Dedicated power lines for audio?


I have read all of the stories about PLC's and as a result I first want to build and try a dedicated circuit for my audio system. I have a 200 AMP Square D panel with lots of available space to start with... Now what? What kind of breakers, dedicated surge devices, filters, lines, outlets, ground protection, etc?
dcaseyb
I ran my own dedicated line: three strands - the usual black, white & green (with some advice from Mike VansEvers) using #10 solid THHN. Line them up straight, & tape the ends all together. Put that combo into your power drill chuck & fasten the other loose ends tight in a vice. Now spin the whole bundle slowly until tight like a spring. It will unwind a lot when you power off the drill. Exchange ends & finish the twist. Run this bundle from the fusebox to a dedicated outlet. BTW: a 20A ceramic fuse sounded much warmer & smother than the glass fuse.
Hi Dcaseyb, to add to the excellent advice above is my experience from a few days ago: http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/forum.pl?dtech&962466641&read&3&4&...Also some related threads as follows (some more related than others): http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/forum.pl?etrbl&944202655&read&3&4&...http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/forum.pl?etrbl&938809964&read&3&4& Related threads: Hum and grounding http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/forum.pl?etrbl&956240497&read&3&4&...http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/forum.pl?etrbl&959975062&read&3&4&...http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/forum.pl?etrbl&958759854&read&3&4&...http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/forum.pl?etrbl&954697180&read&3&4&...http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/forum.pl?etrbl&921867799&read&3&4& Hope this helps.
Bob.... Interesting observation about glass versus ceramic fuses. I just used glass (that's what the electricians supplied with the box), and did not think to try ceramic, but your experience is much more like what Redkiwi (New Zealand) found. If I could go back and do it again, I'd try the ceramic fuses also. Fortunately the standard breakers sound good. Cheers. Craig
Bob: is the THHN a single copper wire? please confirm.... I also used the trick of the drill (better if reversible) for temporary long speaker cable runs for surrounds (ca 40 ft per channel) and it's much better that them running parallel without the twist
Sol: Yes to the single solid copper wire question. Dunno about directionality: now I need to try it both ways (per Garfish, see above). I guess you just look at the printing on the wire's insulation & ensure that all 3 conductors are aligned identically. Re: the twisted conductors - this relates to something about the magnetic flux fields cancelling each other. You'll find that some upgrade AC cords are made this way too. Of course you must run this twisted wire bundle in a conduit (or in 3/8" Greenfield if code permits - much easier to work with). I disagree re: not using any surge protection & filtering, at least from my own experience. I have a big Joslyn gas-discharge primary arrestor, across the whole house' primary, in the basement. Then a G.E. MOV (metal oxide varistor) in parallel across my Wattgate 381 outlet (mounted in a box) upstairs. MOV's are not supposed to hurt anything; Chang Lightspeed uses them internally for transient protection. Hope they're right? I also use two Chang Lightspeeds (a 3200 and a 9900 Amp) in addition to some pretty seriously expensive upgrade AC cords. The dedicated line sounded even better with the Chang's than it did standalone, but that might relate to the directionality issue (which I've not yet addressed) not being optimum? Maybe when summer's over I'll try that. Right now I'm gleefully satisfied with the results so far. Dramatic improvements over the house wiring! I noticed they also make plastic-based fuses; have not tried one, but I should, just for grins. I polished the fuse clean & bright, then applied Kontact. Same with the #10 solid conductors' ends, just like I do with all my AC & signal cables. If you use anything larger than #10 it becomes a bear to work with. #10 is stiff too, but at least it's still workable. Now what about isolated grounding? Has anyone done this, & was it worthwhile? Keep this thread going guys - this is realy good stuff, and we're all learning a lot, myself included.