Should I redo the AC power in my house?


I was inspired by the Michael Fremmer YouTube about how he went to great lenghts to address the power in his home. Also was urged to do so by Mike Lavigne. Thanks Mike.

Fremmer and Lavigne are thrilled with the difference it makes in SQ. Perhaps comparable to getting the next level up on all components. Mike referred me to the consultant both he and Fremmer used-Rex Hungerford of King Rex Electric.

I would not go to the lenghts of those fellows but still would do a lot. The whole job should run about $4-5K. I started this current quest interested in grounding but Mike L and Rex both highly recommended I go the full boat.

 

 

mglik

The fact that MF said that his system hummed, sort of makes me wonder at how I would trust what is written.

It sounded like his house wiring was "all jacked up" to begin with.
and secondly he got that gear and work done largely for free I imagine.

So yeah, it made a huge difference (from a hosed up starting point)

if you have no problem, then applying a solution will not yield benefit.

What problems do you have? Or is it just searching for some bump up, without and evidence that it can be bumped up?

I do not trust the fellow at all after his glowing review of the state of this house for the decades he was writing.

Mr. Fremer’s wiring was fine until he had some recent generator work done. He went public on the problems he experienced, and rectified the issue. All good.

Fremer Installed a new electrical service replacing the old, in bad shape, outdated one. That in itself would make a big difference. Just look at the old meter socket in the video. The old aluminum wiring connections were corroded. More than likely the aluminum wire connections were not tight either. Poor corroded connections equals excessive harmonic distortion. Excessive harmonic distortion equals noise on the AC mains wiring.

Add to that all the old utility power wiring to new service wiring terminations at the overhead weatherhead were replaced. That can make a big difference...

I did take note of the earth grounding connections methods used in the video. That’s probably the first time I have ever seen Cadweld (Exothermic Welding) terminations used for the connections of the grounding electrode conductor to the earth driven grounding electrode, ground rod(s). That ain’t cheap!

FWIW the main purpose of the electrical service to earth connection is for lightning protection. It does nothing for the sound of an audio system.

 

 

 

 

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Fremer did the right thing for his situation.

 

You likely only need some dedicated 20amp lines added.

 

I have the dedicated lines and just bought a Balanced Isolation Transformer

to do some light cleaning. Then I hope to be done.

 

If your grounding sucks, as they all do in desert areas,

you can look into improving that. Keep us posted please.

Watching the Fremer video now. Perfect example of what I have been saying over and over again to people quoting code: Code is nothing to do with sound quality. Code is for safety. You can do it perfectly to code and still have crap. 

(Where by the way is the fuzzball who complains when Fremer videos are posted? Crickets. MDS much?)