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Dedicated Mains Spur or don't bother ?

Quote
Regardless, I'm glad you found something that really satisfies since many seem to have a problem choosing this particular component Quote.
Its a good point, I feel some people are in it for the tweeking, some just Listen, oh and the elete few who are in it to tell you how much they have spent LOL
Having had my system for over 20 years I am a listener, I am 100% happy, but some kind gent just gave me his Dads old speakers and wow, same make as my last ones, they only made two and I love them both.
 
Once I get past those made from a monkey coffin they're all pretty much equal to me as long as they don't strip enamel off my teeth. Fortunately, I haven't heard one of those in a long time.
 
PhilCTTE said:
I've been searching the t'internet for design ideas. I remember a while back IWC Dopplel shared a diagram of his dedicated ring main. Can't seem to pin it down. Anyone help here?
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As far I can remember, Adrian ran a thick ((35mm2?) cable (maybe armoured)from his incoming to a multi-way Memera c.u. near his hifi. He then hard-wired (i.e., connected) his circuits directly to the individual c.u. outlets. I haven't seen it, but remember his telling me a couple of years ago.

I'm sure he'll endorse or correct this if he sees it, but it hardly warrants a circuit diagram, I'd have thought.
 
dave said:
Glad you found Nirvana w/the Gales Mr. Tibbs.

I've found a few speakers over the years which made a worthwhile difference but overall, speakers are mostly just different in the amount of boom and tizz to me and therefore largely unimportant- it basically amounts to what flavor of congestion do I want to live with.

Unfortunately the few which brought major improvements in transparency (a handful of electrostatics) had other issues which made them difficult to live with in the long term so they were ultimately nothing for me to get overly excited about as well.

Regardless, I'm glad you found something that really satisfies since many seem to have a problem choosing this particular component.

regards,

dave
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You might be interested to know that the Gales were actually regarded as a near rival to electrostatics in the (all important) midband, but without the 'other issues' inherent in the electrostatics of the same period. The 401s in the picture are the very same 401s I bought new back in 1979. I basically wore them out and then let them lie in a garage loft where they stayed untouched for years on end, before I recently went slightly mad and spent a month and some cash bringing them back proper working order. I'd forgotten how good they are - or maybe I never before had a system good enough to make them sing properly. In any case, they are shockingly good at making music - to the extent that no one who hears them ever goes away thinking all loudspeakers sound much the same.

Sorry for derailing the thread.

Mr Tibbs
 
Nice derailment - and it sounds like they could be my cup of tea from your description.

Btw, it's not that I think all loudspeakers sound the same (far from it actually), just the differences between them including the best do not seem to increase my musical enjoyment. In other words, any good one seems to do the job as miserably well as another good one - or - none seem to be outstanding in all respects. Hope this makes sense.

regards,

dave
 
About 25 years ago I rewired my small semi-detached house with Hi Fi half in mind.

One ring main for downstairs and garage would have sufficed. I decided a separate ring for the kitchen as that would have noise generating stuff, fridge (thermostat contacts, motor), washing machine (motor and relays etc.), gas boiler electrics, microwave etc.

The through lounge and hall are on a second ring main. The garage is on a radial feed.

But, I agree, more important to have Hi Fi equipment that has good noise rejection. The Classic Quad amps are good at this.
 
Someone mentioned running a ground to a copper rod spiked into the ground - isn't this supposed to be a bad idea electrically, if run instead, or in addition to, house mains ground?

I once did this as it was recommended in the HiFi press, but have since got rid of it and I'm sure my system sounds better for it.

mat
 
mmaatt said:
Someone mentioned running a ground to a copper rod spiked into the ground - isn't this supposed to be a bad idea electrically, if run instead, or in addition to, house mains ground?

I once did this as it was recommended in the HiFi press, but have since got rid of it and I'm sure my system sounds better for it.

mat
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I'm a bit vague about the technicalities, but it seems that there are two different types of domestic earth bonding. With one, having an earth rod is fine; with t'other, it's potentially dangerous.

I assume you had this in conjuction with a dedicated circuit, as I can't see what good it'd do otherwise.
 
Mike Reed said:
I'm a bit vague about the technicalities, but it seems that there are two different types of domestic earth bonding. With one, having an earth rod is fine; with t'other, it's potentially dangerous.

I assume you had this in conjuction with a dedicated circuit, as I can't see what good it'd do otherwise.
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Thanks for the clarification. Yes I do have two dedicated spurs.

mat
 
I put in a dedicated consumer unit with each piece of equipment on its own spur from that using 10mm cable. Made some difference, but not a massive amount - 10% improvement maybe.

Cost wasn't very expensive. The consumer unit was less than 100, and the cable was fairly cheap. Did the wiring myself, except for connecting to the consumer unit, which an electrician did for a fairly low fee.

Also hard-wired everything instead of using plugs and sockets, but eventually abandoned that due to impracticality. Didn't really notice any difference either way.

In all, if your wiring needs some work doing anyway you might as well do the extra for your hi fi, but otherwise not really worth the bother.
Andrew
 
In my experience, any fancy reconstructive mains conditioner or exotic distribution block is rarely worthwhile. However, a Henley block, new high capacity consumer unit and chunky, chunky shielded cable direct to your equipment is a major plus.

The total cost shouldn't be more than £500 if you buy the bits yourself and have a Part P certified sparks to fit it. Not cheap, but much better value than certain audiophile products.

The other way to skin the rabbit is to go entirely battery-powered. This can be accomplished surprisingly easily providing your speakers are fairly sensitive.
 
dave said:
Nice derailment - and it sounds like they could be my cup of tea from your description.

Btw, it's not that I think all loudspeakers sound the same (far from it actually), just the differences between them including the best do not seem to increase my musical enjoyment. In other words, any good one seems to do the job as miserably well as another good one - or - none seem to be outstanding in all respects. Hope this makes sense.

regards,

dave
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Confucius says --

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance"

Smart bloke that Confucius - even in 500BC he obviously had a grasp of what it would be like to restrict oneself to either Briks or SBLs ;-)

Mr Tibbs
 
In my case, restrictions to briks and SBLs isn't my choice, rather my finding the sound of other speakers not worth the bother to upgrade.

Btw, I just sold my last pair of briks. Hope that means Kuma won't ban me from The Klub :-O

What I need is a pair of these but the few pairs created were allegedly disassembled:

FL-1________-T-001-941-NAI.jpg


The Naim FL1 Electrostatic Loudspeaker

I suspect Quads ESLs of some sort will be in my future.
 
Cheers for input all.

Considering options. Waiting for sparky mate to survey and see how easy it is to feed cables to front room from garage.

Prefer to spend a few hundred quid with new feeds from a separate consumer unit than some of these so called audiophile glorified extension leads costing nearly the same.
 
item said:
In my experience, any fancy reconstructive mains conditioner or exotic distribution block is rarely worthwhile. However, a Henley block, new high capacity consumer unit and chunky, chunky shielded cable direct to your equipment is a major plus.

The total cost shouldn't be more than £500 if you buy the bits yourself and have a Part P certified sparks to fit it. Not cheap, but much better value than certain audiophile products.

The other way to skin the rabbit is to go entirely battery-powered. This can be accomplished surprisingly easily providing your speakers are fairly sensitive.
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What kind of price and whose units would you recommend to go battery powered?
Thanks, Duncan
 
Most 10-20W Tripath amps can be battery-powered. The better ones are shockingly good with sensitive speakers: we did some jaw-dropping demos at Whittlebury with a 95dB open baffle and the KingRex T20 + sealed lead acid battery or linear PSU.

Similarly, a netbook can run off-grid, and numerous DACs are USB, 5V or 12V DC powered: from the sub-£200 UD-01 and HRT Music Streamers, right up to the £1500 Calyx and MSB PowerDAC at £3800+.

Ironically, at home, I installed new mains with 18mm single spurs for each component (my sparks hated me), and then moved a year later to an entirely battery-powered system, apart from the field coil juice. Doh!
 
PhilCTTE said:
Considering options.

Prefer to spend a few hundred quid with new feeds from a separate consumer unit than some of these so called audiophile glorified extension leads costing nearly the same.
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I believe this to be the correct approach ..... and a good comparision with "new install" and "glorified" things.

I will declaire my hand and state that I am an advocate of the RKR Mains solution. Having installed this type of solution for my own system and a couple of friends the outcome was ..... and remains the case ..... it works. Each of the installations supported Naim equipment and the change/improvement was clear and apparent ..... such a change may not work to the same extent on the type of equipment with smps.

But a dedicated consumer unit correctly installed from the front end - incoming supply cable head - to the equipment point of use is a worthwhile exercise ...... and if it's in your mind to be needed you will not be satisfied until it is done.

Please post your review of the install should you proceed.
 
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