Recommendations for 20 amp electrical outlets

@jea48 

Keep in mind, “separate” ground at the panel, even a separate panel not bonded to the main breaker box STILL goes into the SAME ground (earth) as the other ground rod(s).

Please explain in more detail what you mean.

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entire book(let)s have been written about the subject of grounding. Most of what I know is from setting up ham radio equipment at home, installing towers here and it’s a topic dweebs, geeks and “auty”/“aspy” folk will argue to death - or blocking - on the internet.

Basically:

I’ve read SO many posts here and on other audio forums about people spending beaucoup dollars installing a “dedicated”, “isolated” 20A power source for their audio equipment AND mentioning “with a separate ground.”

Typically, there is only ONE service entrance for power per home. ONE breaker panel. Ground (the bare copper wire) and Neutral (white wire in the US) are “bonded” at the breaker panel, meaning, connected. Ground goes to a ground ROD outside, outside the footer, usually a copper-clad steel rod (some use copper pipe which is fun to install)

Now someone wants to install a SEPARATE box, a SUBPANEL which is tapped off the main breaker panel, this box doesn’t have a separate grounding rod (I’ve read where others have done this) AND neutral (the “return” line for the hot feed) is STILL going to the ground rod(s) by the house (NEC code, IIRC, now requires two, connected to each other. I used Erico Cadweld one-shot thermite welding to fuse #4 copper wire to each ground rod for my ham radio tower), bottom line being, ALL ground goes into THE GROUND, the same ground (earth) beside the house. One service panel, one ground.

Any other appliance in the house is going to be on the same circuit no matter how “isolated” it’s made as hot and neutral go to the “appliance” (including stereo gear) and neutral is BONDED to GROUND at the panel - again - the ground lead going to the ground ROD.

It’s why so many people are using power conditioners on their equipment.

Hope this helps.  And puh-lease, “experts,” geeks, dweebs, techies, “I’ve been an electrician for 40 years” guys, save it for another forum.

Good point “you’re hearing many opinions on the same outlets”  My guess is then most of it doesn’t make a difference and it’s a wee bit of a scam…you think ? 

@normb I shared you advice with my electrician yesterday and he advised he will install the grounding as you mentioned. He clearly understood what I was trying to convey and advised it was definitely a great idea. The subject matter has come up before, but I didn’t think about pursuing the idea, so thanks for sharing this information!

@1971gto455ho Said: My guess is then most of it doesn’t make a difference and it’s a wee bit of a scam…you think ?

I wouldn’t declare it a scam unless I decide to test multiple outlets in my system and don’t hear a difference. The exaggerated advertisements may be a bit of a scam.  However, I’m not so quick to call something a scam just because I don’t hear a difference in a hifi product. What I’ve learned in this hifi hobby is, we tend to put a value on what sound we want. If a product squeezes a little bit more juice out of your system, you have to ask yourself, is this incremental improvement worth the asking price?  So, people may hear a difference in the outlets and feel a $300 a Furutech is worth the upgrade.  Some people totally discount an expensive speaker or component simply because they can afford it, so they trash the product and never heard it. I understand expectation bias and all the other things that might make one feel like they hear a positive or negative difference in any hifi product. We all have different rooms with different gear and any biases that may come into play, so we’re gonna get various opinions, but I still value the feedback from the hifi community. I tend to learn information above and beyond what I was initially seeking. It’s all good!

@dbt 

Thanks for that.

One of my best friends is a master electrician who’s finishing the wiring on my new house in a few weeks (I hope, I hope, I hope) and I ran an aluminum sheathed 10 AWG line from the new breaker box to my audio room/man cave ending in an Oyaide R0 (non-plated copper) 20A outlet.

I told him how I wanted a single, independent circuit and he said “well, it’s all on the same ground.”

And “ground” and neutral are at the same impedance level as they’re connected.

 DOH!

That got me rethinking some of the posts I’ve read here and around the web regarding “a separate line into my audio room” and rereading some of the stuff I’ve got on grounding.

https://esgrounding.com/blog/bonding-neutral-and-ground-at-main-panel

I DO USE a power conditioner (Running Springs Audio DUKE) though and believe it makes a difference taking out the hair dryer/HVAC transients/DC line noise.