What's Your Power Block.

[Blackmetalboon]

I’m using an Isotek Orion, got it cheaper than the time and money it would have taken me to install the additional three twin sockets I required.

No sound benefits from adding it, which has been my experience with the few mains related products I have tried over the years. For clarity, the sockets in my living room are on their own circuit.

 

[Mike1965]

Well, well, well. I can only concur — the improvement putting in this block is very obvious with no drawbacks, thanks for the recommendation, Mike!

FWIW, In the block I only have a router and ONT (both powered by a single old Musical Fidelity V-PSU) and a Macmini M2 powered by a Teradak R-Core LPS. Amp is still direct to wall as its current mains cable is too thick to rewire!

What was funny was that a bothersome hum from my amp through the speakers, reduced significantly as soon as I plugged in the block, even though the amp was only plugged in to the adjacent wall socket rather than the block itself.

I haven't a clue how it works, but it certainly does (in my system). And I have tried a few things that have made little / no difference despite not being cheap. Maybe you can ask your contact @Craig B ?!?

https://res.cloudinary.com/ajb/image/upload/v1704396937/20240104_192023_exxeip.jpg

You're welcome! Delighted it's working for you Heckyman. I'm always happy to find stuff that makes an improvement that's affordable. Are you getting similar results to me? What's an ONT by the way?

 

[chris@panteg]

Personally a Titan Audio forget the model name, replaced something l cobbled together myself......

Helios or Ares or Nyx ?
What do you think of it.

 

[Heckyman]

ONT, sorry it's the Citi Fibre internet box on the wall, their optical network terminal that converts the incoming fibre to ethernet. This then goes to my router/switch (Ubiquity Edgerouter X SFP). WiFi is provided by an Aruba access point (£20 used) plugged into another socket across the room. That's another cheap tweak (if you have an old / noisy one box router you can take out of your system), not quite as dramatic as the Hammond block but clearly better in all areas cheaper and better than say, an audiophile switch with the noisy router still in the system.

Yes, it's early days but it's a play-your-fav-tracks-all-night-because-you-never-heard-them-so-good level upgrade.

 

[Tarzan]

Helios or Ares or Nyx ?
What do you think of it.

l think the model is called Styx ( an older model ) it is ok just does the job it is supposed to do.

 

[andyr]

Radial, not spur

Absolutely!

Luckily, spurs are the only legal way of mains wiring, Downunder.

One radial per piece of kit (8) hard-wired to IEC or captive leads. Totally o.t.t. and a throwback to Naim days.

That's what I specified in my current house - which we built, then moved into, 8 years ago.

Although each radial ends in a single (switched) ppt - not hard-wired (as that is illegal, here).

Ho hum, it doesn't eat anything and at least I couldn't improve the primary source without recourse to different phases or regenerators for each.

I have 3-phase power into the house; one phase is devoted to the 13 radials in the 'music room'.

 

[Steven Toy]

Many years ago I bought an RA £80 power block which could be screwed to a wall or not. I thought it sounded thin and precise and it improved my TV picture. Screwed to a wall it still sounded thin but different, not acceptable as it coloured the sound. So I ripped it apart to find a thick PCB with tracks for the power distribution. I decided not to use a power block at all also accepting that the extra connections involved affected the sound. No need now with only two boxes.

Screwing it to the wall probably also had a deleterious effect.

 

[Mike Reed]

Luckily, spurs are the only legal way of mains wiring, Downunder.

Think you mixed things up here after mentioning radials.

not hard-wired (as that is illegal, here).

Wonder why? If relevantly fused at the consumer unit, that's all you need. You're not the first audiophile to mention having more than one phase; it's rare here but seemingly more common in Oz.

each radial ends in a single (switched) ppt

to the 13 radials in the 'music room'

Why switched? That's the last thing you need in a radial (or any) circuit. The idea is to reduce impedance, not increase it with unnecessary connections. Do you have 13 pieces of kit? I thought I was o.t.t. with 8 !!!!! Mind you, being on a dedicated phase is a different kettle of fish.

 

[herb]

Screwing it to the wall probably also had a deleterious effect.

Very much so, it took on the sound it was connected to/not connected to. I thought it was funny. I decided that it was an RA misconception but made me very wary of mains blocks to the extent that I have no need of them now. Strange about the improved TV picture though.

 

[Heckyman]

Just wanted to add to my first impressions of the Hammond power strip. I since plugged my DAC into the block and it in fact it didn't sound as good as direct from the wall. Amp into block vs wall inconclusive.

The block is still a great upgrade, but in my system, some care is needed about what plugs into what.

It's understandable that some folks just ignore the whole area, it's a real faff and if you use audiophile approved products you can get hit hard in the pocket.

 

[gez]

Many of my distribution boards were from RS and contain RFI filters, etc. Although the earliest ones were DIYed by myself so I could build my own filters.

More recently I've bought a mix of both filtered and non-filtered. The filtered ones BF30000 ones from a German maker whose name I've forgotten. Commercial ones came from RS and then CPC.

I'm guessing you mean one of these:

Brennenstuhl BF30000 (schwarz)

Brennenstuhl BF30000 (schwarz) - 8-fach Steckdosenleiste mit Netzfilter und Überspannungsschutz (Nachfolge-Modell der Brennenstuhl BF 5000)

www.hifi-regler.de

as opposed to one of these:

Cbfi Bf30000 30 Tons Per Day Ice Flake Machine | Cbfi

Looking for flake ice machine for sale? Details about CBFI BF30000 30 Tons Per Day Ice Flake Machine, flake ice maker for sale, on Icesource , Please contact us!

www.icesourcegroup.com

The second one is an ice making machine, apparently

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

I'm guessing you mean one of these:

Brennenstuhl BF30000 (schwarz)

Brennenstuhl BF30000 (schwarz) - 8-fach Steckdosenleiste mit Netzfilter und Überspannungsschutz (Nachfolge-Modell der Brennenstuhl BF 5000)

www.hifi-regler.de

...
The second one is an ice making machine, apparently

Yes. What I have looks quite different, but I think will be the simple UK equivalent. In appearance it is a parallel set of standard 3-pin mains sockets. Plus and extended end which probably has filtering, etc, in it, plus an on-off rocker switch and an LED. Also has a pretty plot of (claimed) RF rejection versus frequency to amuse the owner.

 

[NickofWimbledon]

Yes, thanks for your report on the hydra! Star earthing I guess, benefits kit that is at different ground potentials and grounded via the power lead earth? Which is some but by no means all.

Mi think that that is dead right: it seems to really matter for multiple bits of Naim kit, but not at all for many makes, and how much difference it makes probably varies from house to house too.

 

[NickofWimbledon]

When I had a multi-box Naim system which grew over a number of years I found Grahams Hydra’s worth using and improved the sound compared to using normal mains leads/extension strips/blocks - this was with standard house mains not a separate CU/sockets. Interestingly over Covid when I tried to buy an 8 way Hydra from Grahams they refused to make one up cos it was for my 8 box Cyrus system not a Naim one - assume safety concerns, dunno….

I haven’t noticed any improvements after the separate mains went in, but this house has a good stable electricity supply, only 20 years old and is in a town. I’ve lived in the area many years and one more rural house in the 80’s had awful power fluctuations, my TT would slow down/speed up and lights dim regularly.

I was having everything checked for safety, CU replaced and some solar work done so it made sense to get the HiFi Mains done for peace of mind. The cost was minimal compared to the overall project - small Hagar CU, few metres of cable and a few sockets, luckily the hifi racks are on the opposite side of the wall the fuse-board sits on. To give an idea and depending on factors like distance and sparky hourly rate I’d guess £200 would be a ball park cost, compared to the cost of folks system on here that’s probably a worthwhile spend for a good few.

Perhaps Cyrus kit gets no benefit at all from star-earthing so a Hydra would have been a waste of your money and any well-made power block would do just fine?

 

[Amber Audio]

Perhaps Cyrus kit gets no benefit at all from star-earthing so a Hydra would have been a waste of your money and any well-made power block would do just fine?

Maybe, it was my office system and only had a double mains socket nearby so more the convenience of an 8 way hydra and the fact I’ve used them in the past. Ended up using a computer PDU with C13 sockets for a while then an old style RA 8 way pyramid type block came up used, form factor helps keep a bunch of mains leads tidy back of the rack.

 

[andyr]

Think you mixed things up here after mentioning radials.

I did - sorry, 'Spurs' only, here.

Wonder why? If relevantly fused at the consumer unit, that's all you need.

I agree - however, I am merely quoting the electrical regulations, here.

Why switched? That's the last thing you need in a radial (or any) circuit. The idea is to reduce impedance, not increase it with unnecessary connections.

Again - I totally agree. I merely quote the regs! (I wanted non-switched ppts ... but wasn't allowed them. )

Do you have 13 pieces of kit? I thought I was o.t.t. with 8 !!!!! Mind you, being on a dedicated phase is a different kettle of fish.

The 'music room' in the current house has a 5.8m long shelf along one wall - which was more than I ever thought I would ever need (when designing the house).

Currently, the shelf is just about full! And that's with my power amps on the floor.

 

[Patu]

Oyaide power block here. It made a tremendous difference to my system..

Which model do you use? I've been considering trying out the MTB-6e.

 

[clap]

Which model do you use? I've been considering trying out the MTB-6e.

I think mine is only the "lowly" MTS-6. I bought it in a high end hifi shop in Hong Kong, it was the only model they had in stock. It has US sockets. I bought a collection of Oyaide plugs too (the 004) are the best. I'd love to try a MTB-6E.

 

[Mike Reed]

I did - sorry, 'Spurs' only, here.

The 'music room' in the current house has a 5.8m long shelf along one wall

You must have more kit than white goods and appliances added together !!!! A nearly 6 metre shelf? That's got to be one entire wall, surely! I got fed p with accessing the rear of kit on virtually all wall shelves and made a 3 shelf ply unit about 1.5 m affixed to one wall but 18 to 20 " away from the wall, so I can walk behind all of my kit. As much of it (5 pieces) is delicately balance on three cones or suchlike, it obviates the necessity to move the kit at all.

Re. your supplies, I'm now totally confused. You affirm 'spurs' yet surely, what you have are (separate) radials, each terminating at the c.u. separately. Yes, you could have a spur off a radial (as you don't have ring mains) but I suspect that you have no need to do this. A spur can only emanate from an existing circuit, by definition.

 

[Patu]

I think mine is only the "lowly" MTS-6. I bought it in a high end hifi shop in Hong Kong, it was the only model they had in stock. It has US sockets. I bought a collection of Oyaide plugs too (the 004) are the best. I'd love to try a MTB-6E.

Sorry, I mixed the models. MTS-6e is what I meant also. Not sure if MTB is even available with schuko-plugs.

What did you use before MTS-6?