Swapping Cooker Control Unit for 13A Socket?

[zenmonkey]

I'm interested in powering my hi-fi system from a radial circuit in order to isolate it from other electrical devices and so improve sound quality. Unfortunately installing a new circuit is not feasible due to the age and construction of the property.

What I'm thinking of doing is running 6mm or possibly even 10mm cable from the socket on the cooker control unit (which features a cooker switch and switched socket and is on it's own 32A circuit breaker) to a high quality power strip in my sitting room. Is this safe to do? Also, is it safe to swap the unused cooker control unit for a hospital grade unswitched 13A double socket? Thanks.

 

[brianmoooore]

As long as the cooker circuit is RCD protected, an unused cooker switch can be changed for a 2G s/socket, and the circuit can be extended to as many other s/sockets as you like, using 4mm2 cable, and over an area of 50m2.
There are other things to be considered as well, such as voltage drop to the furthest point and earth loop impedance.

 

[zenmonkey]

The cable running from the cooker control unit to the hi-fi will be 9 metres.

 

[DPG]

Don't forget that your shiny new 6mm cable is connected to the same incoming live as everything else in your house. And the same meter tails back to the meter. And the same skanky bit of concentric cable under your drive.

And don't forget the hundreds of metres of 3 phase supply cables down the street back to the noisy substation.

Sorry, I'm being a bit cynical here and I admit my ears aren't the most sensitive, despite being a hifi fan in the past. But I'd be interested to know if you hear any difference at all. Not psychological effects, but based on blind A/B testing with the help of a friend.

 

[zenmonkey]

I understand running the hi-fi on it's own radial circuit cannot offset all the nasty things you mention, but among those who have installed their system on a dedicated circuit, claims of a 5-10% improvement are common and that's a decent return, especially for high end hi-fi systems where, due to the law of diminishing returns, gaining another 5-10% performance can cost thousands.

 

[DPG]

I understand running the hi-fi on it's own radial circuit cannot offset all the nasty things you mention, but among those who have installed their system on a dedicated circuit, claims of a 5-10% improvement are common and that's a decent return, especially for high end hi-fi systems, where, due to the law of diminishing returns, gaining another 5-10% performance can cost thousands.

I've heard a lot of claims over the years about things that can give audible improvements. I suspect a lot of the time it is people who have spent a lot of money on something and have perhaps convinced themselves of it. Having said that, I know some people have acutely sensitive hearing. I'd genuinely be interested to know if you can discern much difference.

In the 1980s there was an article in one of the hifi magazines where the columnist spent an entire page describing which way up to put the turntable belt on to make it sound better. I've still got it somewhere.

 

[zenmonkey]

Good hearing is important, but so is the quality of the system. Even swapping the stock kettle cord with a good quality shielded power cord makes an audible difference on a highly resolving system. When you consider the journey the electricity took to get to the wall socket, I honestly don't understand how using better cable for only the final metre makes a difference, but it does.

 

[DPG]

Good hearing is important, but so is the quality of the system. Even swapping the stock kettle cord with a good quality shielded power cord makes an audible difference on a highly resolving system. When you consider the journey the electricity took to get to the wall socket, I honestly don't understand how using better cable for only the final metre, makes a difference, but it does.

I'd still like to conduct a blind A/B test where only I (and not the listener) know whether the mains cable is shielded or not.