Pukka Mains Spur Installation - Wow!

Hi John

I am doing the same as you as I am having work done on my house. I think it's the only way to go as sh1t in sh1t out so it does not matter how good upgrade cables are they can only upgrade the sh1t.
Good value at £200 as my electrician has quoted £300!!

Regards

John

John,

Nice one: and you don't even have to factor another level of FRAIM into the equation!

Keep groovin' (but louder and sweeter)

Ian

quote:

Originally posted by J.N.:
For some time I .....

Totally agree with you John, I have just done mine with the kind help of Andy C.

Its still less than a week and I am getting 30-40% more music,

Regards

PB

Hi John,

Your quote of £300 for the full job ain't bad. I already had an existing length of hefty cable running from the fuse-box to the system. So all my electrician had to do was connect up my existing cable to the new dedicated consumer unit - and install the distribution block in the meter cupboard.

I'm paying £160 + VAT.

John.

quote:

Originally posted by J.N.: I would put the difference in terms of moving from a 252 to a 552 - Yes, it really is that big. So at under £200 I have a blinding v.f.m. upgrade.

Cost of upgrade from 252 to 552 in the region of £9000. Cost of mains spur upgrade £200. wow

Dazren,
a sinlge 6 or 10mm spur is a very beneficial differance. There are opposing htoughts on single v multiples, but at least a single seperate spur from a seperate cu is well worth the hassle ime.

I have gone the full multiple spurs route and can vouch for its efficacy (dedicated 8 way MEM consumer unit for the hifi with each powered box in my hi-fi getting its own dedicated hard wired 10mmsq spur.)

I can support the descriptions above, of the nature of the improvements wrought, in terms of equivalent upgrade to better hardware.....only trouble is...burn - in takes so damn long!!

laurie

Do multiple spurs ruin the star-earthing philosophy?

quote:

Originally posted by Rasher:
Do multiple spurs ruin the star-earthing philosophy?

its only a "philosophy" (as you put it). the best way to find out is to have an electrican do one in your own installation and then you can assess the results.

fwiw, i had 2 radials and have recently completely removed one of them because 2 didnt sound better than 1 for me.

enjoy
ken

quote:

Originally posted by Rasher:
Do multiple spurs ruin the star-earthing philosophy?

No; such spurs are star earthed. And there is no 'star-earth' philosophy for Naim systems when it comes to mains connections as there is only one earth connection for the system (0 volt signal return) which is via the CD player. The other components only have an earth connection to their outer cases for safety reasons.

quote:

Do multiple spurs ruin the star-earthing philosophy?

No

The earths are all "starred" to the earth block near the consumer unit

laurie

My own experiences are in line with everyone here. For me the best vfm upgrade i have made, definitely a Wow! In fact i came out with a profit, as i sold my Russ Andrews multiblock thing for more than the cost of installation.

I ended up with two spurs, one for the Naim equipment (rightly or wrongly to preserve the star earthing), and one for the TT and phono stage.

I also found the improvements were obvious straight away, no long burn ins here, although i could beleive there were minor/subtle changes over the next couple of weeks, but too small to be positive about that.

Also i beleive there should be some sort of official Naim recognition or guidelines, rather than the subject always teetering on the verge of being banned.

Mike.

As my new house has dodgy wiring, for the short term until the sparky can rewire the house, I have mad a home-made Hydra from one of those Maplin multi-way plug thingumys, so I can power my system from the only single socket in the room.
I have to say, in comparison with my 3no. 6mm spurs in the old place, this isn't half bad! In fact, it's blimmin' good!
When I get the sparky in to do the deed with a 10mm spur, it'll be just the one please. Won't bother with multiple spurs this time.

Hi Mike,

I guess there is some mains supply guidance in the equipment manuals:-

"3.3 Mains Circuits and Cables

A hi-fi system usually shares a mains circuit with other
household equipment, some of which can cause distortion of
the mains waveform. This distortion can lead to mechanical hum
from amplifier and power supply transformers. Naim transformers
are large in size with heavy gauge windings, making them
relatively sensitive to such distortion and it may be necessary to
take account of any hum when siting your equipment.
Transformer hum is not transmitted through the speakers and
has no effect on the performance of the system; however, a
separate mains circuit may reduce it. Such a circuit (ideally with
a 30 or 45 Amp rating) will also improve system performance.
Advice on the installation of a separate mains circuit should be
sought from a qualified electrician.
Do not substitute alternative mains leads and plugs to
those supplied. They are selected to offer the best possible
performance."

As you say though, Naim have to carefully monitor this subject in case its gets into areas which do not comply with current (ha ha!) legislation or makes mention of 'personae non gratae'.

I certainly heard an immediate 'kick' from my recent spur upgrade, making a cold system do things, and produce musical nuances which hitherto, the warmed-up version was not.

One hell of a bang for the buck.

John.

Munch
In my case the improvement was far more dramatic than the Hi-line. Although i should add that the old supply that was replaced, couldnt have been more polluted/dangerous. In fact replacing it, probably justifies the whole exercise on health and safety grounds alone. The whole house now complies with the recent regs.

John,

Sorry forgot about that, the Naim advice is very good, and hints at what needs to be done. The problem comes when you actually talk to an electrician, the ones i initially spoke to, just want to do a basic job, and advised (mainly on cost grounds) against the installation i actually wanted. There seems to be a bit of a conflict between what they consider nessasary, and what you really need to gain improvements to the audio side. I just feel that if you have something printed by a manufacturer, then you will have less problems with making electricians understand.

Mike.

Agreed Mike,

I'm sure my electrician thought I was barking - though he made the right polite noises.

John.