[RPM123]

I had 2 dedicated 20 amp lines intstalled in my living room several years ago, so I thought that should address  any "line "contamination" issues. However, for the last 6 months or so I noticed that whenever my household appliances were operating, I could hear noise coming out of my speakers. WTF? So I called my electrician about the problem and he told me to contact my power company (PG&E) and have them  investigate the terminal connections on the utility pole and into the house. I called my utility company and the PG&E guy came a couple of days later. The first thing he said was that I have a good electrician, since many will come to your house, spend several minutes looking around, tell you to contact PG&E and then charge you $100 for their trouble!

The PG&E guy checks out the utility pole and sure enough, he finds a bad ground connection which he replaced and then he checks out the house connections and replaces them anyway, even though he did not notice anything wrong. He informed me that PG&E has been using aluminum connectors instead of copper, because of cost savings. Aluminum however corrodes more easily, especially where there is salt air. I live in San Francisco and there is mucho fog and salt air. My system is now much quieter, no more interference from appliances and I swear that my tv even looks better. All of this was free. 

The moral here is: you may not be getting optimum playback from your system, even with dedicated lines. If you have dedicated lines, try running some appliances and if you hear noise from them in your speakers, you likely have a terminal connection problem. Then call your local power company instead of your electrician. Happy listening.

Glenn

[audioferret]

That's excellent! Congratulations and thank you for posting your tip!

Enjoy the Music!
-Will

[martyo]

Thanks for the tip! For awhile back here in the 70's they were using aluminum but stopped after many problems. I wonder how many power conditioners were bought when a call to the local utility would actually solve the problem. 

[spudco]

I am lucky enought to have electricity from a co-op that cares.  When I had some line problems, my co-op installed a transfromer that supports only my home and a second transformer that supports my farm outbuildings.  The charge - zip!

[twitch54]

Again, as stated before, good post, good move on you and your electrician's recomendation !

This further inforces the fact of irregularities with respect to ones power. Job well done, without spending silly $$$ on some 'boutique power cord' and over priced conditioner !

[Wayner]

There are 2 120 volt lines that run into every house, plus a neutral and the ground, which is sent to a grounding rod outside, near your electrical box. The neutral of the whole house is tied together and it could be a source of noise (usually a spike from a furnace motor, or refrigerator/freezer is possible. They use the 2 120 volt lines to get 240 volts for thing like an electric clothes dryer or electric stove. Just an FYI on the subject.

Also, good call on the situation. A little history lesson to bring up here also. Years ago, someone had the great idea of making house wire out of aluminum. They forgot that aluminum and brass (outlet screws) are at the opposite ends of the galvanic spectrum and the connections corroded very quickly. Now, ask your self what would happen to a corroded connection that had, say 10 amps running through it. The corrosion would increase the resistance, which would increase the amperage, which would start melt down, which would lead to house burning down to the ground.

It didn't take too long for aluminum wire to disappear from the market.

Wayner

[jman66]

Any concerns around the use of aluminum wire from the pole to panel box? 

[Wayner]

No. Almost all incoming wire is aluminum alloy. The power distribution block in your circuit breaker panel is aluminum.

Wayner

[jman66]

No. Almost all incoming wire is aluminum alloy. The power distribution block in your circuit breaker panel is aluminum.

Wayner

Thanks! I started to worry for a moment...

[richidoo]

Aluminum is strong in tension, resists corrosion, and cheaper than copper. Transmission losses from the plant to your meter are eaten by the utility, and it is cheaper for them to use aluminum long distance. Once it gets inside your house, every calorie of heat from resistance is money wasted, so it is worth the investment to wire the house with copper. Copper used for wiring is not very pure, but is still lower resistance than aluminum. Interestingly, some of the very best audio wires (JPS) are made of copper/aluminum alloy.
Rich

[Wayner]

Also, the transmission voltage is much higher, typically 6,000 to 12,000 volts. Think what and arc flash explosion that would make if it was shorted out!

P.S. on a side note, people around here are stealing the ground cable from utility poles and that cable is sold for scrap. I wounder if we may hear of a culprit getting zapped in the near future. The human body is a great conductor and it only takes about 7 miliamps to freeze your heart muscle. The times must be getting desperate. In Minnesota, we have brand new houses, in new sub-divisions with no one living in the entire sub-division and all of the copper wire and copper tubing have been stripped. The modern day ghetto. (sorry off topic).

Wayner

[jaspal kallar]

P.S. on a side note, people around here are stealing the ground cable from utility poles and that cable is sold for scrap. I wounder if we may hear of a culprit getting zapped in the near future. The human body is a great conductor and it only takes about 7 miliamps to freeze your heart muscle. The times must be getting desperate. In Minnesota, we have brand new houses, in new sub-divisions with no one living in the entire sub-division and all of the copper wire and copper tubing have been stripped. The modern day ghetto. (sorry off topic).

Wayner

Wayner, I live in Stockholm, Sweden, a supposedly affluent city and relatively crime free and similar things are happening with copper being stolen and sold.  I had no idea. I work colleague pointed it out on our way to lunch today.... I suppose good business ideas catch on quickly   Btw the same friend told me of a culprit getting zapped in another city in Sweden.
 
   jaspal

[Frisco]

These copper thieves are rampant in Hawaii too.....stripping the lights off of the freeway and leaving us in the dark 

[Wayner]

Glenn,

Did you put the 2 dedicated lines on each side of the panel (balancing the load)?

Wayner

[djbnh]

Also, the transmission voltage is much higher, typically 6,000 to 12,000 volts. Think what and arc flash explosion that would make if it was shorted out!

P.S. on a side note, people around here are stealing the ground cable from utility poles and that cable is sold for scrap. I wounder if we may hear of a culprit getting zapped in the near future. The human body is a great conductor and it only takes about 7 miliamps to freeze your heart muscle. The times must be getting desperate. In Minnesota, we have brand new houses, in new sub-divisions with no one living in the entire sub-division and all of the copper wire and copper tubing have been stripped. The modern day ghetto. (sorry off topic).

Wayner

The zapping deaths have already happened in NH.

[RPM123]

"Did you put the 2 dedicated lines on each side of the panel (balancing the load)?"

Well, I see that there are 2- 20 amp switches next to each other in the circuit breaker, but I have no idea if they represent a "balanced load". That is an area outside of my expertise.

G

[Housteau]

I ran mine a little differently.  I ran 10-3 cable and kept it at 220V and 20 amp to the quad-outlets.  Once at the outlets I split it into twin 115 halves.