i am buying a custom home and up untill now i didn't think about having a dedicated power line to the home media room.  now remember the "home media room" means My living room....lol.  i didn't even come up with idea myself, the tech guy at furman sound suggested it to me.  my question is besides having a dedicated 10awg line and 20a breaker for the one plug behind my et center , is there anything else i need to do that goes along with that?  just to add, i also had that wall (tv, main, sub wall) insulated with celious paper.  don't ask me how to spell it, it's the insulation they put in my exterior walls.  i figured it would help with the sound reflection and also help out my daughter when she sleeps. 

any quick suggestions before i loose that option would greatly apprecieated!

thanks again!

If you have a shared wall with a bedroom... IMO the best thing to do to keep sound transmission down is to use a staggered stud wall, 2x4" studs on a 2x6" plate, with the studs on 24" centers. If you can afford it, also you should double up on the drywall on the ceiling, as low frequencies will be transmitted through there as well.

Roxul ( rockwool ) or Fiber-X would be my choice for insulation.... as they are dense and have good acoustical properties.

I would want to plan ahead for the future... are you sure a single 20 amp line is going to be enough current? If you decide to add a large pro amp you would be at the limits already. You may also want to run a telephone line and RG-6 to that area as well... so if you move to a satellite system in the future, you are already set.  

Dedicated lines that run off the same step down transformer are dedicated only in the sense they have a dedicated circut breaker.

For more info about true isolation, take a look at the equtech website.

 i can't change studs, but they are 16" on center.  i also can't change the insulation. what i may be able to do i buy "quiet rock" and have them install it on both sides of the wall, on top of their sheet rock.  the wall i share is to my daughters play room.  the room next to that is the guest room, and then my daughters room in accross that room.  if you look at ryland.com it is the greenwood floor plan.  in that same location is all my telephone, sat, network lines.  i don't know what all is there but it's called the "verizon package".   

well what do i add to that peticular outlet?  it is only going to be 2 plug ins, like any standard outlet.   how many amps should i have there?  i will have a furman elite 15 pfi pluged into one of those outlest and then everything will plug into the furman.  so i will have 1 outlet in the wall left unused. 

I think by "dedicated line" you mean an outlet on its "own" circuit breaker. Not a bad idea and now is the time to do it. Personally I would not go crazy over power conditioning and isolation. A living room is not a recording studio. You would be surprised what the noise floor in the home is (the electrical line is certainly NOT the limiting factor). Also, grounding problems (hum) does not require an electrician to fix with fancy equipment (contrary to popular opinion). If the wiring is installed correctly, then grounding problems are usually solved by carefully and knowlegibly connecting of the equipment (Furman will of course contradict me on this, but I am not trying to sell anything.....)

One overlooked area is whether light dimmers are being installed. These can sometimes lead to noise in the system (usually with the cheaper versions). Keep that in mind when you speak with the electrician (he will know what you are talking about)

I wholeheartedly agree with M. Hurd's suggestion about dealing with sound transmission issues now rather then later. Please keep in mind that sound is like water and it will find any path to go to the next room (doors, conduit, HVAC etc). This is especially true of low frequencies, which can require heroic measures to attenuate. BTW, going to the trouble of doubling up on drywall or using a sound blocking material, is not fully effective unless you go the entire distance (staggered studs, treating the duct work, doors etc). The analogy of sound and water is an apt one.

Certainly go and search the threads about burying speaker cabling in the walls (the electrician and inspector will have some comments about (fire) codes when this comes up (BTW:  I do not mean "fancy" speaker wire).

Good Luck,

-Tom

A separate 20 amp circuit should be fine. Even wih higher power amplifiers it's unlikly the peak current will trip the circuit breaker ~ especially with Klipsch ~ less efficient speakers are another matter. In the old days we had things like reel to reel tape decks with three motors each and whatnot, so there was much more current required at times.

What you really want to do is put that dedicated circuit (or two, if needed) on it's own isolated ground. Ground only the power supply, or control center, or whatever it is that your going to plug all this into. The system should be grounded at only one point. Don't directly ground the rest of the components. Let the ground "float" among them and seek it's own level. Use a 3 to 2 prong adaptor on all the remaining components if necessary. This will avoid ground loops which are the source of most noisy grounds.

Forget the extra insulation if you're concerned about blocking sound (sound transmission). Absorption is one thing. Sound transmission is a different problem. In order to block the sound you need to literally block it with lots of mass, or isolate the room//wall/structure. What Mike Hurd suggested (staggered studs) is the minimum starting point for this. If your new "custom" home is being built by a large tract home builder/developer like Ryland you'll most likely find that they are not up to the task of making these kinds of changes.

Many light dimmers will emit RFI (radio frequency interference). Make sure the ones you choose are certified against RFI. RFI is "air bourne" so to speak, so simply putting the lights on a separate circuit may not eliminate it. Also, avoid low-voltage lighting systems as they tend to generate mechanical noise (transformer hum).

artto, you are right, ryland won't stagger my studs.  not hitting them too hard, but they don't want to do ANYTHING that is not already on the plans.  on the flip side, if you can afford a custom home and want to make all kinds of changes, go with david weekley.  they are the best at that.  i swear it is night and day when it comes to changes.  okay enough chearleading.....

so have the electrican make that outlet it's own ground.  i won't be installing any dimmers.  someone already told me about the problems with them.  they said the "chop" the sign wave and it's just a bad idea to have them.  now since i will have a dedicated line, will the dimmer even effect that HT plug?  here is a pic of the floor plan.  i made sure that the insulation went all the way from the exterior wall into the closet.   

now i wasn't sure about the wording in the post, but was it a good idea to add the extra sheet rock or not?

As long as your lighting and power are on different circuits (which they will be if you run a seperate circuit for your A/V equipment), you'll be fine.

FYI: You don't need 10ga wire for a 20 amp circuit- just #12. The #10 wire is difficult to work with, won't fit properly under the screws on a 15 or 20 amp rated duplex receptacle and more expensive than #12. It's overkill. Also, you may want to consider having your electrician use a 2, or even a 3 gang box for the receptacles for your A/V equipment. Then you could put 2 or 3 receptacles (four or six places to plug in) in at that location.

bhenry beat me to it.  Generally speaking it goes like this:

14-2 romex wiring => 15 or 20amp circuits

12-2 romex wiring => 20amp circuits (30amp if dedicated circuit)

10-2 romex wiring => 30amp (or greater) circuits and for 220V circuits

And I agree with bhenry about working with 10-2.  I pulled two runs of that stuff in my garage/workshop for a 220V air compressor and OMG.....that stuff was a PITA to pass through studs.  And with the cost of copper being what it is....ho - boy!

Tom

adding this dedicated line, can only an electrician do the work?  i mean, i can install a breaker and run a wire in my attic and even hook the wires up right, but does this type of thing have to be "signed off" by an electrican for insurance purposes, or something like that?  this is my first home, so i don't know a lot of this little stuff. 

i am trying to save money, but if i melt my gear, it's not worth it. 

Tom Adams:

:

14-2 romex wiring => 15 or 20amp circuits  Residential .. 15 amp only

12-2 romex wiring => 20amp circuits (30amp if dedicated circuit)  Residential ... 20 amp only

10-2 romex wiring => 30amp (or greater) circuits 

Leagally, the homeowner can pull his own permits and do his own electrical work. If this home is still under construction I doubt very much that the builder will allow you to do this type of work.

Next time your at Home Depot, pick up an "Ugly's" book. It is quite handy. I don't encourage anyone to do this work themselves, but if you must I'll help you as much as I can.

I understand the "saving money" thing (especially with gas at $4.00 a gallon), but shouldn't safety be your main concern? Melting your gear is one thing- melting yourself, your house and or your family is something else. I would reccomend using a licensed and insured electrician (and varify their licenses!!) to do this work for you.

Oh, crap!! The Red Wings just lost in triple OT. Bummer.

A dedicated line will not isolate interference from other sources in your home. I have a dedicated circuit for three outlets for my audio equipment. I obviously did not do my homework. For example, have you ever lived in an apartment where your niighbor is running something electronic and you see the interference on your tv? I don't know if that is the best example, but you need to clean up the power from the wall. Some products convert AC to DC to AC. That is best done with something like products from PS Audio. Expensive, yes. Maybe some of the Monster line will help as well. Take a look at this: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_9_3/exact-power-ep15-7-2002.html for something interesting. I don't use one of these - I can't afford one.

Secondly, when I refinished my basement and was at the bare drywall stage (double thickness - TWO sheets of drywall, by the way),  it was the deadest room I had ever heard.  Then I painted. Aesthetics aside, I wish I could have left the drywall unpainted. The hard, nonporous painted surface was the downfall from studio-like sound. Now the wife would have never gone for bare sheetrock but someday...  

I agree with the handiness of 2 or 3 receptacles (4 to 6 places to plug things in) instead of just one.  You can never tell when you want another one or two.  I did the whole isolated ground bit, plus using "metal-clad" (MC) conduit, although I could tell little difference from the supposed increase in RFI/EMI shielding.

Whether you have one circuit or two depends on how much total current your system uses.  Klipschfoot, I assume your SS amp doesn't use much power, but my tube Class A monoblocs are a different story -- 500 watts per.  So, for power headroom, I have two dedicated 20-amp circuits -- one for the amps in my living room, and the other to the rest of the electronics in the next room.

I like the PS audio AC-DC-AC P-300 for its improved sonics from motor-driven components.

If you go through the effort do not put in less than at least three dedicated circuits.  This may be a shocker but you may find yourself using a different brand of speaker some day.  I use 800 wpc monoblocks.  I never thought that I would need this much power but I don't have horns.  You will want one outlet for each amp, one for the other equipment and maybe another for a subwoofer.  You can run it all off of one circuit (I do right now) but I'd like to have several. 

If you go HT you will have many monoblocks and other equipment. 

I have a friend who put in one line and he always says that he wishes that he put in several.