Wychwood Audionics Mains Block, any users? (Looking for recommendations too)

[petrat]

Get a local electrician to quote for fitting extra sockets in the wall?

[Simon_LDT]

I'm currently renting so that's not an option. Plus, I need at least 6 sockets ('ve already got 2 near the hi-fi so that would be 7 in total needed!). Maybe one day...

[Yomanze]

Surge protection... It's like riding a bike without a helmet on an easy, flat road. Eventually someone will fall over and crack their head, but the vast majority of people won't. Also, surges are very location dependent, I've never had an issue, but others will experience frequent brownouts, big surges etc. HiFi equipment is usually safe, it is computer equipment that is more sensitive to it. Having said that HiFi is much more computer-based these days!

[Virtual-Symmetry]

I personally don't do all that surge stuff, never had an issue over 35+ years..

[ijrussell]

I have an 8 socket F3. It's well made, offers the extra safety of surge protection and has enough sockets for all of my kit.

[Marco]

I personally don't do all that surge stuff, never had an issue over 35+ years..

Ditto. It's completely unnecessary on audio equipment - that's what fuses are for!

I also agree that with power strips, the best thing to do is K.I.S.S, or hard-wire directly to the mains, where possible, which is even better

Marco.

[Barry]

Ditto. It's completely unnecessary on audio equipment - that's what fuses are for!

I also agree that with power strips, the best thing to do is K.I.S.S, or hard-wire directly to the mains, where possible, which is even better

Marco.

Fuses are too slow to protect against voltage surges. Agree that most audio gear is immune to mains surges, which can and do occur, depending on your location. I don't use FBA as source, so don't have to worry about that side of things.

Until recently my gear was fed from a 6-way industrial Olsen distribution strip, fitted with a Schaffner filter block and a varistor VDR, The only modification I made was to remove the switch and neon indicator. Whilst having the living/listening room redecorated, I took the opportunity to have a dedicated ring main installed for audio duties only. This is fed by a 32A RCD that is quite separate from the consumer unit.

Can't say I've noticed any difference at all; but the mains supply to my house was always very good, having a lower than normal source impedance, very low earth-neutral loop resistance and a DC component only a few mV.

There is an awful lot of hype with some specialised "audio" mains distribution strips. Just buy an industrial standard Olsen strip, which you can rewire as you see fit.

[YNWaN]

I'm not keen on the use of any sort of filtration and would choose a hydra lead which is a bunch of mains lead terminating in a single lead and a 13A mains plug.

[Marco]

Fuses are too slow to protect against voltage surges. Agree that most audio gear is immune to mains surges, which can and do occur, depending on your location.

Yeah, although I'm talking about the low-amperage internal case fuses, not the much bigger variety in mains leads. Anyway, if if a fuse blows, it blows. If it's properly designed, there is very little danger of your gear being damaged by a mains surge.

Surge protection is more to protect computers, or computer-related audio devices (as you refer to), which can crash and/or become fatally corrupted by mains surges, or simply by the power going off suddenly.

Marco.

[Barry]

Yeah, although I'm talking about the low-amperage internal case fuses, not the much bigger variety in mains leads. Anyway, if if a fuse blows, it blows - there is very little danger of your gear being damaged with a mains surge.

Surge protection is more to protect computers, or computer-related audio devices (as you refer to), which can crash and/or become fatally corrupted by mains surges.

Marco.

They are still too slow. A fuse needs at least double, and more like ten times the rated current to blow. Only voltage dependant resistors (VDR) can respond quickly enough.