Dedicated circuit opinions needed

Hi Dave, when we lived in a 1950's house in Burlington, I go a dedicated spur and it was so worth the $500 I spent on it.

I had a quad industrial 15A receptacle, 20A line to a 15A(?) breaker in the panel (only had one).  The sparkie also moved a few loads around on the panel to keep the stereo side clean and with low load.

The wiring from receptacle to receptacle was done in series, same piece of core, with sheath stripped in the right places, but the core not cut.  Also had the spike protector removed.  Richard Lipinski Electrical based in Hamilton was the company.

For me it was 3/4 of adding a hicap.

We now have a 9 year old house in Sudbury, and I've yet to put the spur in, but am planning to.

Didn't bother with an audio grade receptacle, made sure it was industrial grade, but not hospital grade which has anti-arc coating which is not audio quality friendly.  The SQ was better than a single receptacle plus CablePro.

Thanks for the info. But with the subpanel 'piggybacking' electricity off of the main panel I'm wondering if there is a disadvantage (vs coming off the main panel)? The electricians I spoke to said no. But I see it as one more step in the chain.

Dave

So I'm still wondering if any forum members think it's a compromise running the dedicated circuit off of a subpanel rather than the main panel?

Dave

Yes, it will be a compromise as source impedance is raised with just the addition of the extra 100 amp breaker between your hifi and the primary 200 amp breaker all else being equal. Regardless, it's still possible a dedicated line will give an improvement over a standard lighting circuit if the existing circuit shares noisy appliances *and* it's already sourced from the same 100 amp sub panel.

If it were me and there's no way a dedicated line could be run from the 200 amp main panel in the foreseeable future and my existing line was shared and already sourced from the sub panel, I'd gamble and have the electrician install a dedicated line from the sub panel anyway. You'll likely still hear benefits just by losing the extra connections with outlets no longer present in the new dedicated branch (and their "loose" connections which have developed over the years) as well as the lack of polluting shared appliances as it's dedicated to the hifi only now.

Wow! Thanks Dave, I never thought about the idea of source impedance. Very interesting. I learn something new every day. The existing line is sourced from the main panel, and is sharing lights and other plugs.

I just thought since we're planning other electrical work nearby, we might as well get this dedicated line added, since it wouldn't cost much more. Should we still do it, even though the existing line is from the main panel and the dedicated line would come from the sub panel?

Can you tell me anything more about source impedance?

Thanks,

Dave

non technical   impedence depends upon the effect of the feed transformer and the resistance of conductor. the conductor rresistance depends cross sectional area and the length of conductor .  the combination of these two factors is called impedence.   the total ac resistance of the circiut is impedance and this will affect current flow.if the cicuit is designed/installed within guide lines it will be fine. cowboys     will use incorrect cables and fittings that can be dangerous

Rich, do you think the two added circuit breakers (that running from the subpanel entails) would increase the impedance?

Dave