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RE: OT: 2-prong outlets


     In the US, circuits are usually rated at 15 amps, with occassional 20 
amp circuits.  The 15
amp circuits require 14 gauge (I believe that you can get away with 16 
though), while the 20 amp
circuits require 12 gauge.  For those of you who are not electrically 
minded yet are interested,
the larger wire gauges like 12, will heat up at a slower rate because they 
allow more electrons to
pass through due to the increase of copper material.  The 20 amp circuit 
breakers are designed to
trip only when a heavier load is applied than that which would trip a 15 
amp breaker.

     In the real world applications of a working musician, I have run a 
dedicated 20 amp circuit
to my music studio and I plug everything into it.  This is probably 25 or 
30 different pieces of
gear all being run at the same time.  I have not tripped a circuit in the 
5 years I've used this
setup.  Though I wouldn't try that on a 15 amp circuit...

     That being said, a friend of mine said that he runs all his analog 
audio gear through one
circuit and all his digital gear through another.  This is presumably to 
keep the digital gear
from polluting the audio electronics (through the ground).  The analog 
gear would be all tape
recorders, mixers, amplifiers, and non digital FX boxes.  The digital gear 
would include
computers, modems, routers, most FX, keyboards, sound modules, anything 
with MIDI, etc.  I don't
have any problems with the sonic qualities of my studio so I have happily 
ignored his advice.  If
I did have issues, I would start with that fix as it seems pretty easy.  
Ideally, each circuit
would be drawing electricity from opposite sides of the breaker box, i.e. 
separate legs of the two
110v lines.

     Stephen




<<As an aside, what are US domestic outlets rated for ? In the UK, I think 
an
outlet is generally  rated for 3 kilowatts, so you can run a fairly
extensive set of gear off a single socket so long as you don't do anything
too daft, like endless daisy chains of four-bars ...>>








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