Worthwhile 10 minute tweak

[scotty38]

Hi Mike,

I don't believe it is necessary to use a dedicated 'radial' system over a dedicated 'ring'. My audio-only ring comprises 16 sockets available not only for my speakers (like you I use electrostatic speakers), but for the permanent equipment (turntables, phonostages, CD player, tuner, preamp etc.) as well a few spare outlets for occasionally used items such as tape decks etc.

The ring is protected by a separate Hager 32A RCCB connected to the meter via a 'Henley block'.

I can understand the reasoning behind using a radial system, but IMO it is only of help in reducing the the noise fed back into the mains supply generated by SMPSs used within your own audio system. In my case, none of the power supplies used are SMPSs.

Unless there's a separate Consumer Unit etc. etc, blah, blah, then the chances are that all the neutrals are common anyway so little to no isolation in reality as far as I understand it....

[Stratmangler]

You see how I stated it was Cat6 and not 7?

No foil aerials to pick up any stray radio frequency anything

[Gazjam]

Speaking of maximising mains...

I’ve found balanced mains to bring quite the improvement, run my rig of a BMU (now a 10KVA one) for some years now.

Off work Friday so had some time on my hands and wanted this weekend to simplify my setup, tweak my Network and do a bit of ‘hifi housekeeping” that’s been niggling away for a while.
So with everything disconnected from the BMU I took the opportunity to listen to my system directly from the wall.
Sometimes good to go back and do a sanity check when you can?

No comparison, noticeable component level improvement, even with a power amp.
Mains makes a big big difference folks.

Took the time to strip back the BMU external connections to fresh copper too, replacing the Henley blocks with Wago clip connectors for a better connection.
So fresh copper, better connections and tidied up and properly dressed cable runs...all good.

Choice of cable used matters too?
I use Oyaide Black Mamba v2 cable throughout the install.
I tried lengths of a few different spur cables when planning it all, these are the best I’ve heard, and came out better than both top end Furutech and Furakawa spur cable.
Its this stuff. http://www.neo-w.com/english/black-mamba-α.html)

Found my mains to be fairly stable at just over 230V, so no need for regulation or regeneration here, especially with balanced mains plumbed in.
Cant fit a dedicated run back to the CU at my property, or I would, so this is s good as it gets for me, and I’m very happy with the improvements.

[Gazjam]

No foil aerials to pick up any stray radio frequency anything

Thats the Chappie!
A wise man shared some wisdom on that one once...

[Barry]

Unless there's a separate Consumer Unit etc. etc, blah, blah, then the chances are that all the neutrals are common anyway so little to no isolation in reality as far as I understand it....

My dedicated ring does use a separate 'consumer unit': a Hager 32A RCCB.

Ultimately all the neutrals will be connected together at the meter; the point is the length of cable between an interfering source back to the common connction point and thence on to the rest of the audio components. The longer the cable length, the more cable resistance there is to dampen the high frequency spikes generated by SMPSs.