I need to purchase 4 meters of mains cable, dont need plug or connector as I have them on my cable now that’s too short.
I dont know what the cable is and not bothered about matching it, as all I want is a good quality cable I can buy per meter that is suitable to go between my main hifi plug and distribution box.
Guess around £25 to £50 per meter? But any advice would be much appreciated
Cheers dunc
Hi Dunc,
Worth a call to MCRU?
Best regards, BF
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It depends on what cable core size you want.
2.5mm/2 or 4mm/2 are the norms for this hobby.
Your £25 - £50 indicates you are looking for something aimed at the audiophile market, I’ve tried a few of these & frankly the hype doesn’t live up to the price.
More normal cable that I did like was Belden 83803 but it’s a bit stiff & not pretty (if thats a problem) Supra LoRad 2.5mm was OK, but some peeps don’t like it.
I had to get some 4mm H07RN-F (rubber) for another project & had that on my wall to power board for a while, that was excellent.
I now have LAPP Olflex Classic 100 CY 2.5mm/2 shielded cable from the wall
A similar but lighter shielded 2.5mm to the amp & tuner
Naim Powerline Lite to each of the PSU’s
I went with Naim’s recommendation, which was to use regular 10mm T&E cable. I’m happy with the results, and am not about to start ripping it out in order to trial any audiophile alternatives.
Do you mean the wire from the consumer unit to the socket you use for the hifi? If so, 10mm2 twin and earth is all you need.
On reading the OP again, I think perhaps he means a kettle lead or similar from mains socket to distribution box. So a flex, rather than mains cable, perhaps.
In that case it partly depends on what the extension block is. There would be no point putting a £50 per metre cable on a £5 block from Robert Dyas. Probably no point regardless of what the block is.
Furutec sell both mains cable by the meter and flex for domestic wiring.
Pretty much any of the cable used in their made up cables can also be bought off the drum. But prices are a bit steep.
As a reference point, Naim leads are either .75mm flex, or for the Powerline, 2.5mm. None of these are shielded, including the £600 Powerline, which would suggest that they do not regard shielding as necessary.
Quite right, I was getting my specs mixed up! I’ve now edited my post to correct.
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It’s from a wall socket to 6.way hifi distribution block
Could well be a russ Andrew’s item looking at it.
But as said I just want to get a 4 meter piece of cable to replace it
… sorry Chris, not point scoring ('onest)
The Powerline Lite is 0.75mm & the full fat Powerline is 4mm
I give up! Let’s say, one is fat, and expensive, the other is thin, and less expensive. But neither are shielded.
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Sean at Custom HiFi cables sells his very good PowerBlack lead by the metre unterminated.
The Belden hybrid cable is vgv for money cable, superb really but very stiff so youll need a straight entry or mshd plug as these have an in line conductor entry so much easier to fit. I just purchased the offlex cy cable in different sizes and will be doing some braids with it to test whether twisted cables with good copper can be a game changer. ill be doing something like RA does for a fraction of he price.
BTW the offlex cable is audiopile stuff as its German made without the extortianate prices.
DH labs is also a good cable to American made copper.
Your iec could also be too small with some specific cables too.
Sorry Mike B, i thought the Lite was 1mm2 unless i mistakenly read somewhere. Wonder what the thinking is behind the narrow conductor size,
It’s 0.75mm alright, & says as much with the writing on mine.
You seem to have doubts abut the size, well its absolutely normal & the old Naim stock cable was the same.
A 0.75mm 3-core flex is rated at 6 amps, the IEC plug is 10 amps.
Most Naim black boxes, & especially all those that the PL Lite is supplied with, draw milliamps.
If the question is about how it sounds compared to a larger cable, that’l be one more time down that old well worn goat trail …
Hi Dunc, you had many valuable replies, nevertheless I give you mine as well on the basis of my direct humble experience.
The cable from main plug to the distribution box is one of the most important, mostly if you are sure of what you currently have from the last distribution point to your plug.
Therefore, first invest in a good separate line with a 2,5x3 mm or 4x3 mm cable to get to the plug and then refine with a good mains cable.
I agree on the proposal already made for MCRU, a serious company on that regard.
Good cables are also Neotech, their PCOCC line is remarkable.
Bye
Alessandro
Thanks guys
Mcru sorted me out and today i made the cables up and very happy already with them.
Must say it was fun getting the large cables in the plugs and soldering it all, but the results are worthwhile
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