3-phase electric

You should leave it alone. The 3-phase supply will be 415v and connecting it to any hi-fi will cause fireworks! You could use one of the phases (with neutral) to power your system, however.

This could be a good thing. You could use one phase to power the hifi and another to power the rest of the house, thus helping reduce mains pollution to your kit. BLT is right but a bit unclear. A 3 phase supply is three 240V AC supplies with the AC bit 120 degrees out of phase with each other. By some bizzare effect of physics this means a potential difference of 415 volts between phases.

Consult a decent electrician...

Regards
Steve

Yes, absolutely, consult a qualified electrician.
One purpose of 3 phase is to provide 6 pulses of power per line cycle vs. 2 pulses with single phase power. Great for industrial machines, elevators (lifts) etc. Would make great HiFi power IF the input transformers were designed for it... Hmmm... Roy K. Ritches! Here's another thought... Might be better than a fuse upgrade! The ultimate Hydra!
David

I've read an article by Ben Duncan, some years ago, suggesting to use two phases with a step-down transformer to power the Hi-Fi. He explained the advantage not to be connected to the neutral.
AFAIR: he explained the neutral carries the return current of all phases, and thus the scrap of all phases. If you only use two of the phases, you have less scrap. But it is not so simple: IMO, using 2 phases (120 deg) should create a distorted sinewave. It could be usefull to find the article, it was in a British mag (HIFI+ or HIFI news or such around 1997-1999)

Emmanuel

All opinions are my own, and reflect those of the organisation i work for, even if not stipulated.

I really wouldn't recommend putting two phases into one domestic room. You would have the potential for a 415v shock in the room. While you stand a good chance of surviving a 240v shock, this is not the case with 415v. I'm pretty sure that the IEEE Wiring regulations forbid this.

BLT,
You are perfectly right. What i am talking about is not a DIY affair.

Emmanuel

All opinions are my own, and reflect those of the organisation i work for, even if not stipulated.

I recently did a large barn conversion, where there was an existing 3 phase supply. For several reasons I was having voltage drop problems and called out the local board engineeers to see if there was any way of using the other phases. They steadfastly refused to allow me to have rings in the same domestic dwelling running from separate phases for exactly the reasons stated above. The phrase "against regulations" was used during this conversation, which I took to mean IEEE regs.

The only thing they would sanction was a running an outbuilding such as a shed or garage from a different phase.

Whilst not a qualified electrician, what they said sounds entirely logical and reasonable to me.