What to tell my electrician


I am building out a dedicated listening room in a house we just purchased. There is a dedicated 200 amp breaker box for a hot tub we are getting rid of. So, I will have this breaker box deducted for a listening room. Assume i have a rig with mono blocks (ss), multichannel amp (ss) ,pre/pro, universal disc, dac, large led tv, cable box, distributed audio/video controller (control 4). The room is in the basement not very far from the breaker box (running lines would not be a problem). Also, the walls will be opened for the renovation so adding outlets and running wire not an issue.

I have read many of the threads on the subject here and am often confused by conflicting info and partial advice

So, what I would like is for any friends out here to put yourself in my shoes and imagine you are telling the electrician (who from what I have read will typically be amused and a bit confused by the Audiophile focus and perhaps not the best source of advice) what to do. So, would be great if the post is you imagining you are speaking to the electrician and saying. "ok, here is what I want you to do ......"

Assume I want to do it right and legally (so no non code separate grounds).
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Showing 1 response by audiofreakgeek

Make sure all breakers are wired in phase.

Also the grounds between circuits must be at exactly the same potential.

With dedicated lines you can have a ground loop when you hook up different devices together which span the different circuits.

I recommend that the projector circuit is a junction off of the main circuit used for the surround processor, this will eliminate the chance of ground noise in the picture.

Hubbel hosipital grade outlets are cheap and very good.

Make sure all circuits are 20 amp and use the heaviest gauge you can get.

BX cable is better than romex due to the bx's metal shield.

If you run any signal cables run them at 90 degree crosses over any electrical lines and keep cables at 6 inches or further from any ac lines.

A missed thing is cooling and heating a proper theater room will have an ambient noise floor of less than 50db, the quieter the room the better, split ducless ac units are great, central air can be great but the ducting must be of adequate size with an optimal number of bends to slow down the air velocity to create quiet cooling.