Mains extension blocks

Will do and thanks for your help

Are you having a bad day Count.d?

First my 'state’ment was in jest, hence the emoji signifying mock shock horror.
Second, if you don’t have the enthusiasm to bother substantiating your claim I wonder why you bothered in the first place. :roll_eyes: Or are you just playing devil’s advocate?
Thirdly, please define ‘correctly’. Actually, I’m not in the habit of oggling kit. It makes the Asgaardian coffers seem somewhat inadequate :innocent:

I have never heard a hydra nor seen one in the flesh. I have followed the Russ Andrews mains options and have been very happy with their upgrade path.

I have no axe to grind either way, I leave that to Thor, Eitri, Brokk and Buri.

Is it important which socket of a power block what component is plugged into? I have sources nearest the input and power supplies furthest away.

It is - I plug-in the other way around, with Power Amps into the wall if possible and then the other equipment boxes in daisy-chain sequence away from the mains input to the mains block IP with source farthest. So: Wall - Power Amp - Pre - Source.

Reason was that things that draw the highest dynamic current (Power Amp operating in class B) make drop-voltages seen by other boxes, so putting them closest to the mains circuit and not superimposing that dynamic-drop across all the other boxes made sense.
Also if that drop-voltage is the same seen by all boxes at one end it tends to be superimposed on all the same and cancels with respect to box to box induced noise.

Generally the non-Power Amp boxes operate at a constant Class A mode and place lower demands.

…but other people like plugging-in the way you have it so that may also include you! :slightly_smiling_face:
Experiment and decide - it usually matters.

DB.

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Indeed. For Musicline, il’s source closest to the input (and analog first). I’m not sure it really matters.

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Ok I’m going to swap my plug order on Saturday and see if I can hear any change - I follow your logic.

Just try - it only costs time and patience and you will know.

My own system is horrible - not listenable with bass all over the place and spitting-harsh if I plug things in any old way. It was initially a surprise - I experimented and found it could be brought on-song and sounded eventually better than ever when done right.

DB.

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well you were right with your advice on stacking order…

Being helpful is my aim - we spend a lot on this hobby and it can be the free things that bring it all to optimal sometimes.

DB.

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This is a much better description than the longer ones of a month or more ago. I only have a daisy chained block of 5 doubles on a single radial. So 500 now top followed by 552 and 555DR and sources at the bottom. Big difference swapping 500 and 555 to above order.

I seem to remember talk of following the current through boxes and misunderstood that that excludes the power amp which always goes first.

Very pleased with the improvement. My 500/552 are unDRed of vintage 2000/2003 respectively but serviced November 2016. Only 8 days old to me so beginning to be thoroughly warmed up.

Thanks

Phil

“Graham’s Hydra”.

This. Very much this. :grin:

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Well I’ve decided to try out some hifi extension blocks to see what they bring to the party. Ordered a Russ Andrews powerbar and their yellow mains cable, also.an MCRU audiophile extension. Not enamoured with MCRU service this far, taken all week to dispatch it, Russ Andrews dispatched same day as order which was yesterday and it arrived at home this morning. Still no sign of the MCRU one. Looking forward to see what changes.

That’s odd, I ordered some cable from MCRU on Monday - arrived on Wednesday (2nd class). I’ve had similar delivery times from them in the past. Perhaps something out of stock ?
Never had an issue with RA delivery times either.

I’ll be interested to read your results.

MCRU seems to have very mixed reviews on their service. I did speak to someone today and she was helpful and she then got back to me via email to say it was dispatched yesterday, would expect the site to say whether an item is in stock or not on ordering and to give an estimate on delivery. Surprised I got not email to say it was dispatched.

I have a Supra Cables MD MK3 and Russ Andrews one, I’ve tried both on my Naim and on my AV setup and the Supra Cables one stayed on the Naim though I struggle to describe what the sonic character of each is. I’ve also had mixed experiences with MCRU their products are usually good but delivery can be iffy.

First impressions of the Russ Andrews Powerbar are good. A much cleaner and less clouded bottom and top end. It’s taken the brightness down which was what I was hoping for. More to come.

Wow more listening and what a difference overall. One last tweak and I moved my Roon server which has a LPS and the Cisco switch over to RA strip and now it’s all cooking with gas. I think I might be purchasing another one of these for the phono section and some more of their power cables for the switch and power supply.The MCRU unit has a lot to live up to now.

I think the switch of speakers earlier this year revealed the shortcomings of my power feed. There was me beginning of write of the speakers. I never believed Thai would alter this much.

Forgive me if I’m raking some old ground, but I’m about to have a new power supply installation wired up for the HiFi. It will be a seperate Consumer unit (in fact, a seperate, dedicated phase on a 3 phase supply) and along the lines of the arrangement shown by James N on the ‘dedicated mains supply’ thread.
My question is whether I should be thinking of 4-6 wall sockets on 1,2 or 3 seperate radials (twin sockets on each), or do I wire one twin or even one single socket on a single radial and then use a Wireworld Matrix2 or a MusicWorks block off that socket? Which option will give me the best sound?

I tried radials and a ring and preferred the ring. Effectively in my case it was two connected radials with a cluster of wall sockets joining them and wired (UK legally) as a dedicated HiFi ring mains circuit. So not an open ring but a ‘flat-ring’ geometrically, but electrically a standard UK mains ring.

The radials I tried all made the system very clear but lost detail and soul for me - I figure the impedance between the equipment plugged in on the mains is also a factor and at high frequencies it is mainly inductance which is a function of length that causes the impedance - so the difference of many meters mains wiring between each box or just the length of the Naim mains cables - you can’t just use thicker wire as that just lowers Resistance.

Most people prefer the multiple radials - it does sound different but IMO not all better. Bass is probably better but gave me a kind of disemboweled sound I could not gel with. But I tried both and made what I preferred.

…just info.

…and I use the wall sockets for the Power Amps (I run three Active) and the other boxes from a dis-board daisy-chained in sequence from wall source box last and farthest.
All into the wall sockets was not as good - but good to have enough wall sockets to play it all out,

DB.

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What if the mains block is plugged into a dedicated line, and u plug your amps (135s) into a wall socket that was not dedicated?
Would it still be better to plug the 135s into the wall and leave the other boxes plugged into the mains block (AV Options Super Wiremold)? I can try it obviously but curious what u think DB.
David