Dedicated mains cable

Posted by: Scooot on 02 September 2017

Hi,

I have at present 4 mk unswitched sockets on the ring main powering the hifi.I am in the planning stages of installing a seperate cu and running a cable to the 4 sockets to have a dedicated supply for the hifi.I would like to use the 4 sockets for neatness rather than using 1 + a power block.I have read that 10mm2 cable is the way to go but would be pretty much impossible to daisy chain the sockets due to cable thickness.

The run from the new cu to the sockets is about 8.5 metres.

would 6mm2 be a viable option ?.

could I run 10mm2 up to the first socket then daisy chain with 6mm2 or would this defeat the object ?.

Is there any cable recommendation,shielded/non shielded,etc ?.

Thanks

Posted on: 02 September 2017 by hungryhalibut

Have a look at the thread 'another dedicated mains supply post' in hifi corner, which should have everything you need.

Posted on: 02 September 2017 by Scooot

Ok,

cheers HH

Posted on: 02 September 2017 by Southweststokie

I ran two x 10mm2 into two twin MK switchless sockets giving me 4 sockets supplied by 10mm2. Each cable has its own 32amp MCB.

Just a thought

Ken

Posted on: 02 September 2017 by Scooot

Hi Ken,

Its all at the planning stage at present so all info and options are food for thought.Luckily for me my son is a qualified electrician so as long as what I propose complies with the regs he will sort it.

cheers

Posted on: 02 September 2017 by count.d

Scoot, running 10mm2 followed by daisy chaining 6mm2 is fine, if you can't daisy with 10mm2. Daisy chaining with 10mm2 can be done, but needs slight modification.

I would suggest searching/reading mains subjects from 5-8 years back. That was when the people and subject was at it's peak. Nowadays it's full of attention seekers and myth.

Posted on: 02 September 2017 by Scooot

count.d posted:
Scoot, running 10mm2 followed by daisy chaining 6mm2 is fine, if you can't daisy with 10mm2. Daisy chaining with 10mm2 can be done, but needs slight modification.
I would suggest searching/reading mains subjects from 5-8 years back. That was when the people and subject was at it's peak. Nowadays it's full of attention seekers and myth.

I have been reading a lot of the recent info but none from years back.I will certainly give it a read.

thanks

Posted on: 03 September 2017 by Blackmorec

These days there's a lot better cable for hi-fi than 10mm T&E.

Screened is highly advantageous and stranded cable typically sounds more natural and musical than long runs of over dimensioned, heavy duty, cheaply insulated, low purity solid core. While good cable costs substantially more per meter it sounds a whole lot better in comparison. If people are willing to even consider accessory interconnects and power cables, the cost of running a high quality spur is negligible in comparison.

Posted on: 03 September 2017 by rjstaines

Sockets

I ran a 6mm spur from the CU (that's the right hand single switched soket in the pic) and then ran a loop off the terminals of this single socket around the four doubles in 2.5mm because I could not get two 6mm cables into the single or the double sockets. This may not be optimal, but it's better than the power block arrangement I had before.

The other stuff on the wall is: LAN socket, two SKY dish feeds and a wrapped up bunch of Chord cables from surround & rear A/V speakers.

In the pic above, the new 2.5mm cable drops down from the single 6mm-fed socket on the far left, runs over to the first double socket then daisy chains around the other three doubles and comes back to the single socket in a full loop.

Posted on: 03 September 2017 by rjstaines

And the finished job looked like this at the time (2 years ago). Nowadays Powerline has replaced the MusicWorks cables and there's even more Naim boxes

more sockets