Really good home electrical wiring.


I am building a new HT room with 9 dedicated 20-Amp circuits and am planning on using WATTGATE's flagship 20-Amp receptacles. The one thing I am still unclear about is what type of electrical wire should be run to the HT room. I am most familiar with Romex because it is the standard for basic electrical wiring. I've been told that THHN Strand is much better than Romex. Finally I just have found out about the 8-gauge AC wire the JPS Labs sells. I am investing a ton of money into this room and want to use the best electrical wire. What do ya'll recommend?
sbearden

Showing 3 responses by brianw

Sorry for the double post. No Sbearden, I haven't tried the JPS 8 gauge myself, however a friend of mine with a similar system has. He has replaced it with 3 runs of 10 gauge THHN solid for each leg, taped firmly and tied together on the end. This is my current set up for 120 VAC, and I use multiple 4 gauge for my 240 VAC for the amps. It seems as though the more wire I throw at it per leg, the better the sound. I may try removing the existing this spring and adding more. I'll let you know how that turns out. I know that Ray Kimber likes the stranded, and I had tried it about 3 years ago, (I can't remember, maybe he had suggested it), but I like the solid better with my system. Maybe the house wiring is system dependant, just as cabling is. This is why running conduit seems so elementary, you can try different configurations with little trouble. Merry Christmas!
THHN is available in solid core, and is used in most commercial buildings for 120 VAC in either 10, 12 or 14 gauge, depending on the expected amp draw for the circuit. The solid core does sound better to me than the stranded, and heavier gauge generally helps the sound. My listening room has a separate sub-panel, with 3/4 inch minimum conduit ran to the dedicated outlets. The nice thing about running conduit is that if you hear about an up-grade, you can change the wiring in your walls without getting into the sheetrock repair. I can't tell you how many times I've tried different wire brands and gauge size on the different outlets, but it has been a few. It all makes a difference.
THHN is available in solid core, and is used in most commercial buildings for 120 VAC in either 10, 12 or 14 gauge, depending on the expected amp draw for the circuit. The solid core does sound better to me than the stranded, and heavier gauge generally helps the sound. My listening room has a separate sub-panel, with 3/4 inch minimum conduit ran to the dedicated outlets. The nice thing about running conduit is that if you hear about an up-grade, you can change the wiring in your walls without getting into the sheetrock repair. I can't tell you how many times I've tried different wire brands and gauge size on the different outlets, but it has been a few. It all makes a difference.