Dedicated Mains

I believe in some countries they have separate circuit for every socket. Makes sense and it there is a problem you can isolate it easily. RCBOs are really good too, rather than tripping whole board every MCB has RCD in effect. Worthwhile upgrade.

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MCRU recommend Neotech NEP-3160 Mains Spur Cable which is UP-OCC 3mm sq solid core copper conductors with earth shielding system and foil braid at £120/m.

or

Double Screened Mains Spur Cable - 10mm version outside diameter of cable 16.5mm at £30/m

or

Mains Spur Power Cable per Metre - 6mm sq conductors at £15/m

Naim recommend 10mm cable for mains sockets. Maybe get all separate spurs for each double unswitched sockets as you have a lot of gear and run blocks of each one for different brands of kit. Keep Naim on one, and other makes on another. Maybe have 3 or 4 radial circuits all 10mm on separate consumer unit.

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If I had planned it all out out I would have a dedicated consumer unit for AV and HiFi equipment. Radial 1 Naim. Radial 2 non Naim HiFi, Radial 3 AV equipment and Radial 4 spare or to be used direct for Naim Power Amps.

Something like this with maybe increased earthing. You need electrician who is 100% on board with this. I am in the trade and my sparky joked about it and said HiFi guys are weirdos! When I explained I was an audiophile we started to talk about it. There’s alot that you can do. I did it when I moved into my place and just got a dedicated radial on main board 4mm cables. It’s good but could be better designed as above.

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This is it.

I am considering one of these so a few maybe daft questions……

Does it make any noise itself?
Does it get hot?
Do you think it is possible to use it on its edge so the connectors are uppermost?

I wonder about the benefits of 10mm radial circuits. Like you, I just have a 4mm radial from main cu.

Even with a separate direct feed via separate cu, the mains to the property is still the exact same.

I will consider mains conditioning as my next step.

The sound difference between 6mm² and 10mm² is far greater than you would imagine. The 10mm² cable does all the hifi stuff really well, like deeper, more powerful and controlled bass; more open and spacious mids and cleaner, clearer high frequencies. However, some people feel that the larger cable sounds less enjoyable in the longer term, sounding disjointed and unmusical. Some would say that the 6mm² cable has similar qualities, preferring a 4mm² cable for its enhanced musical performance. Some would even suggest that a standard ring circuit provides the most musical experience! The real problem we face is that until we hear the difference, we don’t know what our personal preference might be. Therefore, my suggestion would be to get an electrician to install 3 runs. One each of 4, 6 and 10mm², then use the run which best suits your system/instalation/preference. The additional cost is only a fraction of the cost of a Naim system and the peace of mind it provides is priceless!

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We had a dedicated circuit installed a few years ago. Used three runs of 6mm2 and each run fed two Siemens un-switched sockets, daisy chained together. They could take up to 10mm2 or 2 x 6mm2.

Did make an improvement, deeper bass and more detail. But much later, I did get some transformer hum on the two NAP 250s. It got so loud that you could hear it when you were sitting there, but not playing music.

After some searching on this and other Forums, installed two iFi DC Blockers, which virtually killed the hum. I’m also pleased to report that there was no detrimental effect to the SQ.

DG…

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Totally silent.
Completely cool.
I have it like that and it’s totally ok.

I take my entire system off the grid and run it on batteries. I believe this is the far superior solution.

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Has that eliminated transformer hum?

I was curious, with all this talk of 6mm, 10mm, etc, what is that measurement in reference to, the area of each conductor itself or? Being in Canada, we use awg to rate the wire, so was just trying to figure out how the sizes compare.

it can (does) hum.
Don’t put it into your music room.
I love mine, in my cellar.

10mm2 is the cross section surface area of a conduit - I think that is AWG 8

Is it 10mm or 10mm2 we talk about here?

Definitely 10 millimetres squared!

(just imagine a wire of 10mm (= 1cm) diameter in a domestic mains installation. Your sparky would definitely be justified in pushing back against that suggestion!)

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Thank you, that’s what I assumed, just wasn’t sure as that seems rather thick compared to what we run here, especially with being 240V vs our 120V. 10mm2 is a bit larger then 8awg here, rather substantial. We are 14awg (2.08mm2) for a std 15amp circuit, 12awg (3.31mm2) for a 20amp. We run solid core wire though (up to ~8awg), have seen some pics on here where it looks like fairly finely stranded wire is run in walls?

10mm is thicker than what is normally used for UK domestic wiring too. Sockets would usually use 2.5 or 4mm, depending on the cable runs and number of sockets. Even that is thicker than what’s used in most countries as we tend to put more sockets on a single (ring) circuit.
Thicker wires (4mm and higher) are stranded for flexibility.

Many thanks @Blackbird , That sounds promising so I definitely need to explore. I wonder what Naim’s view is on this particular conditioner.