Musicworks G4 block

As a G3 owner I must keep away from this thread!

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Ditto …

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A Hydra from Grahams HiFi in Canonbury Yard, London, would be at least as good (although for Naim electronic components alone), and would cost a fraction of what that ‘block’ costs.

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Have you actually compared the two? If not, how can you possibly state such a thing as a fact?

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It’s what Naim recommend, which is good enough for me!

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I have never seen a G4, i have a g3 ultra myself, brilliant bit of kit

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In the 1980s and ‘90s, true, but things have moved on.

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I don’t think that’s right for a moment. What has ‘moved on’ or changed?

Technology. Even in Brighton.

I am a big fan of a dedicated mains supply from the meter, a Hydra and as little else in the chain as possible. However, I have never tested a really expensive block against this in my actual house, as others here have pointed out.

I may get around to doing a proper A/B blind test on a block or two at some stage. I might also include a couple of the best recommended options from this very site.

However, I have been hoping that someone else will do the work for me, even if that is a bit lazy. Call that Plan A.

I have also been hoping for an explanation of how plugging my mains cables into a block and then plugging that into the wall can ever be as good as just plugging the hi-fi boxes’ mains cables into the wall directly. Perhaps an explanation of that that even I can understand will make me bite the bullet and try a few of the options. Call that Plan B.

Can anyone help with A or B?

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Having a mains block from a single socket means that you can have a much simpler dedicated mains supply.
When I spoke to Naim about the best way to instal a dedicated supply they strongly recommended that I used just a single feed, and that it should use 10mm cable. If you use multiple wall sockets for this you need to daisy chain the thick cable, meaning that you have to squeeze two sets of cable into the back box behind each socket. While this is not technically impossible, it’s a very tight fit, and beyond what a regular socket (such as the unswitched MK sockets Naim suggest) is designed to take. It’s therefore not at all unreasonable for an electrician to refuse to instal such an arrangement.
Using a single socket with a Hydra or mains block conveniently bypasses these problems.

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I’m not following when Naim says 10mm cable. Is this a UK specific way taking about in wall wire thickness? That is super thick. They don’t mean 3x10mm wires I guess so maybe ~3x3mm?

They mean 10 square millimetres, being the cross sectional area of each conductor. The earth cable is usually thinner than the + and -.

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Alright, so 3.6mm each then. That make more sense :slight_smile: Here all wires are the same thickness.

That’s my understanding, but doesn’t explain why some go for the block as an intermediate step before the next plug/ socket connection. If it works better than a Hydra, how?

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As always, with all brands, they will never say a component they don’t make will improve the sound of their boxes, be it a switch, a powerblock, etc….
Naim doesn’t advise an expensive powerblock: most here with 500 series boxes have a Musicworks or Chord S6 or M6, and no one could come back to their original hydra or relatively cheap powerblock.
I have an Eros Titan with an expensive power cord to wall. It made a huge improvement vs the standard Naim cheap powerblock i had first.

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FR I’m not aware of Naim ever having offered a power block of their own.

Do you mean the basic Musicline EU power block?

No. It means that the cross sectional area of each core is 10mm2. It’s very thick.

When I had my 272/555 and 300, both were connected to the double socket at the end of my dedicated mains. I then plugged them into a MusicWorks G3 and it sounded significantly better. It made no sense, given an extra PowerLine and all the gubbins in the block, but that’s how it was. Who knows why it works, but it does. Or did, in my case. Of course, those who ‘know’ know that a Hydra or piece of wet string would be just as good.

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Is the Chord Powerhaus better than the Musicworks G4.

The G4 seems unavailable online to buy. The Chord M6 is.

What’s the difference? Has anyone had both.

And with the Chord, is it better to have Chord mains cables or powerlines. Be interested to see what experiences you have.

Had just had two massive upgrades done with 252 and Focal Sopra 2s.

Experimented with one powerline going from mains socket to wireworld matrix 2. 2 chord purple cables into XPS2 and Supercap 2. HB Labs going into 555PS. Standard cable to Graham Slee phono stage. All above going into Wireworld Matrix 2. Then 2 x 135s powerline lites into mains. Dedicated spur. 4mm cable.

Would the Chord powerhaus or Musicworks G3 or G4 make a big difference?