John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi Guys,

Electricity is my Achilles heel, but I certainly don't want to screw it up with my build. You can see the overall project below (a basement project studio).

https://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/view ... =1&t=22719

A quick question about star grounding...

I'm going to have a total of 18 outlets in the studio, 5 of which are going to be isolated ground outlets (quad outlets). The other 13 are for "dirty power" and general use. I'll have nine LED cans above which will be on separate circuits as well.

When it comes to star grounding, only my 5 audio circuits should be on the star ground (or discrete ground bar), correct? The other non-audio circuits in the studio would just go the main panel ground bar, correct?

I hope my terminology is correct, but again, electricity is my shortcoming.

Thanks in advance.

Todd

Many star systems are done incorrectly.
The plan should be:
a] Place the 'star point' in a central location in the studio. So that you can reduce the length of wire from outlet to outlet.
Run a heaver line from the main breaker box to this location.
b] Use a star within a star if several outlets are near each other.
c] Try to avoid Isolated Ground receptacles. They are only necessary if other metal conduits are touching each other.
d] Use about the same length of Hot, Neutral & Safety Ground wire in conduits.
e] Southwire brand Romex® is a good plan.

Boy, this stuff is all so confusing. I've been reading basic articles recently to get a grasp on electricity, but it certainly doesn't cover our niche.

I got the star grounding / isolated ground idea from Rod Gervais's book.

Other than cost, is there a functional/performance disadvantage of isolated ground receptacles? I'm using metal studs if it matters.

Todd

its more about the cost i think for choosing isolated ground receptacles. if using metal wiring (BX, conduit, boxes) i'd go with the isolated grounds.

Thanks Glenn,

And it's only relevant for receptacles that I plan to plug audio devices into, correct? I have quite a few non-audio receptacles planned, but I don't plan to star ground them or use anything special.

Todd

the "dirty" outlets (e.g. lamps, etc) don't need it. but anything you're plugging audio gear, amps, etc that may plug into your audio gear should be "clean" outlets.