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Is it possible to install a dedicated mains spur myself?

I don't mean to be rude....

but in the light of what has been written before, your last post does not fill me with confidence.....

you have cited:

poor quality work
lack of attention / forgetfulness
and laziness

please do not demonstrate these things whilst working with mains electricty!
 
Alex, ever heard the expression "pride comes before the fall"?

In this case a fall would mean a painful tingling sensation followed rapidly by 3rd degree burns and a cardiac arrest!
 
Take it with some humor. I'm carefull and the job is already done. And the socket is working by the way. No problems. Just waiting for the electricians to drop by and check it through and give me the GO GO GO!!! and I'll finally fire up my Naim again....it's been turned off the last few days.

So, not really any harm done so far and it's really not that difficult either. Having 3 Phases is no different to having one. You just have to unscrew threee main fuses instead of one and then you can start the work.
 
Well, three phases carrying 30A each is not as dangerous as having just one running at 60A! Unless of course you mysteriously manage to touch all three at once which would really be acrobatic ;).

No don't worry, everything is fine so far and as I said, I did the work but it will be thoroughly checked before use. I won't hook anything up to it until my electricians measured everything and checked it all out and gives me his OK. So no danger as the work has been done and I'm just waiting for him to show up now.
 
Well, hopefully tomorrow night I will be able to fire it all up again and I will check whether hairdryers, A/C or spotlights still make any difference (speakers plopp or transformer humm!).
I'll report back then, but I need to go have something to eat now after a long day at university.

Nighty nighty :D
 
Alex, be prepared to detect little to no change with regard to transformer hum, speaker plopping etc. However, your system will sound much better!
 
Well, actually I hope to have no more plopping of humming afterwards.

The humming and/or plopping only oocured when something "current-sucking" was turned on which was on the same fuse as the hifi. This fuse is supplying living room, bedroom and the hallway. Hence any current-sucker :) disturbed the system.

As soon as I use an extension lead and use the fuse the kitchen or the bathroom or whatever is on, the current-suckers on the other fuse had no more influence.

OK. Poorly described, but it seems that no audible disturbence is inducted onto the hifi unless the current-sucker is on the same fuse. Hanece with a fuse to it's own and only the cooker sharing this incoming phase, I will have the best possible power supply (best possible in my apartement that is).

So, I'm really not expecting any sonical enhancement, but I wouldn'T mind any either ;)
 
Hi,
well, my installation seems to be perfectly safe and has now been turned on. I haven't had a chance to do any sonical testing and I do not thing I will hear any difference, at least not before a proper source comes in, but I can say that the interferences from other equipment, lamps, A/C etc. have been removed. No more plopping or humming so far. The usual suspect seem to have lost their power to p*ss me off :D

So, need to get the system warmed up again, but so far I think my 40€ have been well spent ;).
I'll report further if you wish and if I do experience any problems or reaccuring interferences.
 
Well, three phases carrying 30A each is not as dangerous as having just one running at 60A! Unless of course you mysteriously manage to touch all three at once which would really be acrobatic
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure this is not true. You only need to put yourself across two phases to get ~440V, and the increased potential ensures much more current travels though your body. IIRC you only need mAs through your heart to kill you.

Anyway, glad you survived (although I'm surprised Tony hasn't added the usually pfm health warning yet).
 
Still very much alive in fact!

All the disturbances from lamps, A/C etc. gone and I am trying to talk myself into believing, that actually the sound has improved a bit too. Still the same cheap DVDPlayer hooked up to the same old spur, but it just seems to sound a bit less harsh now the system is on an independent spur. :confused:

Anyhow, as long as I believe it and I can convince myself the sound has improved....that's all that matters ;) :p :cool:
 
Alex

It ain't just you or your girlfriend to blame for what you call current suckers. It's everybody in the same apartment building, and for that matter anybody on the same substation as you.

Hope you will not be dissapointed but basically transformer hum is not fixed by dedicated spurs.

BTW are you running your whole system as described off this one socket you have put in. If you are you need at least a Hydra to hear any benefit.

regards
Geoff
 
Hi Geoff,
Well, of course there are interferences directly from the power plant/company which everybody gets plus those from your substation. But neither are fixable and usually not as intense as those actually produced "in house". The humm has completely dissappeared because the main problem was not the inevitable but avtually the "in house" caused ones. And the other parties in this building hardly affect me as they are all hooked up to the main line and then separated from me by their own main fuse plus the fuse box in their apartement. So almost no interference.

Effectively, all the audible disturbances like humming and plopping have vanished. The residual hiss of course is still there, but that's independent from the power supply.

A hydra if I am not mistaken is nothing else than multiple cables soldered in one spot and hence creating perfectly even distances, right? So you actually do not need a hydra. A very good mains block does the trick too and "Naim GErmany" or rather Music-Line supplies one of those and I have one. So I do in fact benefit from whatever possible enhancements I get :)
 
Originally posted by HT-Naimee
A hydra if I am not mistaken is nothing else than multiple cables soldered in one spot and hence creating perfectly even distances, right? So you actually do not need a hydra. A very good mains block does the trick too and "Naim GErmany" or rather Music-Line supplies one of those and I have one. So I do in fact benefit from whatever possible enhancements I get :)
Click to expand...

Er.... actually a mains block is not the same as a hydra. In a mains block all the sockets are wired in parallel so the one nearest the power in, gets first call on the available power. The one furtherest away gets whatever's left after anything ahead of it has taken what it needs. So as you go along the power block the quality of the supply degrades.
In a Hydra as you said all power cords are connected at the same point and get an equal chance to grap power. This gives an improvement in dynamics. It's not spectacular but some feel it worth having.

GEOFF
 
What I meant was, there are mains blocks which are built like hydras or which have been optimized to come close to the performance of a hydra. Some even seem to prefer to give the source a "head start". But yes, a hydra is probably a good choice. As I said elsewhere, you could of course modify your mains block into a hydra and have the best of both worlds. You can plug any piece of equipment into it even the your VCR or whatever else does not have the Naim "three pin plug" ("Kaltgerätestecker").
Usually a hydra has the disadvantage of you not being able to use it for anything else than Naim etc. which actually use this one plug.
 
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