Jaw dropping moment

Having been recently busy re-decorating and fitting new lights in the lounge - and with it the inevitable trips to the fusebox to replace blown fuses I thought I'd take a look at the 30A fuses that supply the mains to the power points in the house. Both the fuses and the holders were very dirty with oxidation having built up over the years (I suspect these were the original fuses put in when the house was built 20 years ago).

In the spirit of intrepid investigation as every hifi nut should have, I decided to clean the fuses and holders with De-oxit to get rid of all the crap and give better electrical contacts. With clean shiny fuses back in place I settled down for a listen.
The result? :mana:

I really must investigate replacing the fusebox with a proper consumer unit and putting some spurs in.

Conclusion :- The mains is important guys, if you want to maximise performance!

 

good call Robbo, i might take a look at my fuses over the weekend.
You've been quiet lately, good to see you back

 

Nice one Robbo.

I'm certainly far more amenable to the idea that poor contacts can have an audible effect than, say, cables . It certainly makes a lot more sense to me.

Michael.

 

That was my starting point back in the dim past , '78ish. Its been down hill ever since I started to clean mains fuses and plugs. Then I discovered cables in about '80.

 

"I'm certainly far more amenable to the idea that poor contacts can have an audible effect than, say, cables . It certainly makes a lot more sense to me."

This is what a cable is.
Not just the wire but four points of contact.The plug to socket the ,plug to wire then the same the other end.The size of wire, connector , type and cleaness of join, all make a difference to how good the contact between materials is.The better the contacts the better the cable ,not the wire , the cable.
An innterconnect cable is as good as it contacts.
See you already believe it ,you were just a little bit confused by the terms used.
People talk of the wire , when its actually the hole product that makes the difference.

 

:duck: :clint: :beamup:

 

No not really spxy I'd go as far as to say that real differences that might be heard between different cables are likely to be attributable to the connectors used more than the cable itself. There are many people (amongst cable believers) who find there are far fewer and smaller differences between balanced cables than single-ended ones. This is likely to do with the fact that the vast majority of balanced cables use identical Neutrik connectors which make a good connection every time not subject to the vagaries of the multitude of different RCA sockets and plugs. Also, I'd say that a comparison between two single-ended cables is not strictly valid unless they're identically terminated.

Michael.

 

Read more carfully and you'll find that what i just said.
When people aurgue that one cable is better than another they include the connector, they aren't just talking about the wire.In fact in a lot of cases you'll find the majority of the cable cost is for termination.

 

Just out of interest has anyone tested the difference in terms of sound between an old style fuse box and a modern consumer unit with RCDs?
I would have thought that, strictly speaking, you'd be able to get slightly more out of the old style units - though I've never tested it (I have replaced a fuse box with a consmer unit before, which tends to get electricians a bit hot under the collar )