Thanks everyone. The electrician worked 5 hours on Saturday and 12 hours on Sunday to get the panel in (my house is ALWAYS the house from "HELL" whenever anyone works on it so it didn't suprise me when it took him three times as long as he thought it would).
It also turns out I already had 200 amp service to the house so I didn't have to call the electric company to upgrade the service.
I didn't put my amps on 30 amp breakers yet as I only had 2-pole 30-amp breakers which would then mean they would be on both phases (since the 2-pole breaker is twice as wide). I am going to pick up two single-pole 30-amp breakers tonight and will treat them (sparingly) with SST.
Even without any after market wire (although I do have heavy 10 gauge solid-core wire in Greenfield conduit for my lines and very good outlets), the difference was much more noticable than I thought it would be given that I already had six dedicated lines. The biggest differences I heard immediately (you would literally have to be hearing impaired NOT to have heard this difference), was a pronounced improvement in bass articulation and transient attack as well as increased dynamics.
I was not in any way dissatisfied with my system or my sound prior to this change. I was changing the panel because my entire house would dim any time my AC (whether the central AC or my stereo room thru-wall extra AC), the fridge or the dishwasher went on. Now, the lights weren't phased at all when I kicked in the AC last night so, mission accomplished! The fact that the music sounds better and more lively too is just icing on the cake!. I only had about 35-40 minutes to audition last night so I am still assessing.
It also turns out I already had 200 amp service to the house so I didn't have to call the electric company to upgrade the service.
I didn't put my amps on 30 amp breakers yet as I only had 2-pole 30-amp breakers which would then mean they would be on both phases (since the 2-pole breaker is twice as wide). I am going to pick up two single-pole 30-amp breakers tonight and will treat them (sparingly) with SST.
Even without any after market wire (although I do have heavy 10 gauge solid-core wire in Greenfield conduit for my lines and very good outlets), the difference was much more noticable than I thought it would be given that I already had six dedicated lines. The biggest differences I heard immediately (you would literally have to be hearing impaired NOT to have heard this difference), was a pronounced improvement in bass articulation and transient attack as well as increased dynamics.
I was not in any way dissatisfied with my system or my sound prior to this change. I was changing the panel because my entire house would dim any time my AC (whether the central AC or my stereo room thru-wall extra AC), the fridge or the dishwasher went on. Now, the lights weren't phased at all when I kicked in the AC last night so, mission accomplished! The fact that the music sounds better and more lively too is just icing on the cake!. I only had about 35-40 minutes to audition last night so I am still assessing.