11-Jul-2014, 18:18
Spurs (or rather radials) direct from the consumer unit I believe are fine, but true spurs (off a ring main) are limited in that only one is allowed per ring main circuit and there's a limit to the number of sockets allowed on that spur. The electrician who installed mine told me spurs are becoming more common in place of ring mains, which were largely a workaround for something I can't remember! Might've been because it was method of achieving higher current ratings with thinner wire back when thicker wire was less easy to get hold of.
Some people seem to prefer ring mains to radials for hi-fi. I don't think there's a lot in it.
The wiring regulations (currently 17th edition) are irritatingly vague in places. For instance my hi-fi circuits (4 radials) are all TT-earthed - I have a separate consumer unit for hi-fi which is connected only to a dedicated earth rod. About 50% of electricians seem to think this is bad and 50% think it's perfectly OK due to the regulations being so vague! So long as everything is clearly labelled as such, they seem to be happy. It's all certified anyhow.
I'll list what I have - dedicated consumer unit connected via Henley block to incoming supply. 4 radials off that of which 2 are 6mm twin and earth and 2 are 10mm. The 6mm is quite considerably better despite me thinking 10mm would obviously be superior as it's bigger! The 10mm radials are a bit dull and lifeless.
I have a 3.6m earth rod in the garden (3x 1.2m sections). I don't get a great impedance reading off this (about 50 Ohm) but it still sounds better than when it's all connected to the regular PME earth. I've gone to this length as it's densely housed where I am and quite a bit of industry as well so it's not a brilliant power supply. I'm close to the substation too and regularly get close or bang-on the max permitted 253V supply.
In addition I've got an Airlink balanced power supply which I'm currently not using, plus Blue Circle Audio Sillycone filters. These are from Canada and are quite nutty. They're passive filters a bit like the Russ Andrews wall-wart ones but beefed up considerably. To be honest they don't seem to do a huge amount and I'm using one on the NAS and computer bits at the moment, and not directly on hi-fi bits. A drawback with them is touching the plug by mistake when unplugging them, as some large capacitors inside unload themselves through you!
I've just bought an Entreq CleanUs which seems to do good things... It filters the negative and earth leads and I'm liking it.
I've tried inline filters or regenerators in the past such as PS Audio (P3 & P5) and various others and they've just done nothing for me. It seems initially impressive but over time I feel the dynamics are a bit flat. I really wanted to like them because it sounds like a good idea.
Some people seem to prefer ring mains to radials for hi-fi. I don't think there's a lot in it.
The wiring regulations (currently 17th edition) are irritatingly vague in places. For instance my hi-fi circuits (4 radials) are all TT-earthed - I have a separate consumer unit for hi-fi which is connected only to a dedicated earth rod. About 50% of electricians seem to think this is bad and 50% think it's perfectly OK due to the regulations being so vague! So long as everything is clearly labelled as such, they seem to be happy. It's all certified anyhow.
I'll list what I have - dedicated consumer unit connected via Henley block to incoming supply. 4 radials off that of which 2 are 6mm twin and earth and 2 are 10mm. The 6mm is quite considerably better despite me thinking 10mm would obviously be superior as it's bigger! The 10mm radials are a bit dull and lifeless.
I have a 3.6m earth rod in the garden (3x 1.2m sections). I don't get a great impedance reading off this (about 50 Ohm) but it still sounds better than when it's all connected to the regular PME earth. I've gone to this length as it's densely housed where I am and quite a bit of industry as well so it's not a brilliant power supply. I'm close to the substation too and regularly get close or bang-on the max permitted 253V supply.
In addition I've got an Airlink balanced power supply which I'm currently not using, plus Blue Circle Audio Sillycone filters. These are from Canada and are quite nutty. They're passive filters a bit like the Russ Andrews wall-wart ones but beefed up considerably. To be honest they don't seem to do a huge amount and I'm using one on the NAS and computer bits at the moment, and not directly on hi-fi bits. A drawback with them is touching the plug by mistake when unplugging them, as some large capacitors inside unload themselves through you!
I've just bought an Entreq CleanUs which seems to do good things... It filters the negative and earth leads and I'm liking it.
I've tried inline filters or regenerators in the past such as PS Audio (P3 & P5) and various others and they've just done nothing for me. It seems initially impressive but over time I feel the dynamics are a bit flat. I really wanted to like them because it sounds like a good idea.
