That’s true, but if you avoid the extra connections there, you have them in the consumer unit instead. Choose your poison.
How about this?
- Single 10mm cable from dedicated CU to double unswitched socket.
- Only use one of those sockets (other one is just there for flexibility).
- Plug in a hydra cable with heads for all your hifi gear.
Where’s the poison in that arrangement?
Does a hydra count as star-earthed?
Or does that depend on how the hydra cable’s constructed?
That’s OK i.e. hydra = distribution unit, on the basis you use good quality components/brands for the CU etc and the socket can hand accommodate 10mm cabling (not all can). I would also check with sparks to see if a separate earth is possible, which depends on how the property is served.
The issue is that some hydras/distribution units are more equal than others! You need to check the individual specs.
I would go for 2 doubles just in case.
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Yes, I just had experience of this.
I bought a SH Musicline PowerIgel 6-way hydra unit.
(These were originally over 900 Euros when new, AFAIK).
It sounded pretty good when first plugged in, and stayed in for a few months.
But it bugged that the cable from the wall to the metal unit was overly long, and the six cables to the Naim boxes were way too long as well, so it created a veritable Hydra tangle of power cables (with associated EM field) at the back of the racks.
And the cables felt pretty thin and weedy.
So I switched it for a Graham’s Hydra and a Powerline to the Supercap and a Powerblack to the 555DR that I already had.
That made a very clear improvement in SQ.
This is, in part, the ‘poison’ which @ChrisSU refers, as more contacts and links in the chain, and more cabling lengths too (with different properties!), all can generate negative issues.
It’s just choosing the option which suits i.e. can be installed within regs.
And, as you observe, some distribution blocks are very expensive for what they are.
I have Naim Powerlines x many and the irony is that the floating pin mains plug is often academic, as the cable rests on the floor.
A Hydra is about the neatest arrangement you can get in that unlike mains blocks, it doesn’t introduce more fused plugs and sockets.
You could just use a single socket if you want to avoid the cheap metal connections in a double.
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How does the cable resting on the floor neutralize the benefit of the ‘floating pin mains plug’?
(I don’t know what a floating pin mains plug is).
As I understand things, the whole idea of having floating-pins** in plugs and interconnects (e.g. a Hi-Line), is to avoid transmission of microphony i.e. a cable should effectively hang freely, with no malign influences introduced from either end.
** this defines as it suggests, in that the cabling/pins can move in the plug housing.
But floors can transmit microphony (particularly with heavy bass), hence why things like floor cable lifters are employed. This also attempts to lift cables away from rebar and alike buried in concrete.
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I think the floating pin arrangement was to allow the plug pins to engage better with the socket. There was a tweak, pre Power-line, to slightly enlarge the holes around the pins in the Crabtree plugs to allow a bit of float. The main ‘decoupling’ comes from the cable clamp arrangement. The same principle, albeit in just thermoset resin, in the Power-line lite plug here
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Yep. I had the same when I had a stack of Naim kit. It did work well, but it needed a bit of space around it to let the cables exit freely. It looked a bit of a mess in the lounge, so I replaced it with a 6 head Hydra. Can’t say I really noticed much difference and all the mains cables sat neatly under the rack.
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Thanks HL and James
I did know that Hi-Lines and Powerlines have ‘loose’ plugs that are designed to reduce microphony/vibrations - I just didn’t know that is what a floating pin plug is.
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