Hi Folks,
I am thinking of putting in 2 dedicated power lines 10 gauge 20 amps with 2 PS Audio receptacles. The Power amp gets one and the other will be shared between the DAC and the Pre.
My house was built in 2001 and im guessing it has 12 gauge on the current lines.
How many folks have felt a discernible improvement in SQ as a result of this ? I know this is best practice but wanted to know of 1st hand experiences of improvement.
Thanks heaps.
E
Iāve done it three times. The first time in my old house I added two dedicated lines and when I upgraded to a multichannel system I added two more. In my new house I just put in 8 dedicated lines (since I had monoblocks in a surround system.)
The audio quality differences were much more cost effective than upgraded speaker cables or power cords (tho I do also have those.)
Hey echoz,
Check out my experience in construction last year in the PSA threads; do a search. Ted Smith and many others had great advice.
For starters 10 gauge, Solid wire is the most recommended gauge and should not cost much more than 12. My total installation from the main panel to wall socket behind my system was less than $800. Adding a second line at the same time should save labor. See Tedās suggestion, one line for Digital and one for analog. Both should be well grounded and have their own rocker. Regarding grounding, have your electrician check your house grounding. Since I donāt have a turntable, i.e. play vinyl I stuck with one line.
Once installed, I noticed little improvement on sound quality and clarity. I live outside a small town and believe incoming AC to my house was ācleanerā that of a city. And wiring in my house seems clean, I am fortunate.
I later added a re generator which had an immediate and huge impact on sound quality. But I am glad I installed the 20 Amp circuit first. I think that is the right order to appreciating your system improvements as you add them.
Chas
[edited on 9/12 to remove incorrect statement about gauge spec]
I have three dedicated lines for my āAnalogā system. I had upgraded to 10 gauge copper wire in a 125 year old home that has knob-and-tube wiring. Ceiling fixtures have a dual power supply, both knob-and-tube and gas lines for the lighting fixtures.
Back to your question, it was a necessity as the room where the stereo was located had one knob-and-tube outlet. It is 10 gauge or larger soldered terminations. To accommodate a stereo I added three twenty amp circuits and a new 200 amp SquareD distribution panel for the house. Each new circuit is a home run from the panel and each run is 10 feet as the room is directly above the distribution panel. It was an easy install once the plaster lathe walls were opened up. I broke in each circuit with an 1800 watt space heater. This was done 30 years ago, and still sounds great. Outlet are Hubbell Hospital Grade isolated Ground, model 8302 IIRC.
While some may believe 10 gauge is over kill, my thought is once you decide to go this route why not use 10 gauge copper wire. Was using two P300 power Plants for preamp and sources. Power in my neighborhood tends to be pretty clean, and the majority of my listening was after 9:00 PM.
I installed a single dedicated 20A feed for both of my amplifiers and definitely noticed SQ improvement. And, as a side benefit, my living/listening room lights no longer dim when large musical peaks occur!
Iām sure my original power distribution was bad enough to cause voltage sag (hence the lights dimming) and this is less than ideal for optimized amplifier operation.
Total cost about $65 and a few hours of my time. Well worth the trouble.
First off I would like to mention that I am a retired electrical contractor. I ran 4 dedicated 20 amps line to my stereo with #10 wires. My house also has knob and tube wiring. The new circuits are run in electrical conduits. I donāt know if there is any difference in SQ between #10 and #8 wiring. I don 't believe there is since the resistance is really low already with #10 wire. Besides #8 is huge wire and you need the means to run it like a large pipe or Romex. And you need #12 jumpers on the ends to connect the outlets. I did connect #10 directly to the outlets, but it was very difficult. 20 amp outlets are meant for #12 wires. The smaller the gauge, the bigger the wire. I did not compare the different gauge of wires, but I do know the bigger the wire the lower the resistance, so less power is lost to heat.
I did find that I am only using only 2 of the 4 circuits I have. The other two is unneeded. One is powering my regenerator and all my audio is plugged into it and the other is powering my power conditioner and everything else is plugged into that. I did not need the other two circuits. Everything sounds fantastic and the music is blowing me away right now. I donāt think it really matters much if you mix digital with analog with the same circuit. At least I havenāt heard a problem.
I think all you need is 2 circuits of 20 amps with #10 wires.
In my old house, I ran an 8 Ga. cable from the breaker to the PS Regenerator, terminated in an EIC plug. It just made me happy ; )
Very noticeable improvements, especially in terms of dynamics, tightness of bass, liveliness, immediacy, localization within soundstage also as far as I remember. It doesnāt do āsound magicā but āsolid basic workā. If you canāt fit your setup to tonal changes, be prepared for a less boomy and so sometimes less loud bass in case of room resonances.
Single dedicated 20A circuit with two dual PS Audio receptacles. Everything on my system runs through this circuit including P5 and P12 regenerators. A 15 A circuit with a PS Audio Quintessence is used to power cooling fans and network gear. I have had good results with this setup.
I should note that when running multiple circuits/outlets each run was on the same phase/leg.
I currently have a PS Audio power plant with all of my components plugged into it. It definitely improved the sound of my system which is located in a dedicated music room. The only other items on this circuit are a lamp, overhead room light/fan, cable modem and WiFi router. I was considering installing a dedicated circuit for my audio components but now with the power plant I am not sure it would be of any benefit considering the very limited load presented by the other items on the circuit. And that fact that I now have only power cord into my outlet from the power plant (which btw cured a previous ground loop hum caused by multiple power cords with different ground potentials). What benefits would a dedicated circuit provide in my situation?
Everything that you have plugged in that circuit will dirty the power of that circuit. If you have ever measure the noise level emitted be led lights, you will be shocked. If you have a delicated circuit to you audio, you will notice how clean and dynamic the sound can be. Everybody that has run a delicated circuit to their have notice a increase in sound quality in their system, I have never heard otherwise.
I did get a SQ improvement. How much? It was a while ago and i cant quantify it presenrly and I dont want to guess. But I do remember being impressed and happy. You might want to search my postsā¦i probably told someone about it.
. The biggest benefit was not tripping the breaker if a mouse farted. I would trip a circuit twice a week at least.
Isnāt the point of the power plant to clean this up? Wouldnāt that show you what the in and out THD are which would provide a better gauge?
A power plant is not perfect. Although it does a pretty good job of cleaning the power, things like the quality of the power cord the power plant used and unfortunately the quality of the power it is plugged into affects itās performance. Actually even the fuse and noise harvesters before the power plant affects the performance of it.
Sure, I agree with you, but it should show the user the incoming THD which should help determine the quality of the line and the effect of light bulbs etc.
THD is a pretty crude measure of line quality. High frequency noise is probably the most important thing and THD doesnāt measure that at all. High frequency noise is hard to attenuate since it can be radiated as well as conductedā¦
I was simply saying that the THD can help, as Iām assuming if thatās not true thereās no point in the Power Stations showing it other than a marketing gimmick.
Iām not trying to challenge those who know more about this than me, I honestly am a novice, just trying to understand better.
The measurement of THD is legitimate and meaningful, but it only goes so far; it reveals only part of the picture.
As a separate point, it is better to avoid the problem to try and fix a problem. That is, a dedicated line is the best approach as you avoid the problem of added noise.
The THD is just one of the measurements the power plant helps, then there is there is the perfect sine wave that is not loped off the top, then thereās the mutiwave feature, then thereās the lower impedance power output, then thereās the voltage regulation, and so on and so on. There is much more involved with the power plant.