Why would anyone need 7 dedicated lines in one room? That is ridiculous!
I am asking out of ignorance and respectfully seeking advice from those with experience installing dedicated lines to improve sound performance. I warmly welcome constructive criticism, but telling me something is ridiculous doesn't help much without explaining why or suggesting what I should do instead.
I suspect the builder of our modest two-storey house probably installed the minimum number of circuits. So, for instance, on the single circuit for our living room, we're running a MicroSun floor lamp, the blower for the gas fireplace insert, a single 18" Velodyne subwoofer, a 65" Samsung plasma television, a Tivo DVR from our cable provider, an Onkyo receiver used as a surround preamp, a Muse Model 100 amp for the large Tannoy center channel speaker on which the TV sits, and an Acurus A150 for the two surround speakers (yet to be installed). In addition, the same circuit powers our current primary stereo: a Wadia 781 CD player, an Audio Research LS-15 (tubed line-level) preamp and a beefy Levinson 431 amp driving Genesis III full-range floor-standing speakers, which also serve as the main L/R for surround sound. We utilize a couple of power conditioners to protect and provide more outlets, one in the main stack and one one in the surround stack. When we hook up the surround L/R signal to the main system via the LS-15, is there any surprise that we pick up a low-level 60 Hz hum? The result is that we rarely use the surround system and utilize the primary stereo for listening only to music. We have about 2,000 CDs, roughly 95% of which are classical music.
The primary system sounds glorious, especially with well-recorded CDs. At an average cost to us of about $17 per CD over the past three decades of collecting, our goal has been to make them sound as good as possible. Our main system is sometimes too revealing of the original source, so we have a second system in our bedroom upstairs that is more forgiving: again, a Wadia CD, Audio Research preamp and a Levinson amp driving a pair of ProAc EBS speakers. The older British ProAcs provide no imaging at all but fill the room with beautiful music, no matter how limited the original recording. I suspect this is due to roll-off at higher frequencies, where 20- to 30-year old CDs can sometimes sound shrill and artificial.
Back on topic, if I have my house's wiring replaced (or even just add several new lines), I'd expect to get a new, much larger panel to accommodate the dedicated outlets, not only for the living room but possibly for two or three other rooms as well, as there is too much load on the existing circuits. Our old panel is getting rusty, and the breakers are available to anyone who walks up our driveway and around the corner of the garage. My main questions are whether it is legal and practical to run dedicated lines for the living room on the *outside* of the house (where there is no attic access), whether each outside line would require its own metal or PVC tubing from the new panel, and how many dedicated lines I actually need, given the above components and considerations. What should have its own dedicated line and why?
Thank you to everyone for your help and advice. I'm always amazed by and grateful for the depth of knowledge and generosity of the Audiogon community.
With kind regards,
Mark Hubbard
