Moving Rooms

If you can run a dedicated radial cable from your meter, ideally with a separate consumer unit, do that. There are zillions of threads on the forum about mains, so you can search them out. It's worth remembering that you can run cables outside (using steel walled armoured (SWA) cables) so that they pop through the wall next to the system, with no internal disturbance needed. We have SWA running under the flowerbeds. For the few hundreds it costs you'll get a good improvement. People will drop £500 on a Powerline, yet balk at getting their mains sorted first. Weird. 

HH has hit the nail on the head (but make sure it's not pointing at an electric cable when you hit it  !).

+1 for HH"s comments. For less than the price of a Powerline it is well worth getting an electrician to run a high amperage dedicated spur from the incoming supply (before the consumer unit). That's what I have. Ignore the electrician when they tell you that you are wasting your money.

If you have the luxury of a blank canvas, it would be ideal to terminate the spur in a bank of good quality unswitched 13amp sockets in the wall.

One then just has to hope that one doesn't decide that the kit would be better placed on the other side of the room! If you think that might happen; clearly it's better to terminate in just a double socket and employ a good quality distribution block.

John.

Agreeing with both HH and JN , get the dedicated line put in. But, I am not sure whether you can, within the regulations, install a direct line connected on the incoming side of the fusebox, which is how I read JN's post/recommendation. Isn't an isolator/fuse still needed?

I have dedicated line, with its own isolator/fuse connected to the incoming side of the main fusebox, serving the double socket in the listening room.

You split the meter tails, and install a separate consumer unit for the stereo.

Hungryhalibut posted:

You split the meter tails, and install a separate consumer unit for the stereo.

When you say "you split the meter tails..." I assume you actually mean: "You ask an electrician who splits the meter tails..."

This kind of work should only be considered by a professional.

I think J.N. was reinforcing HH's comment about a separate consumer unit, the feed to that coming from the meter tails, rather than a second CU cascaded from the first.

Personally I don't like unswitched sockets at the wall.  In the case of an equipment fault, to be completely safe, you'd have to go to the CU to switch off the circuit before unplugging the equipment.

Eloise posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

You split the meter tails, and install a separate consumer unit for the stereo.

When you say "you split the meter tails..." I assume you actually mean: "You ask an electrician who splits the meter tails..."

This kind of work should only be considered by a professional.

I did it myself, while standing in the fishpond. 

HH you must have VERY long fins!

To clarify; I had the incoming supply split after the incming supply meter and run as a dedicated spur via a 45 amp consumer unit which feeds only the Hi-Fi system.

John. 

This is a picture of my mains bits - the Henley Block, which splits the tails, is at the bottom. The little consumer unit, with a 50amp breaker, supplies the stereo via 10mm SWA - the little skinny black wire that comes out of the top. 

And just to put Eloise's mind at rest, it was all done by a qualified electrician to the latest regulations. 

If at all possible, and I appreciate it is somewhat easier for those living in flats or terraced housing - take a split feed from your neighbour's meter. 

I used to play spoof with an old boss of mine - the loser bought the sausage rolls. He always used to say they tasted better when he won (and I had to buy them) as he couldn't taste the copper in them. I can only assume it is similar with the enjoyment of music,  if you aren't paying for the electricity powering your hifi 

For the avoidance of doubt - this is a joke, I'm not advocating stealing electricity, from your neighbour or otherwise!!!

Hungryhalibut posted:

This is a picture of my mains bits 

This has to be quote of the day - and out of context - should surely be dealt with by a moderator.

Thanks to all who responded. The electric guru has visited and pronounced that a direct feed from the mains is not a viable option. Unfortunately for me a Tarmac driveway is a somewhat more problematic obstacle than flowerbeds and trunking along external walls came to grief with the front door in the way.

The interior wall that I would like to put the two new double sockets into is a stud wall so no major problem there, but can anyone suggest any particular sockets, plugs or alternatively would I be better off with a specialist power strip ( I see a current thread on this - would this be a better option?)

Belfast Taxman posted:

....or alternatively would I be better off with a specialist power strip ( I see a current thread on this - would this be a better option?)

Boom-tish!

C.

J.N. posted:

To clarify; I had the incoming supply split after the incming supply meter and run as a dedicated spur via a 45 amp consumer unit which feeds only the Hi-Fi system.

John. 

I was just making sure that the OP did not mis-interpret what you wrote. You have a very similar arrangement to mine. In my case the link between (hi-fi) isolator/fuse and double socket is the very largest cable that could be physically attached to the socket; it measures about 25mm in diameter for the 2 cores and earth.  

For a professionally installed system HH's looks like a real dog's dinner.

What's wrong with it?

Why are the two CUs at different heights?

I'd have them at the same height and placed further apart. This arrangement would be more pleasing to the eye.

Bloody hell, aren't we picky. It's a consumer unit. It's in the garage. It's not an art installation. I posted a picture to be helpful, that's all. 

I tell you what, put a picture of your room on the system pics thread and I'll slag it off. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

Bloody hell, aren't we picky. It's a consumer unit. It's in the garage. It's not an art installation. I posted a picture to be helpful, that's all. 

I tell you what, put a picture of your room on the system pics thread and I'll slag it off. 

enjoy

ken

Maybe a Grahams Hydra would fit the bill?

Willy.

Nick from Suffolk posted:

For a professionally installed system HH's looks like a real dog's dinner.

 

The lack of clipping of the cables to the wall leaving them potentially vulnerable to snagging seems unprofessional and would be more of a concern to me, however I rather admire the absence of a meter...

Innocent Bystander posted:

Nick from Suffolk posted:

For a professionally installed system HH's looks like a real dog's dinner.

 

The lack of clipping of the cables to the wall leaving them potentially vulnerable to snagging seems unprofessional and would be more of a concern to me, however I rather admire the absence of a meter...

Recently I've been working alongside some electricians on an industrial installation, and if they'd built anything like that, they'd have been given a right bollocking and told to rip it out and start again. But I've never come across a domestic electrician who works to those standards, and I'd guess HH's wiring is closer to the norm. Besides, it obviously works, So does it really matter.

(HH, there's a pic of my scruffy consumer unit on Tony's new thread, you're welcome to slag it off there:-)

I still don't understand what exactly is substandard about it and how it could be improved. It's done with good quality components and meets all the regulations. There's constructive criticism and there's pointless criticism, and I've not received anything of the former thus far. 

Although I'm not a qualified sparkie, I thought HH's CU installation looked rather neat - certainly neater than most.  As an example of how not to do it, see here: