Another dedicated circuit question


(I just wrote a novel, and I tried to paste a couple of links, and the whole thing disappeared, so as I type slowly and poorly, I am going with the condensed version this time.)

About 25 years ago I put in three dedicated circuits for my gear.  (That was before I had a PC & internet, so I am sure that I must have gotten the idea from Stereophile, and as with all things, I thought bigger was better and more was best.)  Recently I have been reading a number of dedicated circuit threads and discovered that I had made numerous errors.  Therefore I have been up in my attic and into my panel for the last week or so removing, replacing, and rerouting and I was about done

and then

I found out that three dedicated lines was another mistake I made.  No biggy:  I bought a lot of Romex and other stuff I didn't need and spent some extra time I didn't need to spend, but I can rectify the three-circuit-RFI that I introduced by turning 'off' two of my three system circuit breakers.  Right?

But my question is:  since I need four outlets (digital source, pre, amp, powered sub) is the BEST solution to put another outlet in series with my one dedicated outlet?

Are there any power-strip solutions that are of an acceptable grade?  After the last dedicated circuit thread, I wound up discussing this (to some extent) with @millercarbon  and I told him about a power conditioner I bought around 25 years ago called the Promethean Audio Products Power Flo (sorry MC, I got the name slightly wrong) and he suggested that in the interim I use that as my strip.  What I neglected to tell him was that it occasionally arcs at the outlet when unplugging/plugging it in, and I am a bit leery of it.

Here is where my previous novel I had typed disappeared on me, so I am not going to try to pate any links this time,  but price is a consideration and MD sells the Furman PST-*D Power Station (8 outlets) for $269 + tax which is withing my range, but it says to use only on 15A circuits (meaning I would have to put a 15A outlet & breaker on either end of the 12-2 that makes up my one dedicated circuit.

MD also sells, for $40 + tax, the Audioquest IEC-3 power strip (three outlets) and I guess I would need two of them (plus two cords) as one of the reviews say that the outlets are too close together to use all three of them at once.

Are either of these an acceptable (meaning minimal degradation) method to add outlets to one dedicated circuit?  Are there any other methods (excluding multiple hundreds or thousands of dollars on a power conditioner) that I could consider?

In a reply to this post, I am going to attempt to paste links to the two options I just mentioned.

 

 

 

immatthewj
Post removed 

@jea48 thank you for the added input. A couple of things with a question(s) added:

About my breaker arrangement on my panel:

I typoed again in previous post. There now are FIVE breakers on the leg I used for the 3 circuits I just added.

From the top working down

1) I discovered what the unknown breaker was for. The washing machine. Which I assume is a pretty hefty draw? However, I am relatively confident that the machine is usually not in use when I am listening. So that should be good?

2) In my previous post, I said "TWO of the three original dedicated circuit breakers were on that leg"; in reality, only ONE of those breakers is on that side, and when I finally reach completion up in the attic it will be very rarely in use. So that should be good? If not, I can turn that and the washing machine breaker off when listening.)

3, 4, and 5 are my for the new and truly dedicated lines that I ran directly from my outlets, up the wall, across a section of the attic, and down into the panel.

Besides the sub-questions I raised above, 1) would you say that what I have described make that a pretty good leg? 2) Especially if I turn those other two breakers on the leg to ’off" when listening? 3) And is there any need to do that if those circuits are not being used when listening? 4)And would there now be a need to move my three new breakers down?

(I guess that was more than one question.)

On the outlets: thanks for providing that, and I actually did buy some of that brand at Lowes.. I know because I have a n extra one. The back strap is magnetic. However, I also have them mixed & matched with another brand Lowes sells (I don’t have the box on that one), and it has a magnetic back strap as well. I am pretty sure that they are different brands as there are small differences in their construction. I can easily go to Lowes & finish up this job by buying all one brand.

Anyway, thank you for your helpful input.

@immatthewj wrote:

The duplex receptacle came from Lowes and were therefore nothing special.

I have had good results with the plugs below for audio.

Mike

 

Trying to parse from this thread so will pose a question which I hope is sufficiently related so as not to hijack. I am building a dedicated room over the garage from scratch—only drawings at the moment of a new structure. I plan to install a sub panel in the garage fed from the main panel in the basement of the house. The sub panel will only power the audio room and maybe the adjacent office space. I want to install 3 separate 20 amp dedicated lines in the bonus room, each on different walls. One will power 3 outlets between the speakers for amplifiers. One will power a box with 3 duplex outlets for the rest of the components in this system. One will power a box with 2 duplex’s that will power a second system in the room.

I’d welcome comments on wrongheaded thinking AND suggestions to minimize noise, hum, etc. 

 

Just want to point out that the Eaton 20 Amp and 15 Amp outlets are identical internally. A good thing.

However, only the Commercial/Residential outlets are tamper proof, now required of residential outlets. :)

My experience is the Commercial/Residential are really good, ESPECIALLY when mated to a hospital grade male plug.