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Dedicated 20 amp circuit - Electrician laughed!

I brought my electrician out to my house today to show him where I would like to install a dedicated 20a circuit for my system.  He laughed and said that's the stupidest thing he's heard and laughs when people talk about it.  It said, if you're going to do it, you have to have it separately grounded (shoving a new 8 foot rod into the ground) but even then, he sees no way there can be an audible improvement.

Now, he's not just an electrician though. He rebuilds tube amps on the side and tears apart amps and such all the time so he's quite well versed in audio electronics and how they operate.

He basically said anyone who thinks they hear a difference is fooling themselves.  

Personally, I'm still not sure, I'm no engineer, my room's not perfect, and I can't spend hours on end critical listening...  But, he does kinda pull me farther to the "snake oil" side and the "suggestive hearing" side (aka, you hear an improvement because you want to hear it).

I'm not taking a side here but I thought it was interesting how definitive he was that this not only WILL not make a difference but ALMOST CANNOT make a difference. 
dtximages
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
No reason to get pissed off just tell him to put the lines in or he can go find another job.
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cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 
How much power do you need from the mains to justify a 20 amp circuit ? That would be equivalent to approximately 2200 Watts. Will you have that much power consumption ?

Unless you are coming VERY close to that number above, you will NOT hear any difference. The only advantage would be eliminating any possible ground loops if you plug every device you have into this one circuit. But then again, unless you really require that much power, you could gain the same advantage from just a standard 15 amp mains plug.

Extra power never hurts but will obviously cost.

arrwax
11 posts
 
I would ask if a 20amp dedicated circuit is enough? What is the total current draw of all your devices? 

How about a quality, properly sized U.P.S.? The correct U.P.S. will provide protection from Spikes, Sags in voltage, and filtering there by providing you "clean" power to any device you plug in.

In the normal mode most U.P.S.s would be running off battery and the line power will be charging the batteries.

One other thing to remember is "ground is ground the whole world round"
arrwax
11 posts
 
Also make sure the U.P.S.power cord / outlet are "twist lock".
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