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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
apogeum
34 posts
 

What about the ground loops with 3 dedicated power lines to the breaker box?

Even if you have correct grounding in your gear, which is not always the case, you can still get problems  with ground loops if the connection of the ground of each unit is not made as close as possible like using one  power strip for example. Often some digital buzz can only be cancelled by connecting  the power cords of the problematic gear right next to each other in a power strip.

Running 3 long cables to the breaker box where the ground is connected will rather complicate things. Parasitic currents between safety ground and chassis of each unit which normally run through the interconnects and degrade the audio will always  use the shortest path.

I use one dedicated power line with power conditioner (Furman IT20 and PS audio) and power strips and still had to try many different combinations before I could eliminate all noise and ground loops. With my phono section balanced power of the Furman works better, with digital gear the PS audio sounds better.The positive effect on SQ was remarkable.

immatthewj OP
1,919 posts
 

@apogeum  , thank you for that input. 

I am just about finished up. I did didn't do anything at all yesterday or Sunday, but I am just about ready to get up in the attic and wallow in the insulation and finish that part up.  I want to reroute some stuff at my electrical panel and then I will put the listening room back together

and then I will try it both ways.

invalid
1,190 posts
 

I don't know where all these ground loops are coming from with multiple dedicated circuits for your audio system, I have six dedicated lines of which I'm using four currently and do not have any ground loop problems.

erik_squires
16,060 posts
 

Ground loops only occur if there is actual ground current, even if the grounds themselves are less than ideal, so this is not always a given.

 

immatthewj OP
1,919 posts
 

Ground loops only occur if there is actual ground current, even if the grounds themselves are less than ideal, so this is not always a given.

@erik_squires  , could you expound on that for me (as I am somewhat electronically illiterate)?  By that, do you mean if something is causing current to return to the neutral bar via the bare ground wire (the 3rd wire)?  

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