Advice on mains supply, sockets and plugs etc

Well it looks like we may be moving home late October or early November. It will be a bungalow which we will be making some modifications to the Kitchen and Lounge, basically knocking kitchen through to part of L shape lounge and then putting a stud wall across the mid point of the L, which pocket doors and gaining more from the hallway.

During this I have the opportunity to set up dedicated mains to sockets where the Hifi will go. My initial thought was a dedicated ring, off a 20amp RCD to 2 double wall sockets, which is the most practical way. A separate small consumer unit is not easily feasible as the new consumer unit has to be flush mounted in the wall in the kitchen just below the ceiling, and I cannot find a small flush mount that takes one or two RCD's.

For wall sockets and plugs I thought these might be suitable. Has anyone else experience of these or recommendations please?

Silver Plated UK Double Wall Socket Unswitched https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silver-Pl...YAAMXQuTNTLdH0

Missing Link EPS-500 Silver Plated UK 13 Amp Mains Plug https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Missing-L...gAAOxyBLBSC8At

The Power amp, phono Amp and tuner would be plugged directly into one of the double sockets, the fourth socket would have a filter protected 6 gang extension which would have CD player and power DC power supplies plugged into it for TT, DAC, Headphone amp, NAS drive & USB Backup drive.

Does this configuration make sense or is there a better way that anyone would recommend?

Hi Adrian, I cant answer the configuration part of your question but can highly recommended the plugs and un-switched double socket you've attached links for, I have both (see signature).

My system is plugged into the un-switched socket of course and then all my system components have the Missing Link Ultra Pure plugs on the end of them.

I went one further and changed out/upgraded the plug fuses for Hi-Fi Tuning gold plated silver ceramic 13 amp fuses.

Whether this stuf makes that much difference i really cant say.

These pieces are quality and that's good enough for me. I like to put the best to my system that i can and as I say, these bits are quality.

My mains doesn't sound bad to my ears either :)

Adrian, what you need is an RCBO. They are a combination of MCB (overload and short circuit protection) and RCD (earth leakage protection). They are typically 1 module width (same as an MCB). 20A type B, 30mA should be plenty unless you have a power amp with a large inrush current in which case a type C might be necessary. Radical circuit is all you need rather than a ring just looped from one socket to the other. 4mm2 T&E cable should be ideal unless you want to go screened.

I have a dedicated ring feeding 10 double sockets (I use electrostatic speakers with monoblock power amplifiers located behind each speaker, as well as several sources, phonostage and preamps which all require a mains socket).

The ring is protected by a 32A Hager RCBO completely separate from the consumer unit feeding the rest of the house, and joined to the meter 'tails' via a 'Henley' block. The cabling is standard 2.5mm T&E and the sockets are MK.


Measured performance of the new ring:

Insulation resistance: L-N; L-E; N-E > 200MΩ

Conductor loop impedance: 0.15Ω (L), 0.20Ω (N) and 0.23Ω (E)

Earth loop impedance at the sockets: < 0.55Ω

Earth loop impedance at the RCBO: < 0.35Ω (the earthing arrangement for my property is TN-S, for which the maximum permitted earth loop impedance is 0.8Ω)

Neutral to Earth offset voltage: 0.25V (AC), 0V (DC)

DC offset voltage: -18mV

Source impedance measured at a socket: |Z| = 0.205Ω (Typical expected source impedance, according to IEC 725:1981, is 0.4Ω + j0.25Ω, or |Z| = 0.472Ω)


To be honest I can't say there has been any audible improvement, but the existing ring main measures very well. The only benefit of the new dedicated ring is eliminating the need for an extension strip (Olsen) and lack of cables trailing around the skirting board. So every thing is a lot neater. ;)

Why not try a couple of radial circuits. With same amount of cable you then have two separate lines one for digital one for analogue. Worth using decent quality cable.

Thanks to Robbie, JohnJo, Barry and Flo for the replies all really helpful, I will have a word with my electrician and get he RCBO as suggested and discuss radial circuit with one line for digital. I will go for the sockets and plugs I found.

Cheers

Adrian