Do mains distribution blocks create a bottleneck?

[infinitely baffled]

Under what circumstance would anyone consider paying thousands of dollars for a cat litter box with mystery litter in it ? Then blow thousands more for cheap wires because they named them ? Answer; the high end asylum!

david

Ooh i know the answer to this one.
'Because they were blown away by the results when loaned the items in question'

 

[wil]

And for god sakes, don't run a ground rod out to your yard for audio.

Could you elaborate on why a ground rod is a problem? Thanks

 

[ddk]

Ooh i know the answer to this one.
'Because they were blown away by the results when loaned the items in question'

They should try running a wire from the doorknob or window pane to their equipment chassis and get blown away for free !

david

 

[infinitely baffled]

'tis more free to be a fool than thought wise
for the fool has no reputation to protect
nor any reason to deny the evidence presented by his senses

- Gravonius Bat-Grockel

 

[nirodha]

This thread has certainly placed the Furutech firmly on my radar

One thing, I ( or better, we, a nephew and I) tried several furutech distributors (NCF and non-NCF). They all perform well / good. BUT, as the highlander says... there can be only One: the PP NCF 6E turns every song/work into an EVENT. Beware, only try it if you really are prepared to spend some money. Taking it out of your set really hurts. Both I and nephew bought it.

 

[Vinylshadow]

Look into a P.I. Audio UberBuss as a power distributor. Power factor correction of 1.

 

[Dasign]

Your all so focused on in front of the wall. What is behind the wall is way more important. You can use the nicest distribution strip plugged into the finest receptacle you can buy and it won't do anything if that receptacle is fed by a inwall 14 awg piece of romex. Even 12 awg romex is insufficient.

The real question is how many runs of dedicated high quaity 10 awg wire are needed to power my audio rack. If you pay to have your home infastructure done correct, you can toss out most high $ power cords as they serve little purpose now other than to shade the tone and deplete your bank account.

Stehno is mostly correct too. You have to consider cross equipment contamination. As well as equipment current draw.

A ground box is icing on the cake. It won't fix issues due to major infastructure issues such as a poorly grounded home or weak power delivery. And for god sakes, don't run a ground rod out to your yard for audio.

So to directly answer your question, what feeds that mains distribution block is the potential bottleneck. Not the block itself.

+1 Kingrex,

I installed 3 dedicated 20A circuits using solid copper 10AWG wiring. It was a bear to install. My former Krell FPB-350 MCX monoblocks never sounded so good. The sound was emerging from a black background. The bass had an increase in dynamics/slam. Also installed some Furutech GTX-D (R) wall plates which are incredible, if you are ready to wait a few months for break-in.

Installing dedicated circuits with 10AWG wire is one of the cheapest/rewarding audio upgrade available.

 

[infinitely baffled]

I just had to look up the conversion rates, mm to AWG
I've used a minimum of 6mm cooker wire, which is 10AWG, for the 'clean' audiophile circuit.
However i suspect its actually thicker on my recent additional power amp spur, as the electrician said the dedicated power amplifier circuit we installed is good for 100 amps.
I believe 10awg is rated for 60 amps?
So that would mean 25mm UK, or 2 gauge US.

 

[Dasign]

I just had to look up the conversion rates, mm to AWG
I've used a minimum of 6mm cooker wire, which is 10AWG, for the 'clean' audiophile circuit.
However i suspect its actually thicker on my recent additional power amp spur, as the electrician said the dedicated power amplifier circuit we installed is good for 100 amps.
I believe 10awg is rated for 60 amps?
So that would mean 25mm UK, or 2 gauge US.

10 AWG insulated wire is rated for 30A, but can handle momentary peaks of 35A.

 

[DoctorWhy]

+1 Kingrex,

I installed 3 dedicated 20A circuits using solid copper 10AWG wiring. It was a bear to install. My former Krell FPB-350 MCX monoblocks never sounded so good. The sound was emerging from a black background. The bass had an increase in dynamics/slam. Also installed some Furutech GTX-D (R) wall plates which are incredible, if you are ready to wait a few months for break-in.

Installing dedicated circuits with 10AWG wire is one of the cheapest/rewarding audio upgrade available.

How did you ground it? Did this circuit have a separate ground from the rest of the house? Did you put a second ground "in the yard, closer to the HI Fi system?
Rob

 

[DoctorWhy]

Your all so focused on in front of the wall. What is behind the wall is way more important. You can use the nicest distribution strip plugged into the finest receptacle you can buy and it won't do anything if that receptacle is fed by a inwall 14 awg piece of romex. Even 12 awg romex is insufficient.

The real question is how many runs of dedicated high quaity 10 awg wire are needed to power my audio rack. If you pay to have your home infastructure done correct, you can toss out most high $ power cords as they serve little purpose now other than to shade the tone and deplete your bank account.

Stehno is mostly correct too. You have to consider cross equipment contamination. As well as equipment current draw.

A ground box is icing on the cake. It won't fix issues due to major infastructure issues such as a poorly grounded home or weak power delivery. And for god sakes, don't run a ground rod out to your yard for audio.

So to directly answer your question, what feeds that mains distribution block is the potential bottleneck. Not the block itself.

So I am currently planning to run a dedicated 30 amp 220 v circuit to a Torus AVR2 60 balanced transformer. My electrician advised using two 6 g wires to the socket. He also advised that I put a separate ground rod in closer to the socket. Is this wrong? I am in fact planning to "run a ground rod out to my yard for audio." What should I do? I plan to plug all components into the Torus, Although I am open to putting some kind of a filter between digital components (DAC, Streamer) and the torus.

 

[Dasign]

How did you ground it? Did this circuit have a separate ground from the rest of the house? Did you put a second ground "in the yard, closer to the HI Fi system?
Rob

The dedicated 10 AWG cable is composed of 3 different wires (live, neutral and ground). Each cable is wired directly to their dedicated circuit breaker. Each ground wire is going directly to the ground terminals inside the electrical box. There is no external grounding system in my setup. I live in Canada and this is the correct way to wire these dedicated circuit, according to the Canadian electrical code.

 

[infinitely baffled]

I run out of time with my last post. To complete,
apparently two gauge is just another way of saying 2 AWG

 

[DoctorWhy]

The dedicated 10 AWG cable is composed of 3 different wires (live, neutral and ground). Each cable is wired directly to their dedicated circuit breaker. Each ground wire is going directly to the ground terminals inside the electrical box. There is no external grounding system in my setup. I live in Canada and this is the correct way to wire these dedicated circuit, according to the Canadian electrical code.

The code is the same in California. My electrician said that according to code, grounding it from the circuit breaker box is required. He also stated that most of the recording studios that he has worked on use a separate ground for the audio circuit that is physically removed from the main ground. ie that this method reduces the risk of ground loops. On the other hand, I need to see if a non-code electrical upgrade voids my homeowners coverage.

 

[DoctorWhy]

Anyone have any recommendations on power filters for digital equipment? Would the Furutech FP6 work for this? Anything else?

 

[Vinylshadow]

Anyone have any recommendations on power filters for digital equipment? Would the Furutech FP6 work for this? Anything else?

P.I. Audio's DigiBuss. Now DigiBuss II. Please contact Dave Elledge at P.I. Audio. You'll be glad you did.

 

[Solypsa]

There is so much that can be done without going so far as to wire outside of code ( even if there is some audio merit in doing so ). Liability is huge as we all know.

Consult with an expert on best-practice grounding for whole house, sub panel placement, wire type, circuit breaker type and on it goes...

 

[infinitely baffled]

I recently learned that it is permissible to fit additional Schuko - EU outlets to a UK home, provided the house is generally wired with UK outlets

 

[Kingrex]

Never run a ground to your yard from your audio rack. And for god sake, never break the ground from the branch circuit feeding your audio rack and replace it with a ground dedicated to the rack. It is highly probable it will kill animals and people.

There is way to much misinformation on the internet pertaining to audio grounding. Or shall I say people preaching perceived gains by installing absolutely incorrect and dangerous methods of grounding. And its all crap. It is worse to float a ground in your yard. It can not complete with a properly grounded service. For starters, it is a ground loop. Think about that for a while.

There are absolutely better ways to achieve premium grounding. Code compliance can be achieved in a number of ways. It took me 6 or 7 years to dial it in.

 

[allvinyl]

P.I. Audio's DigiBuss. Now DigiBuss II. Please contact Dave Elledge at P.I. Audio. You'll be glad you did.

Thanks for the suggestion; I am very intrigued and will call Dave. I really like the idea of a purpose built solution.

A question: How does Dave's BUSS product(s) compare to the Chang LightSpeed product(s)? I'd like to understand more about the filtering going on with each and how they compare.