Hi!

[Roy Riches]

Been Here before.

Once again, I’m asked to provide a response about a Hypothetical Scenario regarding house fires/insurance. This is one reason I stopped posting to Hi-Fi Forums. Explaining technical aspects to people that have no knowledge of the subject is really frustrating; I spent too many hours of my life trying to provide explanations which often, were not comprehended. Consequently, this will be my last post on the subject; I’m going back into exile and enjoying my music.

Final words
There is so much more to this subject than most people would be aware of and their ignorance is their bliss. Regarding electric supply, most UK house fires are caused by faulty unsafe wiring (old), faulty appliances, overloaded sockets and now cheap Far East battery chargers.

If anyone wishes to know more about Mains electricity and safety aspects then I respectively direct then to the local Library, where they can read about this subject.
During the last 24 years I have read much on this subject and with the benefit of my practical experiences, which include breaking-open Fuse-holders, MCBs and RCDs to view the internals, some are shite, I have made my informed decisions and implemented my options.
The primary goal for me was to achieve the absolute "best "sonic performance from my Hi-Fi and then secondly to seek the very best safety options. This ultimately meant that the "best" sonic option would be compromised a little, because there were some aspects of safety that I would consider as totally unsafe.
I have made informed "risk assessment" judgements on what I consider to be the best sonic and safest Mains power supply to my Hi-Fi that I personally believe to be safe - within reasonable parameters. Others may view this differently and it is their right to do so.
Of the 7 or 8 Hi-Fi Mains installations that are currently offered, at least 4 are fully compliant with the UK IEE Regs. Depending on choice and cost, these will lift a systems performance by 40 to 70%. Those of us that want to achieve more, up to 95% (my opinion), will have to make a "risk assessment" decision and weigh the Sonics V Safety information. Ultimately these people accept all the consequences of their actions and decisions.

Elements to "risk assessment" - example - if I were to open my front door and venture outside there is a "HYPERTHETICAL RISK" that I may get hit on the head by a meteorite falling from the heavens. If I always stayed indoors then that potential risk is minimised. OR perhaps we should all make haste and visit the Army surplus stores and purchase WW2 Army Tin-hats! - this would also minimise the risk. No, of course we do not do this because generally we perceive the risk of a meteorite on the head to be infinitesimally small. BUT ultimately we all DO accept this risk when outside in the open!
Also, around 700 people perish in plane crashes each year, 29,711 people killed or seriously injured on UK roads 2023, do we abandon these modes of travel?
When we have electricity (and gas) in the home we ALL accept a raft of additional potentially dangerous, sometimes fatal scenarios. With regard to domestic electrical supply/protection, many people still have an antiquated 1940 -50s installation consisting 4 x re-wirable fuse carriers, no RCD protection and old textile /rubber insulated wiring. This, is a very, very basic level of protection, personally I would not stay in such a home – far too dangerous for my liking especially if the C.U. is located in the stair cupboard; how do you exit the house with the stairs alight? Others like myself have upgraded to the latest, fastest "state of the art" protection. There is a chasm of difference between the safety aspects of the two installations. There is NO-WAY I would countenance changing/ upgrading anything in my hi-fi system with the aforementioned antiquated 1950s installation, but because the upgraded safety level of the modern second installation is SO MUCH higher, I personally believe that even with my optimised Mains I'm still well-ahead on safety when compared to the antiquated basic protection. Example, my active system has 3 x chrome bumper Naim 250’s, these have a 48V small bulb behind the green power button. When the bulbs eventually blew, different years, on the mid and treble amps the individual 32A RCBO of both tripped out.
Today, I’d be far more worried about Chinese E-Scooters, cheap battery chargers with 2–pin plugs (no earth), Chinese Mains cables for Hi-Fi, and home appliances with fake CE and BS kite-marks in my home, as Barry has already pointed out!


Anyone is welcome to e-mail me privately and I will attempt to answer your questions objectively and fairly. It is then your decision to choose what is "right" for you.

Farewell.

Best Regards
Roy