Well you all know my system by now. I currently run 4mm radial from mains comsumer unit. Spoke to my electrician today and am now planning a dedicated mains from incoming supply 32amp 10mm cable. It will be run ouside the house in galvanised conduit into listening room. No issues there. New consumer unit to be in lounge.
Question is what unswitched socket is the best and will accept 10mm cable?
I know this a well versed topic but starting it up again.
I am just going with one double unswitched socket. Will run two blocks off that. Already have Puritan 156 and Wireworld Matrix 2 which I may upgrade to something else.
Reassuringly when I spoke to my electrician who I work with regularly he understood straight away and said he’d done this before. Only it was 4mm for anothwr customer.
I guess another question is why is 10mm better than 4mm or 6mm, bearing in mind 4mm more than adequately powers system??
Bought a MS HD gold plated unswitched socket, takes 14 mm cable, about £100. And yes the dedicated mains is well worth it, whether paying more for the socket would bring more benefits? There will be lower resistance with the thicker cable, whether over short runs you would get less voltage drop?
Just out of interest, why not use steel wall armoured (SWA) cable? It’s black and will be more discreet than galvanised conduit. We have it around the outside of the house, buried under the flowerbed where it would be visible. Can you not get the consumer unit next to the existing one, rather than in the house? It would look nicer that way. And don’t forget to split the meter tails, rather than taking a feed from the existing consumer unit. Finally make sure the earth from the dedicated line goes back to the meter cupboard, don’t connect it to the existing consumer unit. Apologies if you already know all this, but just in case.
I bought a rhodium plated double socket from furutec for a little over a £200 but one of the best value upgrades I’ve ever done. My patient (but sceptical) electrician found it pretty easy to wire up a 6mm dedicated feed to it. He’s a raver like me so accepted my cognitively compromised logic on doing such a thing . They do take a good while to bed in though.
Good advice HH. Had a mate of mine who does commercial electrical installations. He advised galvanised conduit for my house. But he is not the installer. Wiĺl see what my Sparky says. Great advice especially about earthing.
I discussed it with Sparky today and it won’t have anything to do with main consumer unit as it will be routed off main board outside. I will discuss earthing arrangements with him.
The new consumer unit can be next to EV charger CU rather than inside. Will discuss with sparky. He is a good guy and will come up with best solution.
The front of my house is rendered and looks very neat and tidy. Having a SWA cable going into it will look a bit untidy IMHO. I will see what solutions we come up with and am open to SWA cables as an option. It’s off white render above DPC, brick below and black cable would go into front of house entry point. Could enclose it with conduit on entry point.
Got gas box on the run in the way. This why my mate suggested galvanised conduit.
Just a couple of questions Dan, why conduit and not armoured cable? Are you running a ring or going to use radial? If I remember the standard from Naim is to go radial with 10mm2. I myself use 6mm2 but that was because I wanted to link 3 double wall sockets together and 6mm2 is the most you can do. 6mm2 will also be the largest you can go if you opt for the ring main but 10mm2 is fine with a standard MK unswitched sockets on a radial circuit. Be careful with specialised audio sockets as they often have two sets of terminals where as the MK uses small bus bars from each connection.
I now use a double MK unswitched socket with a Powerline to a Wireworld Matrix 2 that powers everything except the 500 in one of DB’s configurations. The 500 runs off the other socket. One final thing, when I get some time I may try an MK switched socket again. It’s been a few years since I used one but I thought they sounded slightly sweeter than the unswitched version. If you look at the layout of the switched MK socket all the bus bar lengths are the same but unequal in the unswitched one - particularly the earth.
I had my dedicated system installed when you could still used a dedicated solid 40amp fuses but I think you have to use trips now?
I suspect they will, but also check that the electrician takes the earth for the new CU from the earth block nearest the feed coming into the house - sometimes they can take it from another CU which is not ideal for audio.
BTW, I used 10mm SWA which runs for about 40 meters up the side of the house, through the loft, out the other side, then down to the living room. Ensuring that the outer strands are only connected to earth at the new CU end, and not the socket.
The white box outside the house is where the electrician will connect up to. He wiĺ connect up to the direct incoming mains and adapt and go into henley blocks and eaething there. It won’t be earthed to the CU inside the property.
I would agree with this: steel conduit may be fatter than SWA cable, but plastic stuff nailed to the wall with cable clips? No thanks, neatly installed conduit would look better in my view. Also, once through the wall, the indoor section of the cable run will be much easier. Regular 10mm T&E is bad enough. Cover it in extra thick plastic with steel braid and you’re wrestling an anaconda.
Re. sockets, the once popular MK ones dropped in quality since production was moved to Malaysia. Personally I wouldn’t touch them.
Furutech are nice, but a double is actually two singles which need to be connected to each other, so you’re then looking at 20mm of cable squeezed into each terminal instead of 10mm.
The last sockets I bought were some relatively cheap (by audiophile standards) ones from MCRU which were pretty decent.
Morning Dan. I bought a RA Super socket to replace the double unswitched socket my electrician fitted when he installed my dedicated radial.Nice tight clamping pressure on the plug pins and takes the 10mm2 T&E cable without any problems. I had a voucher so it worked out around £25 or so.
It’s a case of horses for courses, or cables for conduits here, I think. We have SWA, and the socket is on an outside wall, so the cable goes through the wall directly into the back of the socket, with no visible cabling inside the house. It was done over 25 years ago and at that time the unswitched Crabtree was de rigeur, and that is what we still use.
Agree with that, I just installed a new MK switched double in readiness for BT Full Fibre (next week), not great compared to the old UK made ones.
If and when I feel the need to renew the unswitched double that powers the hifi, I will be looking around, maybe Furutech.
I will NOT be considering the MS HD, I had two MS 13A plugs, they’re built to ‘look’ like a battleship, but mine had a defective screw and the other a loose rivet.
Before we dismiss MK with long time term changes the ranges do continue to offer great quality.
The problem seems to crop up is that there are many variations of double sockets the item identification is crucial to get the best sockets.
MK has had manufacturing both in Malaysia and UK since 1978 and it’s often thought the company changed completely when acquired in the Honeywell group of companies in 2005.
Just buying an MK double unswitched socket isn’t assuring you get the right one.
I’ve attached photos of two below but to get the best one for hi fi large cable termination it has to be the top one.
MKK0781 13 Amp 2 Gang Double Unswitched Socket - White
. They do take a good while to bed in though.
