[Amps] 220V service for amplifier

[Paul Christensen, Esq.]

"NEVER 'consider' or tie neutral to ground. They are NOT the same....
Neutral carries current by design, the ground should never carry current
unless there is a fault."

An excellent point Bill.  All too often, folks use a neutral as a ground.  I
suspect it stems from the fact that neutral is tied to the Xo terminal
ground point within the distribution panel.

I have recently been engaged in several debates with engineers over Alpha's
use of a common ground & neutral in their 77-series amplifiers.  Alpha uses
a single terminal for ground and for a current carrying 120VAC neutral for
its blower.  A simple jumper cut on the Cinch-Jones power plug corrects the
problem, but it requires the poroper electrical distribution with the use of
four-wire service (Line-N-Line-Ground).  So, I decided to run new four-wire
#8AWG service when I moved into the new house a couple years ago.  Now, if a
neutral fault occurs at the distribution panel, I do not have to worry that
the amplifier case, coax connections, etc. will cary the current for the
blower.  In retrospect, Alpha should have used a 220/240VAC blower in the
first place.  This would have allowed the use of the traditional 3-wire
(Line-Line-Ground) service.

An Alpha 77-series amp configured for 220/240VAC service and fed with
anything but four-wire service with the appropriate detachment of neutral
and ground at the power plug is an electrical no-no.

-Paul, W9AC