Dedicated Outlets - The Latest Recommendations

I went through the same gyrations recently.  Here are a couple things to consider:

Use a panel that has a copper bus bar.  The only commercially available panel I found that fits the bill is a Square-D QO series panel.  The QO panels are more for commercial use...the copper is "tinned" so it will not look like copper though.  All other panels I looked at had aluminum bus bars, including the Square-D Homeline series.

Your electrician will really fight you when you tell him to put all circuits one one leg but stay strong!  FYI, in many panels each leg alternates from slot to slot on each side.....each side is not necessarily on one leg or the other.

One thing I did not do, that I suppose I could have, was to run 10-3 Romex instead of 10-2.  10-2 has two insulated legs and an uninsulated ground.  10-3 has three insulated legs and an uninsulated ground.  Some people recommend 10-3 and using the 3rd insulated wire as a ground and not using the uninsulated leg.  Supposedly it is possible for the uninsulated ground wire to act as an antennae for RFI.  Just something to chew on.  One caveat....10-3 is very very stiff.

Lastly, one thing I'd like clarified from someone else....How do you define a sub-panel?  We ran a dedicated panel for my audio circuits directly off the meter loop and gave it its own ground.  When I hear "sub-panel" I assume this means it is tapped off the main panel.

Good luck!

If you look for an electrical contractor that does commercial work, not just residential, you may already be in the ballpark in terms of dealing with some of this stuff (less arm-twisting). At least that's been my experience. Good luck.

Many thanks to all for the suggestions, and apologies for my slow response.

Since @inna was first to respond, I went out and bought a generator, and hooked it up in my listening room.  Unfortunately, due to the racket, the only thing I could listen to was Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music," which sounded pretty good--until I was overcome by the carbon monoxide.  Luckily, the generator eventually ran out of gas, and I slowly came around.  I'm thinking now that maybe I was supposed to leave the generator outside??

On the other hand, I really appreciate all the other suggestions, especially the highly specific ones from @jea48 .  I will attempt to digest all the specifics and communicate them to my electrician.  I have a feeling there may be a certain amount of arm twisting involved, but I'll see what he has to say.  Luckily, as a long-time audiophile, I'm used to people thinking I might be a bit whacky.

Thanks again!

+1 Furutech GTD-D Rhodium outlets.

I am using these in my dedicated theater room and very pleased with the sound. Yes, they are expensive but well worth the price. Also they don’t damage the coating on your male AC plugs.

If you going by the code, 12 gauge Romex wire is designated for 20-amp circuits.

I would also recommend surge protection installed in your main breaker box, like Environmental Potentials EP-2050 Surge and AC Waveform Correction and EP-2070 ground filters.

You may speak to Chris at VH Audio about these, he is a great resource and very helpful fellow.

Good luck!

I'm going to leave the wiring suggestions to the professionals, jea48, almarg, and others.

As far as AC outlets are concerned, that's a very subjective area and there are many good products available depending on how much money you want to spend.

I totally agree that for the money Albert Porter’s outlets sold on Audiogon are very good and priced very reasonably. Due to the makeup of them and the cryogenic treatment I find that they sound better than store bought off the shelf AC outlets (that's another area of disagreement). I still own several of Alberts outlets.

After trying a dozen of different audiophile grade outlets I finally settled on my current outlets which is the Furutech GTX-D Rhodium (R) outlet. I own five of them and  am very appy with there sound.

What about feeding the sytem in totally independent fashion off a generator ? Sorry, if I asked nonsense.

While awaiting @Jea48’s response (and I agree that he is always superb on these issues), here’s what I did, within code in Austin. recently.
Subpanel off main panel- mainly to give me more room for breakers. I installed a big outdoor isolation transformer, but you don’t have to do that. The output of the transformer was run through 4 gauge feeder wires to another subpanel near the room upstairs. (Without the transformer in the middle, you will probably still want a subpanel with a copper buss bar near the room which I believe is why the heavy gauge wire was used as a feeder). I didn’t use "audiophile" wire from the system subpanel to the outlets- just 10 gauge Romex. I learned from past experience that these have to be spaced apart, because if they are bundled, current or electrical noise on one of these runs can affect the others.
You have to figure out where you want the outlets for the dedicated lines. I didn’t use fancy $400 receptacles, but Albert Porter’s medical grade Hubbell 20 amp receptacles.
I had my electrical contractor pull a permit- they took care of all of that.
I’m sure there are other questions-- issues like which side or phase of the 120 volt legs from a 240 volt system- balancing it for load is normal- the theory is you want the system on the side that doesn’t have the noisy appliances. (This is less of an issue with the isolation transformer).
Grounding- all must come back to the main household ground. JEA can speak to the value or downside of additional grounding rods. You can’t really run a ground that is not in some way connected back (bonded may be the term of art) to the main household ground and electrical service. It is worth having the electrician check your current grounding set up, and how the current service panel is wired, just to make sure what’s already there is in order, so it doesn’t impair what you add. Dedicated lines are not really fully isolated from the main household electrical system, but help- you aren’t suffering current draw or noise from other appliances, lighting, etc. on the same branch. However, in my last system, there were certain low voltage fixtures elsewhere in the house, and certain appliances, that could generate a low level hum or noise despite the dedicated lines. Simple solution- don’t turn those on when you are listening.
I’m sure others, including Jea, can add more, or clarify or correct anything I’ve said. I’m not an electrician, but that’s a short version of what I know. Good luck.