Where my tv, Virgin Box, DVD player, Atom HE, CD player, Phono Stage and 2 x active ATC 19’s is installed I only have two wall power outlets currently being used with a couple of cheap power blocks
Without spending a fortune I’d like to change these blocks for something decent and have come up with the British company Olson
Olson offer a lot of seemingly very well made blocks with 4/6/8 etc outlets
Anyone used Olson before?
I don’t want any filtering etc just a sturdy extension block that’s been properly wired and Made in UK if possible
Yes I had one for years in the back of the house for the TV etc, really excellent. They have a great reputation and supply to a lot of customers in industry.
I’ve used Olsen with a mates installation, he wanted something simple and robust that would screw to a large heavy skirting board.
I suggested he look at Olsen because I had them in both UK (13A) and EU (Schuko) in my technical training schools around Europe.
Exactly what he wanted.
I recall when I last looked it wasn’t easy to find one without a neon light, which would be preferable. I. think I found one model in the end, but they had no stock.
Olson have lots of options available to get exactly what you want. I bought a 6 way from them, to make up an extension lead for the network kit in my home office.
They look well made and I had a look myself. I’ve used two Tacimas* for a decade with no issues, audible or otherwise. Mains blocks either work or they don’t. I never ever had an issue even with £4.00 plastic ones from Lidl. I never ever heard a difference between them either but I would not try ‘audiophile’ blocks, not into it.
The only difference is that something like the better Olson’s are internally wired whereas cheaper ones (inclusive Tacimas probably) have busbars. Does it make a difference? Imho not but I am not an electrician. Audiophile angst perhaps.
*I initially only bought the Tacimas because I had two nice solder irons crap out on me. Reading feedback it was suggested to use a Tacima to prevent spikes reaching the iron. I did and had no issues afterwards. I then thought I get one more and have everything expensive connected to them now.
If you regularly unplug/change stuff something like an Olson probably makes sense.
Hi DM1, for me and my system, yes it does, maybe not a lot, but its worthwhile IMO (for me) ….
… a retired electrical engineer and ever-so-slightly OCD.
I made my own power cables and power dist board to supply only the SN amp, NDX streamer and their PSU’s plus NAT05 FM tuner. It’s internally wired with 2.5mm/2 OFC in ‘radial’ (star)
SMPS power and suchlike are from another board.
The Olsen’s shown in the pictures are wired in 'daisy chain’, and although this is the same wiring config as the multitude of ‘busbar’ strips, the Olsen’s have better wire amp capacity and the all important plug/socket interface contact. So if there is a better SQ, it should/must be with the Olsen.
A note from the US: the former Naim distributor here, AV Options, strenuously recommends a similarly-built daisy chain strip manufactured by Wiremold. The only caveat is that the daisy-chained construction means that impedance increases (slightly) as you go further down the strip from the first outlet nearest the wall plug. Therefore it’s important to plug the amplifier into this first outlet, and work one’s way down to the source component at the opposite end. More details here: https://www.avoptions.com/downloads/SuperWiremold-Deep-Cryo-manual-rev14.pdf
