Part 2 - Separate circuit?

Most definately yes ! If you can swing it, get the electrician to put in a separate ground while he's at it. You will be very happy and surprised by the amount of improvement this will make to your system.

regards,

Joe

But don't be too surprised if it turns out to be a waste of time. My dedicated spur gave no improvement at all. I don't know why. A few others have shared my experience, though most have reported positively.

Ho hum...

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:
As we are getting a total rewire would i be better getting the sockets I use for the hi fi on a separate circuit. Would it make any difference to the sound quality?

Many thanks

Diccus

Separate spur, not ring, use a high capacity cable (up to 10sq.mm) & un unswitched socket if possible.

How many sockets? If it's one per box, might be better to use less sockets & a hydra (since starring works best with UK mains).

cheers, Martin

PS this thread will get moved to the Padded Cell at some point.

quote:

Originally posted by Martin Payne:
PS this thread will get moved to the Padded Cell at some point.

Just for that - I'll leave it here. For a nanosecond ..... or several.

If you're being rewired it's worth doing. Had no intention but when the time came for a rewire it seemed silly not to. Dedicated spur, 10mm cable and unswitched sockets. The hardest part was explaining to the installer what we wanted, why and why it had to be a spur. Turns out he's a music freak and once it sunk in he was really interested and up for it.

Not an obvious difference. Don't know if it really made a significant difference at all. But it doesn't matter, because we took the opportunity, so that's a possible future nagging doubt struck off.

FWIW

Cheers

quote:

Originally posted by Adam Meredith:

quote:

Originally posted by Martin Payne:
PS this thread will get moved to the Padded Cell at some point.

Just for that - I'll leave it here. For a nanosecond ..... or several.

Please leave me here, I have 7500 posts on the music section but as i dont know a pre amp from a double decker i rarely get the chance to post here

Don't banish me............................

Diccus

quote:

Originally posted by joesilva:
Most definately yes ! If you can swing it, get the electrician to put in a separate ground while he's at it. You will be very happy and surprised by the amount of improvement this will make to your system.

regards,

Joe

Joe, do you find an improvement by cleaning your 13A plugs with Brasso?

I can agree about noisy mains, but surely a filtered mains socket (not a surge protector) should be ok?

I have no heavy electrical items on the same spur as my HiFi, apart from my washing machine. I rarely sit down and listen to the HiFi at the same time as washing!

Mains is turned into DC by the transfoermer in the unit(s), surely if mains needsa to be so smooth when it enter a unit, then it a design flaw. Should the DC conversation not produce a pure DC signal? Isn't it down to the rectification and smoothing of the low voltage AC?

Just a thought?

I had a separate consumer unit fitted and 5 double mains sockets fitted and a junction box for my hydra (this was back in Nov 2005 before the new electrical regs so you can’t do the hydra thing now) and all with 10mm cable. It made a huge difference to the sound.

BUT I gave the specs to my builder who made the builder do what I wanted as he did not understand why I so over specified things. However it turned out that the electrician normally works in nightclubs and he wanted to put in an armoured (thicker than 10mm) cable to a consumer unit (well it would be hidden behind the racks) allowing even under new regs as it was locally isolatable a hydra to be wired in directly and mach greater expansion. If you could do this……

I think the improvement you get depends on you current mains and wiring for me it was worth every £

Mine was worth every £ as well because my dad's an electrician and did the work for me. It didn';t make any difference to the sound but then again it didn't costme anything. The up side is that I got 12 extra sockets in my lounge.
I've carried out a few blind listening tests and I've yet to find anyone who can hear a difference. However a friend had a seperate spur fitted later and that did sound better.
I've notcied that I don't get any interference from the fridge and washing machine anymore on any sockets. Maybe household appliances are electrically cleaner nowadays

Those that could hear a diff possibly could do so due to poorer mains - the other could have already had a good supply?

I'm in the middle of nowhere. No big plant or large buildings for miles. About 1.5 km from the local sub station (or whatever it's called). Could be that affords us a relatively "clean" supply. Don't know.

Cheers