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Don't let anyone tell you mains supply doesn't matter

kjb

kjb

Proof reading not always a strength
About three weeks ago we had a huge mains outage on our road. There was apparently a surge from another substation that fried all of the cable for the whole length of the street - 200m +. The engineers said it was the worst they'd seen in 20 years. They said the cable was very thin and old for such a busy street and was probably installed when most houses has one tv and a toaster. They were of the view that quite a few cables might struggle once electric cars are added to computers, routers, multiple tv's and devices, halogen hobs and so on.

It left us without poor for 18 hours and we've then been hooked up to a mobile generator until today when normal service was restored.

I've just put some music on and cannot believe the difference it has made. I knew it was having an impact - all the lights dimmed and flickered when anyone turned the bathroom light/ extractor on. The hi fi has, unsurprisingly, sounded flat and dulled since the outage.

Today I have depth and sparkle back!

It's made me wonder whether a decent mains conditioner might be worth getting to tidy it up even more. Thoughts?
 
Have you ever measured your mains voltage? Thin cables under load could reduce the voltage significantly (not sure if you mean it now sounds better than before).
 
gustavm said:
Have you ever measured your mains voltage? Thin cables under load could reduce the voltage significantly (not sure if you mean it now sounds better than before).
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Certainly better than yesterday and thinking back 3-4 weeks, my impression is that things like soundstaging, dynamics and tone are better - although it could be my memory playing tricks after 3 weeks of reduced mains quality and flat sound.
 
sq225917 said:
That sounds like a real mains issue, not an imagined on like 99.9999% of them are.
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This, exactly. Otherwise it's like saying "Hey, I ran out of fuel so I put yak sh*t mixed with paint thinners in my car's fuel tank and it wouldn't work. Bloody useless. They cleaned it out and put diesel in and bingo, brilliant. Loads better. So now I'm wondering whether I should use boutique fuel like Shell Optimax Super Diesel."
 
When I had my den built, (loft over new double garage) I specified a seperate link back to the trip board for the eight sockets I had installed where the HiFi goes. I can't say it makes things sound better but it certainly doesn't sound bad and its consistent. I'm happier that the audio stuff has its own little party without washing machine, tumble dryer, freezer and fridge. The extension, (garage, utility room, linking sun lounge plus den) has a new spec box seperate from the rest of the house which is on thirty year old wiring with trips added to replace old wire fuses.
 
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When someone switches on our electric shower the lights dim slightly. I cannot hear any difference from the stereo though. The house is old and the cable coming into the house looks like it has insulation made of dust.
 
One of the best things I have had is a dedicated supply for the Hifi and a balanced mains unit. I can listen any time of day or evening and it sounds as good as when I listened at 2-00 am.
 
Alexh said:
One of the best things I have had is a dedicated supply for the Hifi and a balanced mains unit. I can listen any time of day or evening and it sounds as good as when I listened at 2-00 am.
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Me too, in my case just the dedicated mains cable, breaker and double socket, best and cheapest upgrade for me:cool:
Alan
 
This really is quite strange. Its like the Amp's being given steroids. Its driving the speakers so much more efficiently than it did before and there's an even greater sense of control and presence.

I don't quite understand it but I'm very much enjoying it.
 
About two years ago we had a mains outage - the local power supplier were very quick to come out and rig up a generator in the front garden to tide us over for a couple days until they could dig up the drive and source the cause.

Have to say that while the generator was in place the hifi sounded exactly the same as it has always done ...
 
I absolutely believe that the quality of the power mains has an effect. So much so I have a separate spur for hifi, running off a single phase out of my incoming 3 phase power supply. No other appliance or light fixture shares this dedicated phase.

I was a non-believer in power regenerators/conditioners/etc and in fact my amp manufacturer explicitly warns against them. They are known to make things 'quieter' but on the downside, also rob music of life and dynamics. I definitely hate this. BUT recently I got curious and tried out the Audioquest Niagara 1200 noise dissipation system. I was skeptical TBH - how can 6 components plugged into a single unit be better than the components plugged directly into 6 separate lines in the dedicated spur?

I auditioned it on and off for a few weeks in my system. Yes, the music got a lot quieter and controlled and these effects became more apparent when the music got busy and complex. There was no deterioration in dynamics or attack or life. Overall, the hifi sounds better so the unit is staying. There's also the additional benefit of surge protection as I've suffered equipment damage in the past. Audioquest makes a few more models that are more sophisticated but they are much more than what I want to spend.
 
Latest wiring regulations specify installation of surge protection devices 'SPD' and I routinely fit one with each new consumer unit installation or upgrade.
 
miktec said:
About two years ago we had a mains outage - the local power supplier were very quick to come out and rig up a generator in the front garden to tide us over for a couple days until they could dig up the drive and source the cause.

Have to say that while the generator was in place the hifi sounded exactly the same as it has always done ...
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I have no knowledge or understanding of the workings of electricity - it's a magic that comes from the wall for me. I wonder if the type of amp makes a difference. Would a valve amp be affected differently to a solid state?

We did have three houses connected to a single external generator and, as I said, I immediately noticed that the lights in the lamp on the same spur as the hi fi had stopped flickering and were noticeably brighter.

PhilDick said:
Can't be the mains. You haven't added a network switch have you;)?
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:confused: As i said, the engineers removed out some very old ( 50 yrs + they thought) and thin mains cable that has burnt out and replaced it with current spec cable. This was then reconnected to each house in the street. That's at. Nothing else changed so it was only the mains to the street that changed. Nothing in the house changed but the sound improved dramatically.

tbh I'm not sure what your point was?? A hi fi gag I don't get??
 
I've just had a chat to the engineers outside about the change. They said that while we get the same power it will now be a lot cleaner, more efficient and more consistent as the old cable had deteriorated which contributed to the burn out.

It made me wonder how much of the quality of our hi-fi is dependent on external variables that are outside our control. I guess the fun of this hobby / obsession is controlling the things we can control but the change to mains supply has made as big a difference as anything I've experienced before.
 
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