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.
AC POWER
Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
AMPS
Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
SPEAKERS
Wharfedale Evo 4.4
DAC
PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
TURNTABLE
Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
PHONOSTAGE
Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
DIGITAL
OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
MUSIC PLAYBACK
Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
Ipad Roon Remote.
Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
SPEAKER CABLES
Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
INTERCONNECTS
All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables
AC POWER
Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
AMPS
Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
SPEAKERS
Wharfedale Evo 4.4
DAC
PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
TURNTABLE
Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
PHONOSTAGE
Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
DIGITAL
OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
MUSIC PLAYBACK
Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
Ipad Roon Remote.
Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
SPEAKER CABLES
Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
INTERCONNECTS
All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables
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.
Barry