[jeep lover 2]

Hi,


All of my HT gear is running on a AC line that suplies all of the house outlets. My question is will I see a difference if I run a seprate line or two to the HT gear?


I run the following gear:


ECP 4501 CRT projector

ADA cinema Refrence Pre amp

Sony 7700 DVD player

Sonance 5150 Amp (120 watts x 5)

36" Sony XBR television (not on at same time as PJ)

Kenwood AM/FM tuner

DTC-100


This line supports all of the outlets in the house... one thing that I've noticed is that if I turn off a light in the kitchen, I'll fet a small audio dropout from the DTC.


I'm not sure it makes sense to run a seprate line because the power from the house comes in via a line not too much different that the Nomex in the wall.


What do YOU think?


What quantifiable differences would I see in the system?


Thanks for any advice you're willing to impart,

Sean

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

Yes. Do a Search under "dedicated", etc. at this forum and you'll find plenty of info in this regard.

 

[Kenshin]

You should absolutely run deadicated circuit breakers for your home theater. I ran three deadicated 20amp circuits in my home theater. I did this for several reason. Yes, you are right in saying that your power comes into your house on a similar line as that in the wall. However, what you are missing is how the power is then distributed from the panel. The power from the utility company enters your house throught three main wires- two hots and one neutral. Inside the panel behind the breakers are two bus bars (each carry 120V), and a ground/neutral bus bar. The two hot bus bars distribute the power at opposite phases of each other, which is why when you add breakers to the panel you want to distribute the power going to the house equally among the two bus bars. It is also important to mention that you don't want to overload any of the circuit breakers because this can cause the breaker to blow and/or lead to an electrical fire. When circuits are overloaded and are in danger of overheating the breaker will trip. Code in most areas requires that appliances and fixtures on a circuit do not exceed a "safe capacity", which is usually defined as the total capacity of the circuit breaker minus 20 oercent. A 15A circuit breaker has total capacity of 1800W w/ a safety capacity of 1440W/12 amps. A 20A circuit breaker has a total capacity of 2400W w/ a safety capacity of 1920W/16 amps. It is also important to note that a wire carrying more amperage than it is rated for will dangerously overheat. So you should use #14 guage wire for 15A circuits. A 20A breaker is designed for a #12 wire or larger. Code goes as follows:

#14 wire carries 15 amps, #12 wire carries 20 amps, and #10 wire carries 30 amps. Your home theater gear as you can imagine requires alot of power to run and it can be dangerous to run it with everything in the house on the same circuit. Things like microwaves, refrigerators, air conditioners, sump pumps, and motor operated appliances not only consume alot of power to operate but can interfer with your home theater equipment. So it is a good idea to try and isolate your gear from them. Also, not only is it important to run deadicated circuits for your home theater equipment but you should also protect your gear from harmful power surges with some kind of surge protection like a Monster PowerCenter or whole house surge protector. Hope this helps.


Best Regards,

Kenshin

 

[jeep lover 2]

Kenshin,

Very interesting, thank you for the reply. Is the most economical route to run the wires myself and then call the electrician to do the wiring at the box? Also, my house was built in 1957 and does not have ground run to the outlets. Can I assume that it will be possible to run ground for the new lines?


I've been swimming through the archives, but it seems most threads get a bit sidetracked and go off on a tangent.


I remember reading that it is possible to put a iron donut "thingy" in the box to cut down on the noise in the system. It seems to me that noise is liable to be inducted into the line throughout the run. This technology seems to me to be a commodity, is there a company that makes these filters that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? i.e. ultimate outlets?


Thank you for any light shed on my dim knowledge of the subject,

Sean