Your mains upgrades.

[Artifolk]

Just a little consensus to see who's done what to their Mains supply.

What I'm after is how you've upgrade your mains supply.

EXAMPLES ; Fuse upgrade, Consumer unit, cable diameters,Cable type, Sockets, Hydra's etc. But not your Power leads.

I'm looking to see if, and how many here have the same or similar setups.

So come on, don't be shy.

Mine at present, 6mm2 from Cooker socket to Diy Hydra.

[MCRU]

Silver plated consumer unit using Furukawa UP-OCC cable direct to a single Isoclean gold plated over pure copper wall socket with copper RFI terminator. I have an Isotek Sigmas connected to the socket. Shortly to be up-graded to a double Furutech socket as Isoclean do not make a double, as I found my amp sounds better when not running through the Sigmas (thanks Nick).

[Marco]

I'll take a picture of mine and post it here. Beware - it is rather, erm, 'unconventional' and not for those of a nervous disposition! :eyebrows:

Marco.

[Effem]

Beware - it is rather, erm, 'unconventional' and not for those of a nervous disposition! :eyebrows:

Marco.

Rumour has it your mains isn't only powering the hi-fi Marco :eyebrows:

http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/f/r/a/frankenstein-junior-04-g.jpg

[Artifolk]

Only three of us.... do we know something the rest don't. :ner:

[Covenant]

I reckon my mains is ok as I live in a modern house in a semi-rural area. Not really considered mains conditioning but you never know......

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Mine is nothing special ...
I have 4 sockets, 1 for each speaker, 1 for the pre and 1 for the majik all on thier own radial circuit using 6mm t&e from its own fuse

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/hamish_gill/27b60235.jpg

All the components are connected with mark grant 2.5 cables ...
Bar the cables from mark it cost me £30

In sure people will think this not as comprehensive as I could have done being as I had the floor up etc but it does me!
In combo with the pure av pf30 feeding the tv, mini pc and I few other bits I have seeming zero issues with crap getting into the system compared to what I used to... So I'm happy, for £30 ... You can't go wrong!

[realysm42]

Hurry up with a picture already Marco, I'm intruiged now!

[vandergraafuk]

I have a separate CU with 6 runs of 10mm2 to Furutech single unswitched sockets. Oh and a 100amp incoming fuse. All on MCB's. Based on the Roy.K.Riches design. Many thanks to Roy himself.

[John]

Mine a bit OTT but I live to close to an industrial area in a 1930s house
I have a deicared spur and earth
I use balanced mains supply which weighs around 29kg
I use silver mains cable
I have a dedicated consumer unit

[Marco]

Hurry up with a picture already Marco, I'm intruiged now!

Lol - I'll do it at the weekend, dude, when I can take the pic properly in daylight :)

Marco.

P.S Frank, love it! :lol:

[freefallrob]

Er, mine are pretty lo fi, but I replaced the old switched socket with a nice clean new UN switched one, I use Supra Lorad 1.5 cables if I can and I have a DIY 4 way adaptor block with a Supra Lorad 1.5 cable attached to it.

All treated with deoxit etc.

[MartinT]

Double socket in listening room replaced with unswitched MK double.

PS Audio Powerplant Premier regenerator running entire system (hopefully to be replaced with P10 this week). Fed by Russ Andrews Signature power cable, feeding out to Russ Andrews Reference power cables.

Russ Andrews Silencer, Isotek IsoPlug, Isotek NeoPlug, PS Audio Harvester x 2 noise reducers plugged in around the house.

1m copper earth spike outside kitchen supplementing internal earth to pipes.

[Z-A]

Ok, i'll bite.

Main feed is split after meter by a Henley block, main house wiring continues to main cu. Hi-Fi feed is direct through a Hager switch (by 10mmsq) copper to custom pure copper/silver plated junction box 9" square, which feeds (by 6mmsq), 4 double Furutech outlets, 2 of which have balanced mains trafo's on, feeding source and speakers, the other's feed 2 power supplies for the amp. All cable ends are crimped with WBT cable ends, gold plated. Separate earth (16mm) to 4' spike in shaded section of the garden.

When the cooker failed while cooking xmas dinner and took out the main boards rcbo, i could still play my music, which was great.

[Artifolk]

317 views and only 14 posts... shame on you :D

[MartinT]

Charles, I think it may reflect how few people take mains supply seriously with their hi-fi systems.

[isuckedmandelsonslemons]

Ok, I have my mono power amps plugged into a bog standard plastic double socket with switches. What should I replace it with without spending silly money?

[MartinT]

What should I replace it with without spending silly money?

For peanuts, replace the switched double socket with an MK unswitched. Warning: you may need an electrician to do this work for you. If it's on a ring main (the usual setup), it's worth tightening the connections behind every socket in the ring.

For a little more, get hold of a couple of good power leads for the monoblocks. There are various vendors here who can make recommendations.

For toppings, get one or two plug-in noise absorbers, preferably different brands/models like I have, to give you broad spectrum noise absorption around the house.

[isuckedmandelsonslemons]

Hi Martin. Thanks for that. I already have the amps hooked up with Merlin Black Widows. What are these plug in noise things and where do I stick them? Yeah I know I'm asking for trouble.

[MartinT]

The ones I use are:

- Russ Andrews Silencer
- Isotek IsoPlug
- Isotek NeoPlug
- PS Audio Harvester

Just Google Shopping them and you'll get prices. You plug them into any spare socket (switched on), preferably distributed around the house. I have one of them at the point closest to the consumer unit which helps to reduce any crap coming into the house.

[The Black Adder]

White socket on wall plugged in to a white block on floor with standard leads.

Cost nearly £8!!!!!!!!

Will get some MG stuff one of these days and a balanced PSU.

[MartinT]

If you mean a standard B&Q type distribution strip, Joe, that will be doing immense harm to the chances of your system performing to its best. Even if you just get a good distribution block from the likes of Russ Andrews or IsoTek, it will improve things. Also, try and plug your amp into the other socket directly, if it's a double.

[isuckedmandelsonslemons]

Re what Martin says about amp. When I plugged my amps direct into the socket instead of the block the difference was well North of staggering.

[Marco]

Hi Martin.


If you mean a standard B&Q type distribution strip, Joe, that will be doing immense harm to the chances of your system performing to its best. Even if you just get a good distribution block from the likes of Russ Andrews or IsoTek, it will improve things.

I'd prefer to recommend the quality products (distribution blocks) of our trade members, such as Mark Grant and David Brook, as in my experience those offer far superior SPPV, especially compared to grossly overpriced products from RA! :eek: ;)

Marco.

[MartinT]

I understand, Marco, but I can only recommend those products which I've tried.

[Marco]

Sure I get that, but it's just something to consider in future, that's all.

You could add something along the lines of 'And many here I believe have had excellent results with Mark Grant's distribution block, etc.' It acknowledges the excellent products of our trade members, whilst not affecting the relevance or validity of your own personal recommendations :)

Marco.

[Macca]

Hi Joe - how's things? Gotta say I can't believe that with all your fancy kit you are still using a Woolies mains block! Even if you don't want to spend any money the Belkin efforts of eBay are superior by a margin. I was sceptical that it would make any difference so tried three different types of stock dist. boards against a Russ Andrews. There was no contest. Interestingly the simplest of the stock boards (no master switch or power light) sounded the worst.

[moodybuilder]

im just looking into mains upgrade, thoughts so far are- piggy back a single rcd unit off of main consumer unit run 10mm cable to 2x MK non switched silver double socket, gonna do this ae a radial

[Wakefield Turntables]

My mains upgrades are pretty Hifi ;) In that I have the following

1. Dedicated mains consumer unit
2. Isotek GII Nova
3. Solid silver Spektor Reference Leads + Furutech plugs

Thats it! I suppose I could upgrade further and install furutech plug sockets but then I think I'll save up some more upgrades for the 1210!

[ursus262]

I have a balanced mains transformer. Lovely!

[Artifolk]

Seems this Subject is just as diverse as Upgrading to new kit.
A dedicate Consumer unit is a must, but after that everyone goes their own separate way, with a few exceptions.

Are we all tailoring our Mains supply to suit our preferred Sound/Systems, if this in fact the case, is there any Right or Wrong way of going about this, who's right/Wrong?

[koowat]

Hi Guys,

Need your views - debating between Clearer Audio Alpha vs TM3 1M Silver Plated RFI shielded mains cable.

Which would you go for? Don't wanna go overboard on a mains cable but I need a cable anyways.

[northwest]

Well, here are my thoughts.

Until very recently I was convinced that anyone who spent more than £2.99 on a six way block from B&Q (Home Depot) were absolutely off their trolley!
Who in their right mind would pay more than just the bear minimum on cables? I silently derided the idiots who were being conned out of their hard earned by companies deliberately set up to part them from their cash using scare tactics and witchcraft.
Before I go any further, I am no skinflint. I am quite prepared to put my hand in my pocket and buy the best. I remember the look on a friends face when I parted with £125 for a torch - he nearly fainted and the look of disbelief when I told him it wasn't one of my most expensive! I just recount this as a sort of balance to the story. So anyway, on with the plot:
A couple of months ago I decided to "get on the Internet and find out a bit more aboot me Hi-Fi" - here I am!
So then I get to reading more about daft people parting with their readies on silly gear that has nothing to do with reproducing music. And I will put my hand up and be the first to admit that I was oh sooooo wrong! Okay, I was using decent speaker cable (silver QED) and half decent interconnects but mains power? You NUTS!? Well it is now very obvious to me that this is really important. I was having a problem a couple of weeks ago with a USB cable connectling my NetBook to the system, I was getting a bit of hum. So after I revisited the setup - no hum? After a bit of investigating the only difference was a component I hadn't connected. Connect it back up and Hey Presto - HUMMMMM!
Change the mains supply cable for one costing a bit more, not much more but certainly better quality and although the hum was not entirely gone it was noticeable by it's reduction. I am now sure that the mains supply cables DO have an effect on the system and really, as old as I am I should have realised that a system is only as good as the sum of the parts.
I am still firmly of the belief though that some people are very misguided in some of the sums they spend on cables and cable accessories but buying good quality mains cable, plugs and sockets is certainly something I will be doing over the next couple of weeks.

[MCRU]

Charles,
Quite an interesting article to read (http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/sitefiles/15/2/2/152201/cables_explained.pdf) if you please.

[Artifolk]

Thanks David, will take a read.

[The Black Adder]

Hi Joe - how's things? Gotta say I can't believe that with all your fancy kit you are still using a Woolies mains block! Even if you don't want to spend any money the Belkin efforts of eBay are superior by a margin. I was sceptical that it would make any difference so tried three different types of stock dist. boards against a Russ Andrews. There was no contest. Interestingly the simplest of the stock boards (no master switch or power light) sounded the worst.

Cheers fellas.

Yeah, well... Because over the last year I've been swapping and changing racks to shelves, shelves to units and therefore not wanted to spend on cables until I got it all together as I like.

A full upgrade is on the cards now, well it has been for about a year but will be getting sorted soon.

[Artifolk]

Charles,
Quite an interesting article to read (http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/sitefiles/15/2/2/152201/cables_explained.pdf) if you please.

A slight deviation, but do those Furutech Single sockets except 10mm2 cable?

[The Black Adder]

Where's the pic Marco... We wanna see your sub station!