UK Mains

Thanks Both

I don't suffer from it, well at least i don't think so. But maybe you don't know its there till its gone. It's just for the future to know what to get when i put one in.

Graeme

You need a dedicated radial or ring taken from the tails of the mains before the domestic consumer unit having it's own CSU. A separate radial or spur taken from the domestic CSU is a waste of time IMO. I've had both and there is a big difference, not only in SQ but also with humming power supplies.

It doesn't cost much to have a qualified electrician install it for you. If you're a little adept you can do what I did and lay the cables and mount the CSU and sockets ready for the electrician to connect everything up. It saves a few bob.

The hassle is getting from the dis board to where i would need the sockets. Another job on the to do list. It gets ever longer

On further consideration, of course Simon is quite right - prevention is better than cure.

Inside the house, generate as little HFI / RFI as possible eliminate the source.

If you are going to the expense of having a dedicated supply for your audio equipment only, consider installing an isolating transformer for that circuit (particularly one that's specifically designed so as to prevent capacitative coupling between the primary and secondary windings).

If it's coming from outside, you can't prevent it at source, so you'll have to block it as early as possible, as best you can.

Whilst I have no experience and can't prove it, I suspect that filtration at or before the CSU will have less impact on the dynamics of the audio equipment as the filter(s) will need much higher current capability (typically 100A).  They could also be quite expensive!

This whole subject is significant to me as when I run my system without any mains filtration I get a considerable loss of clarity and detail in the sound - so much so that parts of the music that I could previously hear clearly, then appear to be missing.

My problem is that this still happens even when I have turned off ALL the RF noise sources that I can find in my house.  Turning these RF sources back on seems to make little difference in my case.  I think this may be because there's so much mains noise anyway, that a few SMPS only add a small proportion to the existing noise.  I'm looking for ways to test this hypothesis.

Huge, I suspect you know your onions... Have you looked at your mains with an oscilloscope or spectrum analyser.

Simon

I'm looking at options for a DSO with FFT: Probably based on a data acquisition system for a PC with the FFT on the host computer.  I used to have access to two suitable DSOs, but not now I'm retired .

8bit resolution is questionable, 12bit too slow or too expensive.  I may need to suppress / reduce the 50Hz fundamental with a high pass filter which will then allow an 8bit system to show the HF & RF components with adequate resolution - that's where my current thinking is focussed.  Safety and isolation are my primary concerns here, and why I'm doing a lot of thinking  before starting.

Being able to retire early has many benefits, but also a few drawbacks, overall it's a !