A Handy Tip

[kermit]

hi everyone ,
i,ve just been trawling pink fish and came accross this thread

http://pub110.ezboard.com/fpinkfishmediafrm1.showMessage?topicID=1361.topic

the guy is very right in what he says . from my experience a really good contact works wonders .
but this is a subject that i,d completely forgotton about as i found a cure some time ago .
having noticed that a poor conection really did cause sound problems (especially as cyrus kit has no earth pin)and that my iec plugs were always working themselves loose , i was forever opening up my iec ,s and closing the gaps on the metal connections .
it was a pointless exercise as the plugs always ended up loose again .:rolleyes:
so i started looking for better iec,s , but i did not want to pay the cost of something like a wattgate or marinco and even if i was willing to pay the price , there was no guarentee that they would not become "slack" over time
so i began a search and came accross these (THE ONES IN THE MIDDLE )
:D

http://rswww.com/images/C488208-03.jpg

since using them , i,ve had no more problems with loose conections(as i said earlier , i,d forgotton that i ever had a problem )
the ones in the picture are advertised as 10 amp , but i know that the ones i received were rated at 15amps .

there are also these , but i havn,t tried them . although next time i need to get some i may try them to see how they are.

http://rswww.com/images/C261585-01.jpg

and finally there are these if you don,t want to change your iec,s . which should be easy to fit (although you will have to drill a couple of holes .)



http://rswww.com/cgi-bin/bv/browse/Module.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0516085947.1056536266@ @@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadcijekhhgecfngcfkmdgkldfhk.0&cacheID=ukie&3233989207=3233989207&stiboID=3519http://rswww.com/images/C488810-01.jpg


hope this is of use.:)

[cookiemonster]

cheers kermit - i have the same problem - primarily because my gear dooes not have earth pins (why does some gear have them and others not? i would have thought it would be an advantage in all cases?) - and they have a tendency to become slack as you describe.

I have a new cable with wattgate 'en route' for one of the components, so i will see if this is any better.

If not, i shall investigate your suggestions further.

[cookiemonster]

Just out of curiosity..

i'd always imagined that surely it would be best to rip out the IEC terminals ( figure8, captive,whatever) and hard wire the lead in. Hence less interfaces to degrade the current transfer.

Other than aesthetics, and the loss of practicality (chnging leads willy nilly for experimentation), what arguments are there for not doing this. Or am i wrong, and it has in fact no inherent advantage?

EDITED TO ADD

To go further, theoretically at least, would it be advantageous to rip all of the signal carrying sockets out, RCA/XLR/DIN etc, and hard wire I/C's in... speaker cables too. I know this is not practical, hence the total theoretical question. But what if...
Surely the less interfaces the better....

...no more fancy wattgates or bullet plugs......

i once read somewhere that the super hi-fi of the far flung future would have no moving parts (makes sense), and would be as pure as the day you were born.....

[kermit]

i'd always imagined that surely it would be best to rip out the IEC terminals ( figure8, captive,whatever) and hard wire the lead in. Hence less interfaces to degrade the current transfer

i reckon your right there .
if you,ve found the cable that you want to use , then this is bound to be the best way.........
other than it will cause you problems when it comes time to sell (unless you revert back to original )

i noticed that i havn,t explained my reasoning for using right angle(down) iec plugs . it is simply that they remove the strain that is normally involved when using a straight iec plug .

the clamp , i,ve never used . i thought it was quite a good idea . but i think i am wrong in saying that you would have to drill holes .
i,ve a feeling you might have to remove the screws that hold the iec chasis socket and replace them with the one that the clamp uses .
if this is the case then they should be much more useful .

[Chea Johndle]

Hi,

www.audusa.com does some reasonably priced mains connectors...IMHO.

Regards

JC

[kermit]

had a look , john . there are some tidy ones there . didn,t realise that the big marincos were under 20 quid .
i noticed they sell what looks like the same down angle iec that i like in heavy duty(presume its 15amp)silver plated for £6 . so next time i ,m tempted to try them .

[garyi]

Regarding hard wiring.

This would without doubt be the best way to do things, even if it was just the electrics.

Infact I always wondered why the slimline range of naim gear had hard wired electrics but the more expensive stuff had the connectors.

I never got a straight answer but I believe probably comes down to a perception of quality.

Like all those stupid fancy connectors which are nothing more than plastic and metal, at the end of the day they are cheap to make and make the owner feel very special.

[michaelab]

Something else that's worth checking on your IECs/power cables, is that the polarity is correct. This is more of a problem in continental Europe where the mains plug can go in either way but it's always possible that a UK mains lead hasn't been wired up correctly. In the case of a a Euro lead it's just a question of putting the plug in the other way around - with a UK lead you have to re-wire the plug!

So, if you have a polarity checker (one of those screwdrivers with a little orange light that glows on live) then an IEC plug's polarity is as follows (I hope this works):


[]E
[]N []L


when looking at the 'holes' of the IEC plug. The polarity checker should glow when you stick it in the L (live) hole.

In theory polarity shouldn't make that much difference, but I found a worthwhile improvement by getting the polarity right on all my gear, a no-cost tweak!

Michael.

[lowrider]

I confirm that polarity makes a difference...

[Mekon]

Does anyone know for sure if you can fit 6mm2 T&E straight into a Wattgate/Marinco 320? I am having two spurs put in, and one will be just for the poweramp, so I figured that I may as well run it straight into the IEC, rather than bugger around with plugs etc.

[zanash]

Are you talking of straight out the wall to IEC ?

You may, [and I'm certain someone will know], need a fuse over and above the one in the P.amp. At least I'd put a fuse in there some where.

[Mekon]

I wonder how many amps the socket and plug are rated at. If they can take 32 amps, then I am completely safe, I think. Then again, how likely are they to fail? AFAIK, the idea of running it straight into the back came about 'cos people are using fuseless 15amp plugs, and the existing mains lead, which is unlikely to be rated as highly as the MCB/RCBO. This approach is safer than that, if I have my thinking straight.

[kermit]

Does anyone know for sure if you can fit 6mm2 T&E straight into a Wattgate/Marinco 320? I am having two spurs put in, and one will be just for the poweramp, so I figured that I may as well run it straight into the IEC, rather than bugger around with plugs etc.

i,ve not heard anyone ever mention doing this , but can,t see why it wouldn,t fit .
this sounds like something the guy,s on pink fish would do , i wonder if tony l knows someone who has tried it .
doesn,t a "flat earth hydra" use twin and earth.if this is so then the guys who use them must be using iec plugswith twin and earth .
and as far as i,m aware they don,t use any extra fuses, just rely on a circuit breaker at the fuse box and the fuses in the kit .
i,d suggest either reading the diy section at pink fish or posting the question at either pink fish or mana(as some of the guys have gone back there)
what type of kit do you have in your system?
its just that whilst the naim guys like using spurs , the few articles i,ve read always seem to recommend using a ring main.
from my understanding you,ll get a fuller sound (less thin)from this approach .
i have installed a ring main myself using 10mm2 twin and earth , but i never tried it as a spur, so i can,t comment on whether its a fact or just another myth .:rolleyes:

[Mekon]

I've asked at PFM, and people have used thinner cable, and think that 6mm2 will fit. I was hoping someone here might have done it.

AFAIK, in most hydras (eg the Grahams one), standard Naim power leads are used. 'Standard' practice is run the hydra out of a junction box, or a single 15amp round pin plug.

The merit/demerits of spurs vs ring mains are beyond me. I know Russ Andrews advocates rings, which is reason enough to doubt their efficacy in some circles ;).

Gear is LP12/Naim CD3.5/72/180/Kans

[wadia-miester]

If you guys ask nice, I'll open a new one and have a look for you ok, I know 4mm square goes in no probs, I'm sure I have some 6mm kicking about somewhere I'll check later, Tone

[Mekon]

Please please please!

Thanks :).

[wadia-miester]

Mekon, 32 amps seems a bit excessive:yikes: ,, My power amp is 3/4 of a KW, and is more than happy with a 5 amp fuse, the plugs them selves are 15 amp for 320's and 20 amp for the 350's, 6mm2 absolutely no chance, 2.5mm squared is Marinco max recommend cable diameter for the 320, so I abviously can't read my digi vern's today :rolleyes: hope that helps. WM

[Mekon]

Apparently people have listened to 32amp vs 16amp, and claim there is an audible difference. In the 'what spur setup' sheet my naim dealer gives out, it also recommends 32amp if you are using MCBs, and says that if you go for any lesser MCB, it will trip regularly. I guess Naim stuff must draw alot of current for very short periods of time, otherwise the poweramp case fuse would go pop too.

I take the word of guys like Roy K. Riches on the Naim forum when it comes to stuff like this, and my sparkie agrees that his thinking is coherent, although obviously he can't validate the info it is based on.

As for the Marinco, would it fit with a bit of a shove?

[wadia-miester]

You are talking mains cabling rating mekon, as in house wiring, I see, you could try the 60 amp hospital grade, that'll do the job. and Naim stuff, then maybe use the yank outlet sockets, and Marinco hospital plugs, works very well WM

Marinco would it fit with a shove :D well as with all things of 240V it entirely down to you, the incoming diameter into the plugs is 5.2mm, so unless you want to drill them, then no
use the yank recepticals much better in my book

[kermit]

does it have to be a marinco?
i,ve fitted far larger cables than 6mm2 into those right angle down iec ,s that i recommended at the start of the thread .
i,ve not been inside a marinco to know what would stop it using large cables, if indeed anything.
i,d be inclined to agree that there is a difference between 16amp and 32amp,hence me going from 32amp to 45amp :rolleyes:

[Mekon]

No, not at all. Thanks for the heads up. Off the top of your head, you don't know the max that 6mm2 can take, do you? 2 runs of 6mm2 is all I can accomodate.

[kermit]

6mm2 is rated at 38amps inside trunking,walls
rated at 51amps in freespace

10mm2 is rated at 52ampsinside trunking, walls
rated at 70amps in freespace.

personally i,d run both cables to a wall socket , which would create a ring main and from what i,ve read (or remember)this means that you then double the power .

ie 2 spurs of 6mm2 are rated at 38amps
i ring main with two 6mm2 is rated at 76amps

PLEASE CHECK THIS WITH YOUR ELECTRICIAN

or maybe either lilolee or hippy will confirm (far more knowledgeable than me)

it,s a moot point for me as i use a 10mm2 ring main , so either way i,m in spec .

i,m sure i gleaned this info from either RA,s mains booklet or an article in hifi + , but i can,t find either and i,ve not had much luck on the www .
i think its worth trying both set ups , (ring and spur)just to to see if theres an audible difference . as i said earlier from what i,ve gleaned on the forums , the naim guys seem to like what a spur offers . :)

[themadhippy]

cople of points to make sure your all complying with BS7671 (iee 16 edition wiring regs).The protective device (fuse,mcb)shall be rated at the lowest rating of the equipmen its protecting,so if its a 16A iec connector then a device no greater than 16A must be fitted,
for socket outlets adevice no greater than 32A for a ring final circuit, or radial circuit using cable =or > 4mm,and 20 amps for a radiual using 2.5mm cable.
if the mcb trips out due to the inrush cuirrent fit a slower device, for mcb's a type B,3 or D instead of a type 2,if its a cartridge fuse get a motor rated device.