I find it deeply troubling that some of that ‘cable’ is hidden under the curtain… Are we sure it’s not an alien/robot masquerading as a hifi???
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Thanks for the reply, seems logical.
The people that buy that stuff will argue and justify it until blue in the face.
There is something for everyone they’re all out there. 
Morcilla, good stuff!
I’ve spoken to mark himself seems very nice, my questions had ended up in his spam folder . Just going to measure up what length cable I need.
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Rather than start another thread I wanted to shoe-horn this in here. And its mains related so why not?
Earlier today our fan oven heating element decided to expire and in so doing tripped the RCD which also protects the ring that the hi-fi is plugged into. Hence sudden silence part way through ‘Runaways’ by XTC.
Apart from having to now replace the heating element, duly ordered and a job for tomorrow or Thursday, the kitchen Muso QBII inexplicably playing dead for a while after the power was cut, and lunch being messed-up, I was now facing around a week of warming up for the system to come back on-song.
So not a good day. But then, around 5.30 I decided to listen to some music. I wasn’t expecting much. Experience has shown me that until fully warmed up the system can sound rather thick and sluggish, so I was prepared for the wait for it to come right again. However, I was surprised to find that, despite still obviously needing to warm up, nevertheless the sound seemd a lot cleaner with noticeably less HF hash and blacker backgrounds. More space around everything and timing seemed tighter. The effect was such that if I had paid £500 another Chord Ground Aray to get this improvement I would have been chuffed.
So how could this be? Nothing had changed. Just in effect powered down and then back up. But, the RCD had tripped. I don’t think this RCD has ever tripped during the 8 years since the CU was installed. Yes I know they are supposed to be regularly tested, but it got overlooked.
So I’m wondering if the RCD had got some sort of oxidation build-up on the contacts, and tripping and re-setting it cleaned this off? Could this have such a profound effect on the sound? I don’t see why not. It forms part of the power supply. I recall it once being advised that switches such as on the old style 250 should be operated around 20 times to clean the contacts.
So now I’ll regularly operate all switches on the CU unit to clean them. They say everything happens for a reason…
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That’s a bummer when stuff gets upset.
I thought most had there systems on a separate spur with a separate breaker on its own.
Did the faulty element shut down the whole supply. 
Sometimes breakers are deliberately shorted to test and “ flashing “ can have a decarbonising effect on the contacts. 
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It wouldn’t make any difference with MCB fused circuit due to any one detecting an issue will cause the RCD to trip so all the MCBs on that RCD will switch off.
One remedy is to upgrade the consumer unit to an RCBO type, each fuse is independent in respect to tripping.
I’m not quite sure how our CU is arranged. There are two RCD’s and it appears that if either one trips then it cuts power to the hi-fi, plus associated BT SH2 and EE8. It all takes time to warm back up - around a week to my ears. In fact yes it cut all the power except to the lights.
There’s a TEST button on both the RCD’s so I must remember to do that around every 6 months.
I would love a dedicated spur but to install it would require partial removal of the kitchen units due to the insane postion of the CU. It’s situatedm low down on a wall behind one of the built-in cupboards. During the kitchen install they removed the back of this unit and made another one that is fitted via the front and with a cut-out to access the CU. Crazy.
I did ask the electrician when we moved in if the CU could be moved but he wasn’t keen. I could see his point - that every circuit in the bungalow would need to be extended/re-routed to the new postion. Which would be a nightmare.
So I think a separate spur is really not on the cards unfortunately. But never say never.
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My consumer unit is new last year we took out all the old fuse fox and mains switch right back to the meter tails.
The new CU has independent circuits in the house with a separate spur to the hi fi and one to the central heating boiler to meet new regs so if the main unit shuts down a ring the spurs are not affected this was a new reg to stop something going wrong in elderly or infirm household so that if it tripped the person would not be left without heating to avoid hypothermia in an accident.
The house is great with earth noise isolation as it has an earth spike.
With no earth return to grid.
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That sounds like an RCBO board you have there 
I have a new one here waiting for a pro-electrician to replace the old duel RCD.
The audio circuit will have its own fuse.
The oil-burner will have its own fuse too.
Due to the way my meter and consumer unit are configured in awkward and very different places it is not an option to have a separate little fuse box for audio, which is a pity but there is it.
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I’ll have to dig out paperwork but I’m sure you’re right.
My meter and CU are in a living room cupboard under an alcove at floor level so the cables just go down through the floor and up a corner chase in the kitchen.
We ripped out old gas back boiler all the gas pipes and the water tank out of the loft and the kitchen and the fireplace to do it all.
Then fitted a new combi boiler. 
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Our dedicated mains for the Hi-Fi has three RCBOs fitted along with the main switch.
If the RCD trips on the house system, this has no effect on the Hi-Fi mains.
DG…
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This has been reported by people before, in that a full power shutdown and startup of the system sometimes give a SQ boost. No reason for it was found - just one of those things.
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Because electrons?
Fully discharging and refilling the capacitors possibly?
Yep, here is at least one previous thread all about it:
I’m aware of the powering down/up sound quality phenomenon and I have experienced it before. Several times I’ve felt that things were better afterwards.
But this time it seemed far more pronounced and really struck me hard. Maybe it was the cleaning effect on the RCD, I’m inclined to believe that, but I’ve no real evidence at all. It seems a small thing to make such a difference, but then sometimes even slightly re-routing a cable can have a significant effect.
It certainly made me seriously consider the possibility of a dedicated supply again. It would mean a lot of upheaval, but would potentially be a very worthwhile upgrade. Over the past couple of years we’ve spent a fortune optimising our system as much as possible with various bits and pieces. This was now supposed to be the end, and we need to concentrate now on other things - new garage roof in the next week or so etc. etc.
Maybe next year some time we’ll get an electricain round to discuss the possibilities and evaluate the likley disruption. I think a dedicated CU will be out due to positioning and space, so it will mean a dedicated channel on the exisiting CU or perhaps upgrading the CU at the same time. Or one way might be to have a dedicated CU outside, which is not ideal but a possibility. Presumably it will need to be installed in a weatherproof enclosure on the wall. I wonder if temperature variations in these circumstances, ie. freezing cold in winter, will have a SQ effect?!
mT-1000 by SOtM - 8mm2 internal wiring, passive noise reduction internal section (similar to Chord or Furutech may be), very rigid non-resonant construction, Furutech inlet.
Have compared, among other, to MusicWorks, Atlas, MSHD, Chord M6, Audioquest, Puritan non- and filtered blocks, all at home in the same setup, and the SOtM has always stayed. The way it works especially with streaming is quite special - makes everything more natural and believable in a way all others have failed to compare to for me.
I also recently did a little test with my Nait 50 and NC250 by taking the SOtM out with both and it makes the difference between the 2 amps more pronounced. A fundamental piece of kit.
In fact, after the last such comparisons with the Chord new products (S6 and M6) I ended buying a second SOtM for my smaller system. And (of course!) they look cool too.
I honestly think it’s not trivial to construct something like this at home DIY or to find it done too much cheaper, and achieve the effect.
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