I’m keeping it here as it’s not strictly audio related and it’s a heavily moderated topic as it’s an international membership and so recommendations for U.K. installations are likely, at best, not applicable in other countries, or at worst may well be outside of local code snd be potentially hazardous.
As ever, I recommend that any mains advice or work is done by a fully qualified electrician for the area in question.
I was watching this useful YouTube video about use of Henley Block to split into 2 consumer units
I posted an article on an electrical forum to see if they agree with this and was roundly shot down in flames - see example reply below
Have you been listening to snake oil salsemen again?
Has anyone explained why they suggest neededing a separate CU? A spearate circuit, maybe and preferably on its own RCBO or RCD and ideally a radial out to where it is needed not a ring.
10mm cables - they will not fit into socket terminal and even 6mm will be difficult. 10 mm cable will take around 65A or 15kW power. If you are trying to reduce the impedance/resistance then better quality is what is needed.
Unswitched sockets, yes as you remove a potential source of noise.
A friend has a HiFi that is worth - at a guess somewhere between £65-100k. Does he have a dedicated circuit? No, it is off the normal ring final. He does have a decent unswitched double socket from which he has two power cables that split into several C5 and C15 sockets
Everybody replying said the same - it was a complete waste of time and money !!!
The reason a separate CU is advocated (with suitable earthing) is that it removes the supply contamination which can result from a separate circuit pulling from the bus bar within a single CU.
e.g. I’ve recently fed my Radikal from the house ring rather than the dedicated hi-fi CU (which is fed from a split-feed Henley block). As soon as the fridge/freezer in the kitchen went on, there was a ‘chonk’ from the speakers, even though the F/F is fed from the dedicated kitchen ring circuit from the household CU - the latter has ~10 circuits/breakers IIRC.
Now, whether this is due to earthing and/or using the household CU I cannot be 100% sure - but this never happened when the Radikal was wired as previously.
You can fit 10mm and 6mm in to some sockets - but they won’t allow rings IME.
I think the thing is that an Electricians may not have full appreciation of electronics. Having done the Electricians courses, they do go into some depth around motors, but really only touch the electronic side. Earthing was more about the mechanics rather than theory, and “DC Offset” is a phrase that few would have heard of let alone understand. I certainly don’t want to put Electricians down, it’s just an area that they don’t need to know - for example you wouldn’t call an Electricians to fix your TV.
The mains upgrade makes a very noticeable positive difference for most who try it, me included. This is not something we can fully explain, so a jobbing electrician probably won’t be able to either as he doesn’t fully understand everything thats going on and almost certainly won’t have owned the sort of kit we have to try it.
@anon77199223 thanks for starting this survey last year, I found it very useful
@Richard.Dane perhaps you could merge or reopen the original survey?
Please answer these Qs:
0. Age and condition of the existing wiring
Fairly modern, probably 30 years old
1. Separate CU and what make
Russ Andrews
2. Cable SA mm^2, and make/type
10mm, don’t know make. Was £3.95 per meter.
3. How many sockets of what type
Russ Andrews unswitched double socket. Plan is to buy a Hydra or demo some extension leads. We couldn’t get 3 or 4 10mm2 cables to the lounge for 6-8 sockets
4. Effect on SQ, e.g. worse, no change, slightly better, loads better, specific effects.
System has been changing a lot recently so I don’t have the listening hours put in. However, I Instantly noticed a more weighty and tighter bass, and more open or airy sound.
The sound is better, but not “loads” better.
Upgrading from a NAP200 to NAP300 and adding a 555PS to my NDX2 were each more of an upgraded (as you might expect)
Upgrading from fraimlite to frame shelves for NAC282 and NDX2 was less of an upgrade, but even I was impressed how that gave more separation to instruments.
Probably equivalent to adding my hicap or something like that? Well worth the money.
(I’m sure there is some burn in and warm up time needed too, so will report back).
0 - Wiring is less than 5 years old, having been re-wire since we moved in
1 - Whole house Hager CU, Twin Rail
2 - Cable 2.5mm^2, unsure of make, generic
3 - 12-15 sockets on the ring main
4 - Unable to say at this stage, currently having an extension built and looking at a dedicated main spur for hifi
My electrician is an audiophile and not only did he split the CUs, I had to talk him down from doing it for every curcuit and all manner of very esoteric wiring plans. He certainly didn’t think it was a waste of time.
But I wish he’d run it by me sooner. He had $100k of extreme audiophile mains solutions planned. The entire house completion is 6 weeks behind schedule because of his “initiative” that was many times over budget. I had to put a stop to it and get a new quote for my own wiring plan.
UPDATE I live in a 1930s house, it was last rewired in the the 1980s, so circa 40 year on wiring. I had the entire house re-wired, (2,5mm2 T&E for the ring mains) in 2019 and a new CU installed Hager 24-way, twin rail. I have to be honest, I did not notice any effect on the sound at the time, although I didn’t have the house re-wired with sound quality in mind. The ring main had to be split into 2 ring mains
I am now building an extension with a room dedicated as my listening room. I have specced MCRU Audiophile 4mm2 OFC Shielded cable (£9.95 per m) for a dedicated Radial with a twin socket for the Hi-Fi. Undecided at this stage whether to go for a dedicated earth spike?
Update to follow once the install has been done and the hi-fi setup is complete…
@VintageMike
Hi
It’s a bit of a personal choice about finance and convenience.
My house is individually spiked only because a number of years ago it was found to have a poor earth down to corrosion of the armour in the original house supply.
The choice we had was to pay thousands for a new service from the pavement to under the garden and house foundation then up or add an earth spike and just update the house wiring.
I thought in my own head a pure on its own spike rod would be better and the metering system used confirmed much better earth so we did that.
And I’ve been told many times that it’s the best way.
Thanks - the house has its own earth spike next to the meter cupboard, which was installed when the house was rewired. I don’t recall it being very costly, so while the extension is being first fixed, I am debating the merits of having a dedicated spike for the hi-fi radial. Definitely sounds like it’s worth investigating from your experience?
Most of the reports I’ve heard of people who have done a dedicated earth spike for the Hifi radial have said it’s at least as big an upgrade as doing the dedicated radial itself.
Seek the advice of an electrician. They can advise appropriately as to the type of earthing you already have in place as part of the existing electrical installation and supply type.
Agree 100%. I did have an earth spike and it sounded better than std mains. After reading that it is common for substation earth’s to be disconnected, which then means you’re earth spike becomes the earthing point for the local neighborhood, I put in a separate spur in 6mm. This sounded better still and is probably safer.
Yes, any electrical work should be installed by a qualified electrician, e.g. as part of a dedicated HiFi radial install and signed off with the appropriate paperwork - as mine was.
In my case the electrician advised me not to have an earth spike for the radial, so I do not have one.
What reason did he give? If you are fed with a TNC supply (Earth and Neutral combined ) then a full dedicated supply for hifi with a separate TT Earth is needed to meet regs.