# wire recomendation



## bigvag (Jan 9, 2010)

Ok I'm going to be starting on a dedicated h/t. I'm going to be running new wires from my breaker box for the room. What is the best electrical wire to run for my gear, also do they make a breaker that is designed for home audio?


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## GranteedEV (Aug 8, 2010)

for in wall speaker wire, I recomend dual-14 awg for an effective 11 awg load. I don't know if you could do this for an electric circuit... For in house wiring, I recommend 10 awg as its even safe for 30a circuits IIRC. 

For a breaker I'd look into not one, but a few dedicated 20a circuits :dumbcrazy:

At least 4

One for speaker amplifiers/processors/television/projector/electronics
two for a pair of pro amps for your future subs @[email protected]
One extra just because you're already doing it. I've heard the extra can sometimes help with ground loops.


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

I'm not aware of any breakers that are made for home theater, i do know they make wall receptacles with built in filters and protectors.
For wire, unless you have huge amps that require 30amps you don't need 10 AWG, 12AWG is more then sufficient but only rated for a 20amp load which is also ample enough current for most equipment. I do agree that 3 or so seperate dedicated outlets is a good idea.:T


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## MatrixDweller (Jul 24, 2007)

10 AWG wire is pretty expensive. 12 AWG is more than suitable for normal household wiring up to 20 amps.

Best bet is to run a dedicated circuit to your amps/receiver. That will stop the lights from dimming when the amps power up. It will also avoid any motors, compressors or other dirty power consumers from putting noise on the line.

On a side note: What I found, when I ran a Kill-A-Watt meter, on my gear is that they really don't suck back as much power as you'd think. At reference levels my receiver was barely demanding 200 watts. It would peak much higher when powering up, but for less than a second. I suppose that would vary depending on your gear. I don't think there are too many receivers or amps out there that have a 20 amp plug 







.

Figure a 15 amp circuit is rated to about 1500 Watts and a 20 amp circuit to 2000 Watts (at ~80% of max load). One dedicated 20 amp line should suffice for all of your gear...that is unless you've got 7 class A 500 watt monoblock amps powering your speakers.


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## fitzwaddle (Aug 25, 2010)

I'd go with plain old Romex 12/2.


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## bigvag (Jan 9, 2010)

I was planning or running a few different wires, one for the amp and processor, one for the lights, and one for the wall outlets. I didn't know if there was audio specific wire out there or not.


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

Cardas makes inwall power wire for a premium price. Personally i would stick with regular grade wire, it will treat you just fine.:T


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