What type of wire for dedicated 20A AC lines?


I’m about to have two 20A dedicated lines installed. What type of wire should I use? I know there are differences of opinion on whether to use 10 AWG or 12 AWG, however the link below makes a great case for using even 8 AWG solid core copper on longer runs like mine will be (50 ft), to ensure a lower resistance, lower voltage drop over the long run, and therefore more access to instantaneous current for my Gryphon Diablo 300. The wire would need to be stepped down to 10 AWG to connect with the receptacle. The article actually states that the thickness of the wire is more important than the fact that it is dedicated…

Assuming I want to follow this advice, which again makes sense to me, where would I find such wire to give to my electrician?

 

nyev

Don't worry about an isolated circuit.  Just listen to the music, that's all that counts.  

Lots of advice here from people who don't understand dynamic loads.  If you size your circuit based on your amps nameplate watts, you could run 18 gauge.

 

I ran 10 ga to my dedicated circuits.  8 gauge will not fit in most outlets requiring a joint.

Jerry

@pwayland , I would love to connect my amp into the wall with no conditioner if that works. Trouble is, my single 15A circuit (which has a few other devices in our house that are all off when my stereo is on) seems to pick up line noise during the day that doesn’t seem to come from our household. We have tenants with their own breaker panel that is branched off of ours, and whenever they go out, my sound quality goes up! But by far the best sound is after midnight- it’s so good I’m blown away every time I hear it and I can’t stop listening.

Because it’s clear that the source of the noise is 1) My tenants, and 2) the general grid in my neighborhood, these sources of noise will continue to exist after I install the dedicated lines. There is no logical reason why the dedicated lines will solve those two particular sources of AC line noise, and as such I think the only solution will be conditioning. I’d be extremely happy if I didn’t need one though. I’m really happy with my current tonal balance so I’d much prefer not to have to risk messing with that. But I will try experimenting with conditioners for sure if I still have those day/night massive SQ swings after installing the dedicated lines.

I also have an Innuos PhoenixNET on order, to isolate any noise coming in on the Ethernet. It’s generally very well reviewed and I got great results with the PhoenixUSB reclocker. In fact, the Reclocker along with my Nordost Valhalla 2 speaker wire and power cable (AQ Dragon HC for my amp) upgrades were what increased the resolution of my system and exposed the AC noise (or possibly Ethernet noise?) issue. Before these upgrades I was blissfully ignorant to the problem of noise!

In case you are wondering, I am not rich, I saved up a lot, and decided I didn’t need my rather newish semi-luxury car which we didn’t care about and still had payments on! My end-game cables and gear (which took decades of effort and a lot of disappointment before getting it right) make me way happier than my car did. Priorities!

@nyev 

if you run a dedicated line, why not plug your amp into the grounding device/conditioner with everything else? The amp will benefit from it along with all other components.