But what if you have DC on the incom8ng mains as can happen in rural locations like mine? I had no choice but to go the palliative route with Isol8 Axis blocks. Now those big fat Naim toroids are blissfully quiet. Before I used to hear more hum and buzz than music…
Fortunately, I don’t have that issue.
Jimdog,
If it doesnt contravene forum rules, I have an article “The mains explained” published many many moons ago by HiFi News that covers the issues being discussed.
That article recomends an installation very similar to the diagram above.
Could scan and email it as long as its within the forum rules.
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Thanks for the offer.
I’ve emailed my sparks now so I’ll see what he says.
Lucky man!
maybe it’s because I live 5 miles from a nuclear power station?
lovely fresh streams of pure electromagnetic energy surging straight out of the heart of uranium nuclear fission reactions via a turbine right into my speakers in the blind of an eye!
I’ve heard Coal is better - more organic sounding with a deep, black background 
Good luck with the electrician - i’ll be interested in what he says.
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mainly so far he is saying -WTF? - it’ll never work…
Looks like you need a different electrician. When I was getting quotes, most came in looked at the diagram I showed them and couldn’t understand why I wanted a vastly over rated (you could run a cooker from that mate !) supply for a Hi-Fi system. The one chap who looked at it, understood exactly why I was wanting to do it this way before I even had to explain, got the job.
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Yes, many regular domestic sparkies will think you’ve lost your marbles when you ask them to do this. If they’re not prepared to give you what you’re asking for (so far as they can, within the regs) you need to find someone else.
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I would have thought an A-B comparison be fairly easy. More so if the dedicated supply only went to one outlet. Put your mains extension block on the dedicated A, then put it into the domestic supply B.
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Yes.
Also, if one has spent many hundreds of hours listening as your system developed in that room, the short time gap while the installation takes place is between condition A and condition B…
Most Naim multiple box owners if going ahead with a dedicated supply will prefer two or three double outlets. So quick AB judgement might not be possible, but as you say through time knowing how it all sounds, if no difference is felt - must have had a good supply to start with.
Myself if I went down the dedicated supply route - having a fairly simple system - I would do as Russ Andrew advocates in having the one single outlet supplying a decent mains block for the entire system.
Why go to the expense and trouble of rewiring, then send the power through a different cable with plugs either end and thinner conductors plus a block?
Why not just make sure there are enough wall sockets for your boxes?
Looking on the old Forum, many experienced listeners with I think good ears and judgment heard big improvements after doing a radial.
And I only saw one person who noticed no difference.
So I get the impression that if this is done properly it will almost always improve on ‘normal’ house wiring.
Mains blocks can work well for star earthing. I use an MCRU one with no Neon or switches and fed by a Naim Powerline Lite. Easier to accommodate than four double sockets which is what I would need.
My mains feed is a radial from the consumer unit.
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There are a number of practical issues with a dedicated spur and multiple sockets. There is an argument that a single socket it better than a double as you avoid the cheap pressed metal connectors that link the terminals to the two sockets on a double. Then there is the difficulty in fitting two sets of thick cables into the same socket which is quite a struggle, especially with 10mm T&E.
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So you didn’t get a different CU? Was this to save on cost or for technical reasons?
I look at it this way Jim – the power socket that supplies my Hi-Fi - I want to get that socket (or sockets) as close to the incoming electrical supply to my house as possible. I don’t want to connect to that supply via multiple (slowly oxidising and loosening) connections as would happen with the sockets on a typical ring and I don’t want to share that ring with a load of other devices, mostly with SMPS, which themselves are dumping noise on to the earth via earth leakage. The incoming supply to my property is managed by the utility company, is well within spec for voltage and earth impedance but will carry noise and other crap in from elsewhere – neighbours, industry etc. This is all outside of my control so I don’t worry about it. My electricity meter is over the other side of the house to my Hi-Fi - I can’t physically locate the Hi-Fi close to the meter but by using the setup described, electrically, I’m as close to that incoming supply as I can be (within the regulations) and that’s good for SQ.
At the Hi-Fi end – lots of different options from Multiple sockets, Distribution strips, Hydra arrangements etc. Pros and cons to each but if you start with a couple of radials then it gives you a few options and there is plenty of good advice on here from people who use the various options. It certainly helped when I was considering doing this work.
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Thats because he sells mains distribution blocks
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