Use of Schuko sockets in a UK home only for a HiFi system

Question

Hello everyone, 
 This is my first post. 
 I have a question about using Schuko sockets in a UK domestic home. 
 But first, a bit of background might help. 
 I am a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. I didn't think my people would be very good at answering this question which is why I am here! 
 In more detail, I would like to use a Schuko socket to which only my hi-fi system would connect. The socket would be connected to a brand-new consumer unit with RCBO&rsquo;s. There will also be surge protection. All will be done to the latest standards and specifications by a fully qualified electrician. The wiring diagram would be based on the one in this link: https://www.russandrews.com/images/pdf/MainsWiringGuide111023.pdf 
 I will also have a regular UK 3-pin socket. I am a reviewer for a HiFi magazine and want to do the above as the basis of an article on HiFi power supplies. 
 So back to the question , is there any legal reason (or otherwise) that I can't use the Schuko socket in the UK? 
 If the answer is &ldquo;yes I can&rdquo;, albeit with specific conditions, I'd like to quote that in my article/review. Especially if the Schuko supply sounds better than the UK 3-pin with fuse! 
 
 I am looking forward to your response. 
 
 Many thanks 
 
 Paul

Lisa Miles · Accepted Answer

Hi Paul and welcome! You're definitely in the right place. 
 I think we've had a similar conversation in the forum before but I can't track it down. I'll link it here if I find it. 
 In the meantime though some of our forum members will no doubt jump in 
 Lisa

mapj1 · Answer

yes you can, but it won't comply exactly with BS7671, so many electricians will wobble at that as it makes it hard for them to 'sign off' . 
 For minimal hassle it can be done in a way that later converts back to a UK socket when you move house or whatever. 
 Note that to be fully representative of say German practice, really it needs to be on a 16A radial circuit, all the way back to the board and wired in cable with a full size CPC (earth) . However, in reality being fed from a 13A fused spur from the same sort of ring as all your other sockets will probably do just fine. 
 Mike. 
 Edit, that Russ Andrews doc is quite a laugh - beware there are a lot of snake oil merchants in Hi Fi, but I'm sure you know that..

mapj1 · Answer

Good - that is helpful. I have found that the basic ones 
 https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-elec/pe5100/schuko-socket-1-gang/dp/PL01821 
 are a pretty good fit to a single deep UK back box. The sort of cable you want to represent normal German practice would either be stranded singles in flexi tube or sheathed NYM-J 3 x 2.5 mm&sup2; or similar. 
 M.

Lisa Miles · Answer

Paul Soor This is the previous conversation from before: Installing a French electrical socket in a UK house?

AJJewsbury · Answer

transformers that big 
 
 Although one the scale of the electricity distribution system they're tiny - with the consequence that inserting them into the supply circuit will effectively add a considerable impedance - which rather calls into question all the other efforts they're recommending for the apparent purpose of reducing the impedance. 
 - Andy.

mapj1 · Answer

One has to be careful - it has been shown that (some) humans are responsive to effects that are quite a long way outside the traditional audio range ( perhaps 10Hz to 20KHz and more like 300 -3000Hz for mobile phone "dalek quality" speech - think mobile 'phone..) 
 Correctly instrumented measurements on audio kit need to include looking for effects up to perhaps 50KHz plus that might be attended by apparently imperceptible roll-off and small phase errors in band that would generally not be noticed. 
 Also some people 'feel' ultrasound effects, even when they do not report hearing them. 
 a reference 
 I'm firmly in the 'if it can be heard it can be measured' camp by the way, but I would say that for a satisfactory measurement one needs a degree of rigour and precision often lacking, 
 
 Mike.

mapj1 · Answer

OK, so if your ears cannot perceive very high frequencies, how can you perceive them at all? 
 
 The non-linear mixing of modulated ultrasound is a fairly standard way of casting sound directionally - the 'sound' is only re-created at the point of detection. 
 This chap has done it at the party trick level to 'throw' music with 40KHz transducers. 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQOabMOMGoE 
 the ultrasound power levels are higher than I would want to be bathed in but hey-ho. 
 (google the 'voice of god' weapon for a possible use in warfare, to either instruct some poeple but not others, or to make folk think they are hearing instructions when there is no obvious source, but there is no public domain evidence to suggest that the idea has left the lab, but in principle it should work.) 
 Then there is also quite a bit of evidence for sensing ultrasound without inter-modulation though bone vibrations stimulating other nerves not normally associated with hearing. 
 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378595505000481 
 This leads to sensations, rather than actually 'hearing' but may be part of the 'feel' of music. 
 Mike.

Chris Pearson · Answer

Fujimoto may be doing clever things electronically, but the fact is that the tones which were presented to the ear(s) were from 125 Hz to 8 kHz - see fig. 2. 
 The bone vibrators stimulate the cochlear nerve in the usual way. Ever tried listening to a tuning fork by biting the foot?

gkenyon · Answer

Paul Soor said: I have a question about using Schuko sockets in a UK domestic home. 
 OK, BS 7671 would permit the use of a Shuko, provided it has shutters - I understand without departure. Shuko with shutters are definitely available. 
 The main problem is the Plugs and Sockets (Safety) Regulations. Whilst it's permissible to supply Shuko socket-outlets in the UK, these cannot (according to the legislation) be supplied for 'domestic and similar' use. 'Domestic and similar' has a wide interpretation, but would include supplying the socket-outlet for the purposes of plugging in an appliance with a suitable plug rated up to 3 kW (230 V rating plate) or 3.1 kW (240 V rating plate) - called "pluggable Type A" equipment in a number of product standards. 
 So, if you buy it yourself (and don't tell anyone what it's for), an electrician could fit it, provided: 
 - It has a declaration of conformity with a standard of another CENELEC country that is based on IEC standards; AND 
 - it has shutters on the live ports; AND 
 - It is going on a suitably rated circuit (usually 16 A or 20 A) according to the manufacturers' instructions (as others have stated, not ring final circuits usually), and protected by a 30 mA RCD/RCBO for TN-C-S or TN-S supplies. 
 Or, you can fit it yourself (with the appropriate certification for BS 7671 of course), provided you are competent to do so, and it meets the above requirements.

Andy Millar · Answer

Actually, it's surprising. Even though we all lose our high frequencies (at the very least), there's lots of other aspects of hearing - I suspect particularly special positioning - that, providing we don't actually go deaf in one or the other ear, we do keep, and it does make a huge difference. As well as playing music I listen to a lot of live acoustic music, and the recorded version hardly ever actually sounds the same even with my 64 year old (and battered with loud music and power tool) ears. But I recently visited my 80 year old brother, who has possibly the best audiophile sound system I've ever heard (and as you'll gather I've heard rather a lot), who played a solo violin recording and it was extraordinary. With my eyes closed it did genuinely sound like they were there in front of me. (Of course it was also fantastically recorded which was why he was playing it to me.) 
 The ears themselves might deteriorate, but the brain can even improve it's ability to process sound over time given practice. On a related issue, by accident I've found myself helping fellow musicians of my sort of age move from playing from sheet music to playing by ear in sessions, which involves really working the way the brain processes sound. It's shown - and I know form my own experience - that it's amazing what you can learn to do in terms of processing sound. Which I guess is why it was promoted recently that one good way of delaying dementia etc is to learn a musical instrument late in life (makes me feel justified for having picked up three new ones in the last few years!) 
 P.S. Not that I'd ever advocate spending huge amounts of money on a home sound system unless (like my brother and the OP) it's the thing you enjoy doing. When I was in the industry, and people asked my advice on buying hifi, I'd generally advise to just spend enough until you find a system that doesn't actively annoy you. Personally I probably could have afforded a reasonably expensive sound system at home long ago but all my money went on musical instruments instead...

Andy Millar · Answer

No great secret, it was on the recording side rather than the listening side, it was SSL (Solid State Logic). In the late 80s and early 90s I was one of the two lead analogue designers there. I left when that world went digital, not because I objected to digital but just because the opportunities for interesting new analogue design were obviously going to be very limited, and indeed 30 years later SSL are still producing analogue equipment incorporating my designs - as well as digital clones of my designs, which rather amuses me. Personally with all the opportunities that the digital world offers I wouldn't limit it by cloning analogue designs which were heavily limited by what we could achieve in the technology. But there you go, it's nice that people still like them. Anyway, I moved into the rail industry which being many years behind the times still needed analogue audio frequency design expertise!!! 
 So a lot of the perspective was that we were producing a recording tool, and its sound could not get in the way of the recording process, it had to be as transparent and faithful as we could make it. Although interestingly our only real rival was Neve, and Rupert Neve's products did have a very distinctive sound which he liked, and George Martin liked, but of course people who didn't like it didn't like it and were stuck with it. We sold a lot more desks than Neve did... 
 Sadly the only desk that we designed that I'd really want to use for an absolutely top quality acoustic recording never went into production, because vanishingly few customers could have justified the cost (at 1990 prices &pound;500,000+ against our normal system prices of &pound;200-300,000). For that sort of recording you don't actually need all the features a desk of this size has, you might as well use something smaller which can be vastly cheaper for the same quality. But we learned a huge amount getting there. 
 Cheers, 
 Andy

Use of Schuko sockets in a UK home only for a HiFi system

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