I’ve got two weeks in July off from work, so it’s finally time to get a dedicated audio circuit installed. What do I buy, material-wise though? I’ve narrowed the wiring down to 10/2 solid core copper, but should I just get Romex? Would Metal Clad be better, or would running each wire separately best?
What about receptacles? I know that some have gone with hospital outlets, but are the options from Shunyata or Furutech worth it? Do the face-plates matter at all? The more I start digging into this, the more questions I come up with.
If youre doing the work yourself practice wiring the receptacles with the bigger gauge wires. They can be a pain to bend and a bigger pain to bend and fit in the grooves of the receptacle. Some receptacles are easier than others or give you more room.
Make sure you have tons of electrical tape. And dont skimp on safety and tools to test for your safety.
Sorry i cannot help you more about the audiophile specific parts.
I’ve done some electrical before, so the practice is there. My brother-in-law works as maintenance/electrician so he has quite a bit of experience, and is willing to help if necessary.
Hubbles are just fine, a couple of companies VooDoo and PS audio use tweaked versions of their hospital grade as the foundation for their products. TBH, the AC receptacle is the one thing you can easily replace down the line and IMO you’re better off if you’re going to do it, putting money into a better audio grade in wall AC cable or even a small separate panel if your BIL thinks it will make a difference. I’d also give it it’s own ground connected to the same ground point as the panel but dedicated.
Especially if it’s only 20 or 30 feet. Another best practice, use a metal AC wall cover, they shield better than plastic and don’t cost a fortune like the carbon ones.
IMO the biggest difference you’re going to get it from the dedicated line in the first place. Everything else is just gravy.
I redid my outlets. House originally came with contractor Leviton 15A; a local audiophile electrician recommended I get at least a Hubbell HBL5362W due to its large copper bus and large broad contact areas and clamp forces. I also tried a Shunyata SR-Z1 and finally finished with a Furutech GTX-D NCF(R); be aware that they all need a lot of burn-in time (I put them elsewhere and just ran appliances through them). Differences were subtle, but considering the relatively low costs, not too big of a deal; the Shunyata and Furutech definitely sounded more refined than the others, but surprisingly the Leviton wasn’t all that bad. Caveat, everything went through my power conditioner, I didn’t plug my gear directly into the outlet.
I’d also suggest getting a nice wall plate w/ cable cradles. Both Shunyata and Furutech (and others) make these, and if you have heavier cords it’s certainly nice to have stabilized contacts. This is definitely an area for improvement, and there was a video I saw of the micro-arcs that occur w/ poor contacts (can’t find the link) that is helped by cradles.
If you’re actually opening up the walls, I’d see if you can get a dedicated ground for your audio circuit, ideally direct to earth and not connected w/ any other circuit/panel/neighborhood to minimize ground noise. Might be able to just run it straight down if you have a crawl space and someone who’s willing to dig deep enough.
ps: I also tried these crazy things. Haha, well, too bad it didn’t live up to its mythical asking price.
Everything will be going through a Niagara 5000 after it gets here, so it’ll be the same with me. Since it’s just one outlet, I’ll go ahead and pick up one of the aftermarket models though.
I’ll have to see if that’s an option. There is a crawl space, but driving a ground rod through it could be somewhat challenging, as cramped as it is. Putting one down right outside the room is certainly an option though.
I’ve thought about this, I’m just not sure how much more work it would be.
The PS audio outlets are sturdy and of good quality.
Use a quad gang box or go to a 6 or double quads if you have room near your equipment. That will allow you to plug subwoofers direct into the wall. I used a 10/3 line at the panel but had to use 12/3 for the final connections due to size restrictions at the outlet. My circuit breaker itself is 20 amp but that’s overkill.
My next upgrade will be to pull the circuit out of the panel and feed it via its own grounded sub panel box and add one of those fancy ground isolators which I can’t for the life of me remember the name of at the moment
With nothing else from the house touching this circuit I have thus far had great success and happiness.
Good luck
I honestly hadn’t thought about putting more than a single outlet in, but I guess there’s no reason not to put more than one in, is there?
And was there a specific reason you went 10/3 instead of 10/2? Is the extra conductor useful for something?
Neutral ground and power on that circuit. At least I’m pretty sure that’s what’s in there.
I asked him to use the bigger gauge just to go overkill. 12guage is fine and it works better with the outlets. Tap as many outlets as you can off it for your stereo. Just gives you more locations to plug into.
