MSB’s Listening Room Power Configuration?

Thanks, Dan. Appreciate your thoughts. Alas, this a multivariable equation to solve and not an easy one with the sheetrock up. I believe my first order problem is dynamic current delivery vs noise. Tapping into my main service entry circuit would be easier from a sheetrock preservation standpoint at the location of the AIO panel, but I have an electrician coming out tomorrow to consult me on my options to pull from a breaker in the main service panel.

I am curious whether you considered running 220v to your amps, and if so, why you settled on 110/120v? Again this is one of those decisions where it’s difficult to know whether the juice is worth the squeeze until implemented, as it would require a new amp power cable that would be an expensive purchase unless one’s existing could be converted to 220v.

Hi Blake,

I did think about running 240v.

Distributing 240v definitely mitagates resistive loses. But that assumes that the comparison to 120v is done with the same wire gauge.

The advantage of 240v is that you can use a smaller wire gauge then 120v and have the same resistive loses. That saves money both in material costs and labor (wrestling larger wire gauges you would need for 120v takes more time than smaller ones). That’s one of the reasons 240v (and sometimes much higher) distribution is often used in commercial buildings… it just saves a lot of money.

Also, 240v volt wiring is, well, just different. Typically it is done with a round cable with four conductors in it, a red and black for the hots, a white for the neutral, and a green or bare for the ground. The conductors are stranded to make it easier to work with.

I don’t know how this kind of cable construction affects noise and power in general. However, stranded cable, in effect, produces more surface area which allows noise to travel further on the wire without being diminished very much. Higher frequencies travel only on the surface of the wire, not on its interior. So I would expect this kind of cable to be noisier than sold wire cable.

So deciding on 120v vs 240 v is actually complicated :slight_smile:

I decided to use 120v for my home runs for few reasons.

One was that I just didn’t think it would make any difference in my power amps over what a good power conditioner running on 120v would do. Also most modern amps, like the M500, have gobs of capacitance in their power supplies to handle transients anyhow.

Another was surge suppression. I want everything to have surge suppression. Of course I could do surge suppression on 240v, but it’s easier to just get a conditioner that has integrated surge suppression. Also I feel surge suppression must be next to the equipment it is protecting… so called “whole house” surge suppression just doesn’t work for electronic equipment.

Also, even though my M500s could run on 240v, none of my other equipment does. So there would be more home runs for the other equipment, and both a 120v power conditioner and a 240v conditioner.

So, in the end, I just didn’t see any practical advantage to doing 240v home runs. I, of course, may be wrong on this but my system sounds very good as it is, running on 120v.

But don’t let me dissuade you from doing 240v home runs. Using 120v was the result of my view of how things work which might not be correct.

Dan

Thanks, Dan. As always, thanks for your thoughtful and detailed reply.

After consulting with several to power conditioner manufacturers, well know MSB dealers, Vince, and my electrician, I’ve settled on the following:

  • TBD sized breaker in main service panel >
  • 1-2AWG 120v twisted stranded circuit (~175 feet) >
  • subpanel w/ copper bus in closet near listening room w/ three 20A 8-10 AWG circuits (~25 feet) powering three listening room outlets (furutech or another manufacturer)

While I’d love to have home runs into each listening room outlet for the main service panel, the consensus is that I need the heaviest gauge wire that the electricians can work with (1-2AWG) due to the long length, and obviously I can’t run a 1-2 AWG wire into an outlet, thus a subpanel is required. As far as 240v is concerned, I’ve been told that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze and mixing 120v and 240v can cause issues.

Thanks again for your help!

Thanks,
Blake

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Hi Blake,

That sounds great!

Dan

A silly question about wall wiring: if it is advisable to twist the live and neutral wires every 10 cm, but the ground wire is not… do all 3 wires have to be the same length?