Audiophile grade 6 guage wire for sub panel?

Hi, Keith. I would think it difficult to find any 6, 8 or even 10 gauge house wire that has even one of these attributes, especially the single crystal one.

For example, I have three 25ft. runs of 10ga 99.99% oxegen-free solid core copper stored away (taken from my previous house and dedicated room) but that was custom made.

And even that solid core 10 gauge with the 4 9's was difficult to find on the open market just a few years ago as I recall several people, including a prominent amp mfg'er, inquiring with me wanting to know where they could obtain that same wire because they already searched high and low.

My research with high quality wiring of this type is a few years old and maybe some of this stuff is now more readily available today than it was then.

Anyway, that's why this time around I just settled for Lowe's solid core copper 250 ft. spool of 12ga and had the whole spool double-cryo-treated.

Perhaps you could do the same with the 6 gauge.

On the other hand, if you did find exactly what you're looking for in a 6 gauge I wouldn't be surprised that you'd probably pay a huge (I mean HUGE) markup fee.

-IMO

Forgive my asking, but is the wire to the subpanel really the best use of your money? (Shields up for the incoming flames.)

How far is it going to be from your main panel to the subpanel? Through walls, or through an exposed basement? I take it that you're not going to have too much more on the subpanel than your stereo, since 6ga wire has an ampacity of only around 50-60 amperes.

I apologize if I sound skeptical, but I just wonder if that extra money might be better put to, say, room treatments.

Michael

The primary purpose of a subpanel is to dedicate circuits to the audio equipment on a line that is as independent as possible from the main panel and other home circuits. The wire to this subpanel is just an extension of the wire to the main panel and the primary consideration is to minimize resistance, e.g., keep the guage at least one notch lower (larger wire size) that needed for the expected current. In my opinion there is no need at this point to worry about "audiophile grade". If this is done carefully, there will be no issues with ground loops or AC transcient feedback between componants, and the background noise level will be minimized.

The subpanel is where you want to start to implement your circuit distribution and power conditioning strategy. For example, putting each componant on a separate breaker with a separate ground, shielding wires, using hospital grade outlets, and considering an ISO transformer to reduce noise levels on the lines. All of these steps will increase the ability of the power supplies most efficiently produce clean and stable DC power to their componants. That is the goal.

Thank you all for responding.

I really didn't know what to expect when I asked this question.

I figured if it's beneficial to run good quality copper, oxygen free, single crystal, twisted, etc... for six feet of a power cord then why not try and run some quality wire, twisted, etc... all the way from the sub panel?

It doesn't seem that anyone has had any experience with good quality 6 or 4 gauge wire though

Check out high spec wire from german suppliers to the robotics and research industries, where AC power is critical. There are some very interesting wires available.