Double Pole 100a Henley Block for my hi-fi

[Retseldrib]

this is not a joke although I would imagine this might seem very odd to anyone reading this.

I am a hifi enthusiast and am about to install a 16mm separate spur from my home consumer unit fed by a 40a RCD. This is a recognized way to improve the sound of your hifi system - DON'T ASK but I have tried this before with 4 separate 6mm spurs fed by 32a RCDs with great results.

Anyway, I have a home made juction box with nine 6mm twin and earth cables which plug into my hi-fi equipment via iec kettle connectors.
Q. instead of using my home made junction box, can the Henley Block http://www.alertelectrical.com/Elec...ing/Double-Pole-100a-Henley-Block-HENLEY2.asp be used to take the 16mm live spur and then plug in my 6mm twin and earth cables to power up my hi-fi. The hi-fi equipment have case fuses and the consumer unit has its own protection ofcourse which would trip the power should any poblem arise - I have had never had a plug or equipment fuse blow yet.

 

[Steve]

Have you notified this work to your building control?

You must, its the law.

And you're bonkers. My Logitech Z5500's sound great, without a 16mm² supply cable.

And if this stuff works, why dont manufacturers ship their equipment with such cables, surely they want their stuff to sound as good as it can too . . .

 

[Retseldrib]

Have you notified this work to your building control?

You must, its the law.

And you're bonkers. My Logitech Z5500's sound great, without a 16mm² supply cable.

And if this stuff works, why dont manufacturers ship their equipment with such cables, surely they want their stuff to sound as good as it can too . . .

I am getting the work done and certified for insurance purposes by a qualified electrician.

If it sounds better or not is a debate for a hifi forum which is why I posted my question here.

Still hoping for an answer - many thanks.

 

[RF Lighting]

Ask your electrician if he is happy for it to be done like that, as he is the one who will be signing the work off as compliant.

Oh and can you send me some money?

 

[Click-Sure]

Untitled

• Click-Sure
• 23 Feb 2009
• 1

Bought some the other day, amazing stuff.

As you say, it a discussion for a hi-fi forum, because we know our electrical therory in this one, and therefore, can give a very very well qualified 'nonesense' reply.

A good quality UPS would do you more favours (as long as its positioned some distance away)

 

[flameport]

Q. instead of using my home made junction box, can the Henley Block http://www.alertelectrical.com/Elec...ing/Double-Pole-100a-Henley-Block-HENLEY2.asp be used to take the 16mm live spur and then plug in my 6mm twin and earth cables to power up my hi-fi.

No. Those blocks are designed to take single wires with double insulation.
Twin and earth will have to have the outer sheath removed, so you will end up with single insulated wires where they enter the block.
There is also the problem of what to do with the earth - those blocks only have 2 terminals, but you will need 3 for twin and earth.
Yet another problem is that the terminals are very large, and fitting multiple 6mm wires in there will probably result in one or more loose connections.
Multiple T+E in a henley block ends up looking like this dangerous mess:

Henley junction box

• flameport
• 3 Aug 2008
• 3

This mess was the main connection point for the 1st floor socket outlets in a house, supplied...

From the hi-fi point of view, you are probably wasting your time and money with twin and earth anyway.
A better option to reduce interference / circuit impedance or whatever would be:
At the mains intake / meter position, a separate metal clad consumer unit for the hifi only. MCB or fuse only, no RCD.
3 core steel wire armoured cable from there to the hifi room, using both the armour and one of the cores as earth.
At the hifi position: Metal clad sockets with the SWA glanded directly into them. (Sockets clearly labelled as 'hi fi use only' or similar). If the SWA is too large to go directly into the sockets, connect into a metal enclosure say 12x18 inches and flush mount the metal sockets into the enclosure lid.

 

[ricicle]

Have you been hypnotised by :-

http://www.russandrews.com ?

 

[hairyben]

Like fameport says I'd go down the route of a metalclad cartridge fuse board and SWA. I'd say use 3 core then you can lose the earth armour at the socket connections for a cleaner earth, but how much difference this makes I don't know.

 

[RF Lighting]

Bear in mind, your electric still comes into the house on an 80 year old PILC cable, shared with all your neighbours

 

[me01]

Q. instead of using my home made junction box, can the Henley Block http://www.alertelectrical.com/Elec...ing/Double-Pole-100a-Henley-Block-HENLEY2.asp be used to take the 16mm live spur and then plug in my 6mm twin and earth cables to power up my hi-fi.

No. Those blocks are designed to take single wires with double insulation.
Twin and earth will have to have the outer sheath removed, so you will end up with single insulated wires where they enter the block.
There is also the problem of what to do with the earth - those blocks only have 2 terminals, but you will need 3 for twin and earth.
Yet another problem is that the terminals are very large, and fitting multiple 6mm wires in there will probably result in one or more loose connections.
Multiple T+E in a henley block ends up looking like this dangerous mess:

Henley junction box

• flameport
• 3 Aug 2008
• 3

This mess was the main connection point for the 1st floor socket outlets in a house, supplied...

From the hi-fi point of view, you are probably wasting your time and money with twin and earth anyway.
A better option to reduce interference / circuit impedance or whatever would be:
At the mains intake / meter position, a separate metal clad consumer unit for the hifi only. MCB or fuse only, no RCD.
3 core steel wire armoured cable from there to the hifi room, using both the armour and one of the cores as earth.
At the hifi position: Metal clad sockets with the SWA glanded directly into them. (Sockets clearly labelled as 'hi fi use only' or similar). If the SWA is too large to go directly into the sockets, connect into a metal enclosure say 12x18 inches and flush mount the metal sockets into the enclosure lid.

Flameport, I think Retseldrib is going to use a 5 or 6 way double pole henley block, which means the 4, 6mm t+E, can be individually connected to each way.

It is true there will be only single insulation, and without earth shielding, at the termination, and the terminations will have to be re-checked for tightness (no problem, a qualified electrician will be doing the job). A separate, 8-way earth block will persumably be used for the earthing.

Altogether not a neat bit of installation, but can still work.

In your design (probably a neater solution) are you suggesting a single SWA cable, or 4 SWA cables from the CU to the metal clad sockets?

 

[flameport]

In your design (probably a neater solution) are you suggesting a single SWA cable, or 4 SWA cables from the CU to the metal clad sockets?

One large cable, probably 10 or 16mm. Separate ones could be used, but for what benefit?

There are 2 main points:
1. The SWA and metal accessories will be far less likely to pick up interference from other circuits or even passing taxis etc.
If the incomer is PILC, this is already very well shielded by the lead covering and steel banding. Even newer concentric cable still has the earth/neutral as the outer conductor.
Compare this to T+E, which has no shielding at all and an undersized earth wire.
2. Using a much larger size cable than required will mean that the voltage drop is minimized, and the circuit impedance is as low as possible.

This type of setup is of reasonable cost, and is likely to provide some improvement over using a standard circuit in T+E.
Unlike the products available on that Russ Andrews website.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Anyway, I have a home made juction box with nine 6mm twin and earth cables which plug into my hi-fi equipment via iec kettle connectors.

Do you realise that twin and earth is not a suitable cable, that it cannot be properly secured in an IEC 60320-C13 and that C13/C14 connectors are not rated for 40A and are not designed to take 6mm² conductors?

Could you post a photo of one of the C13s opened up to show how you've managed to get the cable in there?

 

[Retseldrib]

In your design (probably a neater solution) are you suggesting a single SWA cable, or 4 SWA cables from the CU to the metal clad sockets?

One large cable, probably 10 or 16mm. Separate ones could be used, but for what benefit?

There are 2 main points:
1. The SWA and metal accessories will be far less likely to pick up interference from other circuits or even passing taxis etc.
If the incomer is PILC, this is already very well shielded by the lead covering and steel banding. Even newer concentric cable still has the earth/neutral as the outer conductor.
Compare this to T+E, which has no shielding at all and an undersized earth wire.
2. Using a much larger size cable than required will mean that the voltage drop is minimized, and the circuit impedance is as low as possible.
This type of setup is of reasonable cost, and is likely to provide some improvement over using a standard circuit in T+E.
Unlike the products available on that Russ Andrews website.

Many thanks for the answer to my original question. I will try the SWA solution. Very interesting point about the over sized cable. I have noticed that at certain times of the day that my hi-fi sounds louder which would correspond with voltage drops or not as the case may be???

Anyway, I have a home made juction box with nine 6mm twin and earth cables which plug into my hi-fi equipment via iec kettle connectors.

Do you realise that twin and earth is not a suitable cable, that it cannot be properly secured in an IEC 60320-C13 and that C13/C14 connectors are not rated for 40A and are not designed to take 6mm² conductors?

Could you post a photo of one of the C13s opened up to show how you've managed to get the cable in there?

Sorry, I should have explained that I am using an iec wattgate. I said kettle connector because I didn’t know if wattgates were a familiar item outside of the hifi world. These can take up to a 16mm flex cable.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

According to the maker, the largest cable that they are designed to accept is 12AWG, which is 3.31mm². They aren't rated for high currents, so there would be absolutely no point making them capable of taking a cable which could carry 80-odd amps.

And are they designed to clamp flat twin & earth cable? Surely the expectation is round flex?

 

[Retseldrib]

there are a number of different wattgates available ranging in price fro £15 to £150!!!!

They are rated at 10a upwards and designed to take different size flex cables. Mine are 6mm. It sounds better to my ears even though the equipment is only drawing a small current??