Mains leads and Power block?

[admin_exported]

Hey all!

Once again i am looking to upgrade my system some more, I am looking for mains power leads and a mains power block.

Any suggestions? Would really appreciate some advice on these items as i have not looked into this field much.

I don't really have a budget on them (as long as the improvement is substantial and worth it i am willing to splash out) so anything from your good buys to your mid and hi end leads.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Cheers

Nick

 

[idc]

Nick, from my experience you would be better getting a mains conditioner than a power block or leads. I see you have bought from Russ Andrews so have a look at the various conditioners available there from The Silencer at £50 odd up to silly money. After using a conditioner, block and lead on various systems in various houses, it is the conditioner that has made the biggest difference. I have found that mains noise has a bigger effect on hifi than RFI, so the conditioner makes more of a difference. This will not be the same for everyone as some houses have cleaner mains and so less noise than others.

 

[kena]

Nick,

Check out the QED conditioner available in 2, 4 or 6 way currently a bargain here

 

[idc]

For a cheaper solution than the very nice looking QED conditioner I plug my Silencer into the first socket on my RA mains block, both give you the best of both worlds. After that a power cable is unlikely to make much of a difference. How you run your exisiting power cables is more important; keep them away from other cables and so reduce RFI.

 

[kena]

idc:For a cheaper solution than the very nice looking QED conditioner I plug my Silencer into the first socket on my RA mains block, both give you the best of both worlds. After that a power cable is unlikely to make much of a difference. How you run your exisiting power cables is more important; keep them away from other cables and so reduce RFI.

The 6 way QED at £115 would still be cheaper than a RA powerblock & Silencer tho, also I would disagree the mains cable wouldn't make much of a difference , it may not be quite as pronounced as if used on its own but definately still worth replacing a supplied lead with a better one.

Clearer Audio & RA do 60 day trial so nothing to loose also TM3 and Merlin offer good VFM cables which are well received alledgedly.

 

[idc]

Kena, you are absolutely right about the cost of the QED over the Russ Andrews alternative. I see you have a RA Yello in your equipment list, I use Yello and Blue and I had not realised that there is no cheaper RA mains extension. When I looked up the Silencer and saw it was £50 I thought it was expensive, it is actually nearly twice the price I bought it for.

 

[jase fox]

I have to agree with idc on this that mains conditioners have the biggest improvement in quality.

Over the years ive tried different mains cables etc & even though they improve things IMO the difference is only slight though however, when you add a mains conditioner the improvements are immense & the most noticeable.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers for the answers guys!

Think im going to go down the root of that QED Mains Hub only going to get the 2 block one (as its going to be just for my Amp and CD) But any suggestions now for some power leads? Need 2 of them.

Cheers again

Nick

 

[idc]

Nick, Clear Audio and Russ Andrews are the usual recommendations for power cables. But I would recommend that you get the conditioner first and wait till you are happy before you take the next step. Too many upgrades at the same time and you don't really know what works well or not and so what was actually worth it.

Jase, I don't see a conditioner in your present system, are you using one at the moment?

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers idc,

So you would recommend the QED one then?

 

[kena]

I ordered 6 way QED yesterday to replace one of my Tacima's being delivered to-day tho probably won't be able to try it till W/E as Hi-fi is out of room as i'm decorating. Got to be a step up from the Tacima (Tho a great buy) it has seperate mains lead so could even swap that. At less than 1/2 price wish I could have bought 2 and replaced both my Tacima's (Reuse in sons room)

idc, Yes use Yello but in the process of replacing them with Classic PoweKords (Slowly due to funds)

 

[jase fox]

idc:
Nick, Clear Audio and Russ Andrews are the usual recommendations for power cables. But I would recommend that you get the conditioner first and wait till you are happy before you take the next step. Too many upgrades at the same time and you don't really know what works well or not and so what was actually worth it.

Jase, I don't see a conditioner in your present system, are you using one at the moment?
Couldnt of said this better myself !

And yes idc im using a RA silencer & i recently got one of there "mini purifiers" i just havnt added these to my signature equipment list.

If you think the silencer reaps rewards then try a mini purifier? Now dont get me wrong the silencer is a great performer for the price of £50 but the mini purifier is a major leap & at £150 i think its worth it & as you know the good thing is with RA is you can have a trial period to check these goodies out so nothing to lose.

 

[Big Chris]

I use a Russ Andrews 8-way Silencerblock for all my A/V kit, along with a stand-alone Silencer (In a socket next to the fridge-freezer) I got for free when I bought 2 Classik Powerkords years ago.

The other thing you have to factor in when buying R.A blocks is the need to buy a cable too, I have a 6ft Classik Powerkord with 16A IEC to connect my block to the wall socket.

R.A stuff can get crazy expensive, but they do do some good deals throughout the year. I can't remember how much I paid for my Silencerblock and 16A IEC cable. It wasn't cheap, but it was a decent chunk off the standard RRP.

 

[idc]

Nick, whilst I have no experience of the QED power block, I liked the QED cables I have had and the price is good. Big Chris is right, RA is expensive and the art is to wait for sales, of which I would say there are about two a year and then buy. I picked up my GQ-24 in the new year sale for 10% off. The Silencer is £49 if you check the web site now, but it was £35 in the sale.

Jase, after what you have said my next upgrade is now going to be either the mini purifier or the interesting and cheaper Clarity Mains conditioner which was £80 in the sale. My Silencer had been working with the TV until I moved house last year and it went back to working with the hifi. One for each would be ideal.

 

[Anonymous]

hi chaps,

just to say i use the QED 6 way block but have changed the mains cable to a clearer alpha, but as with the rest of my alpha cables i have upgraded to high performance mains plugs and wattgate 320i IEC's, i also got Darren at Clearer to add super supressors to all my cables 1 at each end.

The QED on its own is great but when i changed the cable to the Alpha then boy what difference! it was like i'd changed one of my components! everything seamed more detailed and the picture was even more defined!

I use Clearer Audio Alpha's for all my kit and have all been made with the extra feature's as above and all cut to the exact length needed to get from the kit to the QED block! there isn't any extra cable hanging around than needed!

I thought the QED mains Cable was a great product that was supplied with the block but now i would strongly recommend to change the supplied with something like the above to the block to bring out more detail etc!

The QED block Also benifits from dedicated inputs for amp/plasma's then lower powered kit like dvd's cd's etc! it's a great piece of kit, i'm glad i went for this over the tacima!

hope this helps

Pete.

 

[idc]

Hi Pete, like the idea. So you get a RA purifier mains block and use a Cleaer Audio mains cable for that!

It would appear that the more you treat the mains from the point of the socket, the less you need to do further on in the chain.

 

[kena]

petesneds:

hi chaps,

just to say i use the QED 6 way block but have changed the mains cable to a clearer alpha, but as with the rest of my alpha cables i have upgraded to high performance mains plugs and wattgate 320i IEC's, i also got Darren at Clearer to add super supressors to all my cables 1 at each end.

The QED on its own is great but when i changed the cable to the Alpha then boy what difference! it was like i'd changed one of my components! everything seamed more detailed and the picture was even more defined!

I use Clearer Audio Alpha's for all my kit and have all been made with the extra feature's as above and all cut to the exact length needed to get from the kit to the QED block! there isn't any extra cable hanging around than needed!

I thought the QED mains Cable was a great product that was supplied with the block but now i would strongly recommend to change the supplied with something like the above to the block to bring out more detail etc!

The QED block Also benifits from dedicated inputs for amp/plasma's then lower powered kit like dvd's cd's etc! it's a great piece of kit, i'm glad i went for this over the tacima!

hope this helps

Pete.

Hi Pete,

Whats the cost of a lead with super suppressors each from Darren ? also what prompted you to request suppressors?

 

[jase fox]

idc:
Jase, after what you have said my next upgrade is now going to be either the mini purifier or the interesting and cheaper Clarity Mains conditioner which was £80 in the sale. My Silencer had been working with the TV until I moved house last year and it went back to working with the hifi. One for each would be ideal.
Yes i would go for it idc, i cant comment on the clarity mains conditioner but im sure itll be good.

I dont think now though that id spend anymore than £150 as the mini purifier is excellent enough for me, to a very satisfied level as you could spend hundreds of pounds on this sort of thing.

You have to draw the line somewhere i guess.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Kena,

The cable all in is £82 roundabouts,

I noticed that on the silver cables they had blue supressors on each end, i enquired with Darren as to how much they helped, to which he stated that they remove unwanted hum and noise from the cable( Darren may want to add on this ), 1 sup removes 85% of this 2 removes all of it! i also added the better mains plug and the wattgate as they are well known to be a better conection to the kit!

As i've said in many previous threads Darren and all at Clearer are a great family business that deserve total respect for their products.

All the cables i own(5 in total all diff lengths) are built to the highest of standards, and yes it is me thats been parting with my cash but nothing is to much trouble for them to do! They even sorted out a 90' angle IEC for the cable for the back of my wall mounted plasma!

I feel now that from the wall socket to the back of each piece of kit that i have cleaned the power,and yes it truly does make a huge difference!

IDC, as long as the RA block has a fig8 or IEC connection then yes you can add a Clearer cable to it!

The QED mains lead that came with the block was 1.5 mtr, Darren made mine 1.1mtr so from socket to block is exact length!

Thats the joy of bespoke companys that will do what is req to keep the customer happy! in my case a very happy customer!!

hope this helps

Pete

 

[kena]

Cheers Pete , yes agree found Darren helpful when I was getting my HDMI's.

My LG Cinema DVD/receiver came with a ferrite core which could be attached to cable first time came across it seperate.

 

[aliEnRIK]

The reason most of you dont see much a difference when you fit mains cables is because there are 2 main types ~

Shielded, which work best with a decent mains supply

Braided, which will remove 'some' RFI (Which is what a basic conditioner does)

Ive found a 16 core machine braided cable works better than most cheap (Under 100 quid) conditioners

 

[idc]

aliEnRIK, I read you posts about 16 core braided cable and I am convinced. But for me with my ipod only set up there is no place for traditional power cables any more, as the headphone amp and Sounddock both need PSUs. A conditioner has the advantage of being able to work on the whole system. Any of you know about upgrades to the PSU, especially the 'Little Pinky' for the Xcan?

 

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

Found a Tacima CS929 6 Way Mains Conditioner quite cheap are these any good? I was going to get theQed Qonduit Mains Distribution Hub but if the Tacima is good or similar in quality then i shall just get that. Also found some cheap RS Yellow leads.

 

[kena]

NickD2544:

Hey guys,

Found a Tacima CS929 6 Way Mains Conditioner quite cheap are these any good? I was going to get theQed Qonduit Mains Distribution Hub but if the Tacima is good or similar in quality then i shall just get that. Also found some cheap RS Yellow leads.

Tacima is a best buy but suspect the QED will outperform it , the build quality on the QED is way superior. As mentioned due to decorating havent plugged it in yet to test. The Yello is no longer available and was RA's entry level cable. I'm just getting around slowly to replace mine with the Classic PowerKord. I was a mains sceptic till I got my first Yello so if you are replacing supplied leads you should notice a marked improvement.

 

[clearer_audio]

Hello everyone,

Kena and Pete - Really pleased that you have been happy with the products and service.

Kena - The Super Suppressors cost £10.00 each and it is no problem to add them to the Copper-line Alpha Power Cable. Custom-made with the best materials and to tight tolerances they are fitted as standard on the higher-end Silver-line Power Cable. We can fit one (which like Pete said will remove some 85% of noise) or two (which offers the best peformance removing 99% of noise). In summary, they help reduce noise across the whole Electro-Magnetic Inteference (EMI) spectrum and are exceptionally good at stopping Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) from reaching the component.

Hope this helps.

All the best,
Darren