dedicated mains spur

Personally, I have 5 separate audio grade fuses in a dedicated fuse box that takes the electricity at the point before it reaches my main fusebox. I run all Naim (pre/power/tuner/cd) equipment (except n-Sub) off one mains, one for n-Sub, one for AV equipment and one for my Lingo 2. All these equipment have a common ground which is different from the ground used in all other electrical equipment in my house. I run 6N pure copper shielded cable to these 5 outlets. It is interesting, but I found it sounds better if the a.c. cord's shielding is connected to the "regular" ground used by household equipmemt instead of grounding it to my dedicated audio ground, which is a 4 ft copper pole knocked into the grond in my garden. I guess it is better to have as clean a ground as possible for the audio equipment.

Some people prefer a single spur but I have found the multiple spur works better for me. I also prefer to use thinel a.c. cable (16A) rather than 40A which I feel did not sound as good in my previous set up. But you must have a single star ground whichever route you take.

I think it is preferable to take the electricity supply as close to the meter as pratical, but in life, everything is a compromise so you have to decide what makes sense for your layout.

regards,

Joe

It might make sense to install multiple spurs so you can compare the two approaches. You can try out the multiple spurs for a while, then try plugging a hydra into only one of them and hear the difference for yourself. If you only install one spur initially, then you won't be able to make the comparison.

Mark

I am about to have a spur put in. Can anyone give me a shopping list of what i will need lol. By this i mean is there any products that should be used over others. If i buy the gear myself then the electrician can use this rather than anything he sourced that may not be such good quality.
My thinking for the spur is a single spur which i will get a hydra for. Fit (or get fitted and forget is what i am after.

This is my personal preference :

Go for high purity copper wire with 15 to 20 Amp ratings. The heavier gauge wiring has, in my experience, not sounded as good, although some people will disagree with this.

Try to buy wire that has a separate shielding in addition to the ground wire.

Get a separate ground installed and use this exclusively for your audio/video equipment.

Try to source a good quality fuse/circuit breaker of similar ampage.

I'd recommend a minimum to two separate spurs and you can eventually decide how best to incorporate them into your system.

regards,

Joe

quote:

It might make sense to install multiple spurs so you can compare the two approaches. You can try out the multiple spurs for a while, then try plugging a hydra into only one of them and hear the difference for yourself. If you only install one spur initially, then you won't be able to make the comparison.

....I would definitely recommend installing multiple spurs as the incremental cost over single spur is minimal and then you have the choice....

....opinion seems to be split re. multiple vs. single+Hydra. I have multiple spurs and even bought a Hydra to run off a single spur (convinced i'd got it wrong), but soon sent it back to exchange for spare NACA5 (at some cost to me, as the NACA5 is never used), much preferring the multiple spur option in the end...

quote:

is there any products that should be used over others

....Memera CU (available from all good electrical stockists)

Is there a limit on the number of heads on the hydra?

If you ran a sixpack with lots of sources (I don't) you could have more tentacles than an octopus.

quote:

Is there a limit on the number of heads on the hydra?

If you ran a sixpack with lots of sources (I don't) you could have more tentacles than an octopus.

....you have to buy the right number of tentacles otherwise the spare can act as an ariel for interferance....

....not true of the multiple spur option