audio.. 

He said it certainly won't hurt that's for sure.. And IF there's any difference is HAS to be on a totally separate grounded system. NOT another 20 amp circuit ran from your existing box.

Yes dtximages my electrician had the same reaction. This was back when my listening room was being built as part of a major remodel. This was also nearly 30 years ago. Didn’t know near what I do now. It wouldn’t have added much cost either in wire or labor at that point but even so he convinced me its just not worth it. Not at all. So I didn’t do it.

Well, he was wrong. Your electrician is wrong. I know they are wrong because I have actually compared side by side. And it is not exactly night and day but neither is it nothing like they say. It is obvious and very easy to hear the difference. For a while I even had the two lines- one continuous dedicated, the other identical but wired normally- coming in to where they could be compared by simply unplugging from one and into the other. Normal (rolling their eyes doubting type) people, they could all hear the difference.

Search around this website, let me know when you find someone who actually has experience with this stuff to know what they’re talking about like I do. Maybe someone does. If so I just haven’t seen it.

I’m not done. I’m just getting going.

The first improvement that is noticeable is simply from eliminating all the outlet to outlet connections electricians think is harmless. If that’s all you do, run one standard gauge dedicated circuit, you will hear it and it will be worth the extra line.

Next after learning that actually does matter I decided to run a larger 4 ga line. This was better still. Although I will tell you it is a hassle, hard work, and you can forget it unless DIY because of the difficulty of doing to code. 4ga is as thick as a pencil, does not even fit into normal outlets, requires junction boxes, etc. But I did it. Like I said, try and find someone....

Next I found a used Audio Consulting pure silver step down transformer. This allowed me to run 240V most of the way to the room, step down to 120V, so the lower voltage only has to travel about 5 to 7 feet to the system. This was better still! But even more hassle, and again DIY or fuggetaboutit.

Still not done. Then I found a local cryo tank. Pulled all the wire, had everything cryo’d. Better still!

And remember, all these changes, they are all being done in the same room with the same system, which I am intimately familiar with because its all done slowly over a period of several years. These are not snap decisions. These are as solid a comparison as you ever will get.

Along the way a separate dedicated ground rod was driven into the ground right below the room and next to the stepdown transformer. Everything in the system has been run a variety of ways- regular ground, floating ground, dedicated ground. Grounds are funny. I could write double this amount on grounds alone. Its nowhere near as simple as its made out to be. None of this is. Almost everything you will hear is BS. Because it comes from people who are merely repeating what they have heard, and do not really know because they have not done. Pay attention to those who have done, and are accomplished audiophiles- ie have a proven track record of actually being able to hear. Otherwise, no matter how sure they sound, they are clueless.

There must be at least a half a dozen people here who according to their (I can’t use the correct word) opinion I have killed myself, destroyed my system, burned down the house, the whole neighborhood, and probably Puget Power if not the entire Pacific NW. So be aware, there are a lot of awfully ignorant people out there- including a great many with "electrician" on their resume.

Now, what you really want to know: is it worth it???

Running one normal dedicated line is relatively cheap and totally worth it. All the other stuff like I did is totally worth it- but only in light of all the other similarly minor things that also make a difference. Almost all of which are a whole lot easier and should be done first. Unless you are doing it as part of new construction. These details matter.

Anyone building new I would totally advise to do what I did. Anyone seriously skilled and motivated enough to DIY and is dedicated to having a bona fide audiophile nirvana system I would recommend they do it all too. Average guy, especially if paying an electrician, forget it.

Its not snake oil. Its for real. Check it out.
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367

We had the house surge protector installed. Definitely worth it. 

Now, I'm getting confused. Nearly every post on a dedicated breaker that I can remember has cautioned that a separate ground rod is a code violation? What gives?