Mains - click, pop, bang!

[thrudge]

I live in a big old house divided into flats, which means I've got no control over what gets hooked up to the mains. Click, pop, bang is pretty much a way of life for me through my abnormally sensitive (104dB) speakers.

I've lived with this state of affairs (somewhat uncomfortably) for years, but now I want to kill mains noise - not least because I reckon it's killed my MIT funky black magic speaker gadgets. I've gone from awesome bass slam and weight to 'ho-hum this is nice but dull' literally overnight. I am bereft.

Could y'all recommend some solutions, please? I'm aware of mains regenerators, of course, but I really haven't got £1k+ to drop on one of these things. If there's a cheaper way, I'd be glad to hear it. Replacing cables in walls ain't on, but hooking up boxes to the mains is.

All suggestions welcome (with the possible exception of 'move house'....)

BTW, current 6-way mains block is a Russ Andrews bottom-end type thing. Did very good things to sound quality, but nothing for the mains blitzkrieg. Mains cables are one RA into the CDP and bog-standard leads into everything else. Also got an RA Silencer (don't laugh, OK? I got it dirt cheap, and it had no effect on anything anywhere).

 

[zanash]

Assuming you've checked that its none of your own household appliances causing the rice crispies ..... your limited to mains filters and conditioners .....

there are a number of relatively cheap diy builds and a number of expensive commercal offerings .....

you can't say which will be best till you get them in your system ....don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

my best bet would be an isolation transformer [works well for me] with some filtering spikes and hash using x and y rated caps, inductors and voltage dependant resistors.

I have some recipes if you need them ...but you should be able to find them by googling

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/nuukspot/decdun/powersupplies.html

http://www.lcaudio.com/index.php?page=314

http://www.audiomania.com/shop/sorti-73-0.html

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.homar/feed-through-filter2.pdf

theres a selection .....I found I can't say how good they are as I've not used these ....but they stack up to the designs I have ...

word of warning .......

if you don't know what your doing ...leave well alone!

if you close to me I'd be happy to bring over the isolation transformer so you can see if it has any impact on your problem!

oh yes its unlikely that the mains pollution has damaged your speakers ...look elsewhere imo

 

[stephen]

A mains 'isolation'transformer is an excellent way to go, but be aware that while it will stop everything else from humming, clicks and bangs - it will inevitably hum away to itself due to the inherent noise in the mains.
You idealy would use two - one large one for the amp (amps can draw far more current for extremely short periods that bely there quoted amount - too small a transformer can kill dynamics) and another to power the other equipment.
I have used these.

 

[stephen]

The link disapeared from my last post -

http://www.airlinktransformers.com/balanced-power-supplies.asp

 

[thrudge]

Thanks for the advice, chaps, it's given me a direction to explore. Much appreciated.

Zanash, thank you for the kind offer of a blast with your isolation transformer, but I'm in Cheshire so I'm quite some distance from you. BTW, it wasn't my speakers that I suspected of being pranged by the mains, it was the little MIT speaker modules that sit in line with the speaker cables (http://www.audionerdusa.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=10). I could be wrong, of course - maybe I just need new valves. The change was literally overnight, though, and dramatic.

 

[zanash]

yes ....your right !

its too heavy to post too ...economically

looks like a diy job ! and see if it has any effect.

 

[Alex S]

Of those I've tried, this is the best: http://www.james-audio-sales.co.uk/ Hell, I even still use it.

 

[thrudge]

I've borrowed a Belkin Pure AV mains filter (http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=41WH) and it's done the trick. Sound quality is, if anything, even better than it was. Also, the bangs and ker-thunks on the mains have been reduced to the occasional soft pop. Result. Looks like I'll be breaking open the piggybank for one of these.

Thanks once again to everyone who responded.

 

[The Devil]

I live in a big old house divided into flats, which means I've got no control over what gets hooked up to the mains. Click, pop, bang is pretty much a way of life for me

Surely each flat will have its own, seperate, mains supply? Or do you all chip in for one huge communal bill!?