The electrician is here swearing at some 10mm2 cable as we speak. I feel like a proper hi-fi eccentric having this done. Hopefully I’ll notice the difference!
6 Likes
Hope they are unswitched MK Sockets. 
MKK0781 13 Amp 2 Gang Double Unswitched Socket - White
MKK2142 2 Gang 30mm Surface Box - White “ if needed “
1 Like
Hi @Skeptikal, I’m finally getting round to wiring my DIY extension block today. It might be me after a difficult week…but I cannot see any side knockouts on the surface boxes. Am I missing something?
ps. not that I needed this much, but I got 25m of the cable you recommended for just over £20. If this works out well, I am going to add some extension blocks around the house where we have limited sockets 
Interested to know how you get on! I think you have to get lucky and find an electrician who is HiFi sympathetic, otherwise it sounds like they just think you are bonkers!
1 Like
Which is probably a true story 
1 Like
Hi mate
Yes there are just hold the box up to bright light and you’ll see the weak spots all of mine are wired through the sides.
Just be slightly persuasive they give out neatly. 
Here a pic I just took of the knock out “ out “ 
They all think we are bonkers but the money is money “ smiling “
1 Like
Got it, thanks. You have to give them a relatively fair whack, but I have managed it now. I will update on a separate thread when done to avoid hi-jacking this one
Hope it is going well @bunter
If you want you want to be posh you can nibble them out with long nose pliers.
I ended up buying a Russ Scamdrews signature socket, which looks like a rebadged MS HD Power socket, as it was the only one I could find that specifically said it accepted 10mm2 cable. The quality looks ok - probably no worse than an MK socket at any rate.
He was sympathetic - in the way you might be with someone who has… issues. I have to wait for a load of filler to go off and paint it before I can put everything back. I will report back, but at this point I have quite a lot invested in it sounding better, so I’m not exactly unbiased!
1 Like
Good luck! I would look into it, but I do not want to test my wife’s patience any further…other things needing doing in the house before I could even suggest this…
I usually use a junior hacksaw to cut down the edge, then a walk to get the horizontal bit. Certainly smashed a few in the past when it goes wrong. A small file might also be needed if the edges are sharp
3 Likes
Whatever it costs, is how much better it sounds, then leave it at that
1 Like
Could have had the MK for less than 10% of the one you bought. 
That’s Russ Abbot for you.
2 Likes
I do have a deep dislike for that brand after buying a second hand X4 a long time ago on eBay. I didn’t pay that much for it, but after I unscrewed the housing and saw the components were just cheap plastic and basic wiring I was astonished at how he gets away with the prices he charges…still, people buy them…
1 Like
Well famous for it but like other products sometimes praised by the unqualified salesmen they know better than electrical professionals.
I even see an often praised mains block on here that has wire twists holding it altogether inside.
I suppose they all work until …….
2 Likes
Most sockets will happily take 10mm2 wire. I recently swapped over the double socket my electrician had fitted when he installed my Radial for a RA SuperSocket. A decent enough socket and the plugs fit nice and tight into this one. The main issue with 10mm2 cabling is getting the trimming and dressing of the wires just right to allow the socket to fit easily against the back box, so I can understand the swearing 
Sockets aside, getting a dedicated mains feed in is a good move. I can’t understand (unless domestic circumstances dictate this really can’t be done) why people spend so much on fancy mains cables or blocks without getting the foundations right first.
3 Likes
I’m sure some people know here, but for those that dont, you can get a deeper back box that gives you a little more wriggle space for thick cables. FWIW MK Sockets do take 10mm2 cable
2 Likes
The ones that think we’re nuts are the best in my experience.
I had my house wired by a big engineering firm based in Tokyo. The CEO is a big audiophile and when they saw I was having dedicated audio circuits requested, they assigned an audiophile sparky.
No end of trouble. Their “initiative” put the whole house behind schedule months. They kept wanting to take extreme mains performance further and further beyond what was specced and it reached silly money. I caught it in time but blimey. Eye rolling sparkies are much easier to deal with.
2 Likes