You know your gear is loud when...

[RobXant]

So, I just got home from a few weeks on the road and ask the wife if she minded me continuing to break in the LSis. She says "cool, let listen to some old school Beastie Boys" and proceeds to turn the sucker up 'till I can literally see the lights in the room dimming slightly with the bass line.

That was -1.5db, two channel and the sub.

She was too busy dancing to notice the grin on my face... I had high expectations when I got them and was pretty unimpressed with the 15s when I got them home. I hadn't owned a set of speakers that needed to be broken in, so I was dubious. But, as they break in they are getting sweeter every day. The sound stage is actually widening and getting tighter at the same time. Go Polk!

[F1nut]

Glad to hear you're starting to enjoy your speakers. You need to get a dedicated line installed for that gear though.

[RobXant]

You know where I can get a chronologicaly frozen, hermaphrediticly sealed, unobtainium plated, 200A power recepticle? Oh, and if I am gonna go to all the trouble crawling aroung the attic and fishing wire, I might as well get that Copper-free, time-corrected, solid core, thin stranded, easy bending, 2 gauge wire.

Actually, kidding aside, I was thinking the same thing as the grin faded. Problem is, I have a brick house and that wall was an exterior wall. That means it's only 1.5" between the drywall and the cinder block. So, it's cold chisel and hammer time if I go down that road. Frankly, I'm not up for that at the moment.

[amulford]

1 1/2" is alot of room to pull a run of 10/3 romex. Don't put off till tomorrow what you cxan do to please the ole lady today:D

No sh!it, It aint hard. Effin' cool huh???:D :D :D :D

[RobXant]

It ain't the wire, it's the box that needs to be chisled in to the brick. It makes are freakin mess, too. I 86ed our old 60A service last summer and replaced it with a 200A service panel, doing the work myself. So, I ain't 'fraid a no electricity. What scares me is trying to lay a flat drywall seam!
Rob

[F1nut]

When you get finished chiseling, put one or two of these in the hole.

http://www.psaudio.com/products/powerport.asp

[BlueMDPicker]

For one duplex outlet, put this (a switch box) in the sheetrock cutout and anchor to the backing masonary with masonary bit and a couple of drop-ins. 3" x 2" x 1-1/2" deep

[PolkThug]

Originally posted by RobXant
She says "cool, let listen to some old school Beastie Boys" and proceeds to turn the sucker up 'till I can literally see the lights in the room dimming slightly with the bass line.

Your wife rocks!! Good job bro.

[RobXant]

Those "Power Port" plugs are just Hubbell (maybe 5362s?) with custom silk screening. Look at the photos at the bottom of the page and you can clearly see the word "HUBBELL" on the plug.

That's not to say these aren't great recepticles, as Hubbell is top-shelf stuff. But, every once in a while you can get those in ten-packs for $20 off eBay from electricians that have them left over from hospital renovations. That is how I got mine.

I have them in my workshop and kitchen. They are really designed to take a lot of abuse, not nessesarily to pass electricity any better than a $2 plug. The major benefit is that they will continue to grip the blades of a plug rather tenaciously for years of everyday use. I guess if you take that feature one step further, you have a stronger mechanical connection which offers more contact area and slightly improved ampacity, but that's a fringe benefit, the real feature is their reliability.

[RobXant]

Thanks for the suggestion, Blue- That looks like the same box I used. Almost worked great. stood about an 1/8th proud (55-year-old house, nothings straight, level or square!) which is what led me to the chisel. I started with my trusty Bosch Bulldog with a chisel tip but the dust cloud, by God! I hate dust. So I resorted to the chisel and hammer.
Come spring, I'll run another line, at the moment I am finishing the interior of a 12x16 shed we just bought for my workshop. Did I mention that I hate fiberglass, too?
Along that note- you guys reccomend any decent vintage 2 channel integrated amps for around $100 for the shop system?

Happy Holidays!
Rob

[F1nut]

Originally posted by RobXant
Those "Power Port" plugs are just Hubbell (maybe 5362s?) with custom silk screening. Look at the photos at the bottom of the page and you can clearly see the word "HUBBELL" on the plug.



From PS Audio's site, "We formed an engineering and manufacturing alliance with one of the world's leading manufacturers of AC receptacles, Hubbell."

Yes, they are made by Hubbell, but they are not available from anyone other than PS Audio. The ones you're talking about on ePay, etc. are not in the same class.

[dorokusai]

This is the audio jewelry category for me....standard hospital grade outlet is all I believe.