[klh]

Phil,

If you don't mind... how much did it end up costing?

I'm getting a new house next week (at least that's what we're being told). The bonus room is above the garage, and the breaker box on the external wall of the garage, so if I need to install more dedicated lines, it should be pretty easy. It says in the main breaker box that there is already one dedicted 15amp line to the bonus room. I'm wondering if that's enough. My system will be a 5 x 80 watt analogue integrated amp, a DVD player, Sat or digital cable, a sub amp with separate crossover and a projector. I'm thinking I'll probably have to add more lines, but I'm not sure. Eventually I'll replace the integrated amp with one of the digital receivers. I supposed the best thing would be to hook the stuff up and see how good it sounds. I've had a lot of crappy wiring in the apartments I've been in, so I have a feeling that it's going to sound a lot better as is. We'll see. Any recommendations? I would think it would run about $500 for me, but that's just a guess.

[PhilNYC]

klh,

They haven't given me the bill yet...

But basically they gave me an estimate that was time/materials, with a rate of $50/hour per person.  They had 3 people here because it was originally anticipated that running the line would be tough (my breaker box is on the exact opposite side of the house from my audio gear, I don't have a full basement, and my roof-line and attic are somewhat unusual.)  However, it ended up being less complicated than he had budgeted, so they were done in about 2 hours.  They had some time to kill, so I had them do some other work that I needed done.

As far as materials go, the electrician's estimates earlier in the week were "no more than $250, including two outlets, the Romex wire, and some PVC pipe".   They had to run part of the line outside the house, so the PVC is there to house the line out there.  Last time I checked, P&S 6300 outlets were $20-30 each.  I'm guessing they came in far less than the $250 estimate.

If you're going from your garage straight up to the room right above it, you won't have nearly the complexity...one guy could probably do it in an hour or two...

[klh]

Thanks for the quick reply . It should be very easy to have done.

[PhilNYC]

no prb!

Btw - I did get two lines run, even though I only needed one, because the cost was incremental (basically the cost of the 2nd outlet and Romex).  I run all my gear (including amps) through my power conditioner, so I only needed one line.  But having the extra line would be useful if I ever changed conditioners and wanted to separate my amp from the rest of my gear (which is what a lot of people seem to recommend)...

If you have the option, may as well get the extra lines...

[PhilNYC]

After 24 hours with this new dedicated line, here are a few observations (non-sound related):

- Voltage fluctuations are far less than on my non-dedicated lines.  Non-dedicated lines had been fluctuating between 120-124 volts, but the new dedicated line has been hoving between 124-125v.  Will be interested to see what happens this summer...last summer, I saw drops to as low as 111volts.

-I own an AudioPrism NoiseSniffer.  With this thing, you plug it into an outlet, and it has a speaker which will let you "hear" noise on your AC (eg. anything not 60hz).  The non-dedicated line definitely has noise, and the dedicated line also still has noise, although the "pitch" of the noise as played thru the NoiseSniffer is slightly different.  (plugging the NoiseSniffer into my power conditioner, it is silent).

-Suprisingly, my AV system in the next room (mostly midfi, consisting of a Denon 3801 AV receiver, Panasonic DVD player...and at the moment, my Focus Audio FS888 speakers!) seems to sound better...so perhaps taking my hi-end gear off the circuit has helped the performance in my other room?

Anyways, those are just some observations...may post more if I notice anything...