Best mains products

By What Hi-Fi Admin
published

Electrical noise is everywhere, your best bet of eliminating it without altering your system is the always overlooked, but very useful mains block.

Jump to:

Your electrical devices not only draw power from the mains, they also have a nasty habit of depositing electrical noise back into it. Why is this a problem? Well, your hi-fi and home cinema equipment is sensitive to this kind of noise, and electrical interference can upset all the work you've put into assembling your kit.

So a mains product that eliminates electrical noise is your new best friend. It's a good thing these blocks won't let you down.

And with Black Friday around the corner, it's a good time to be keeping an eye out for bargains.

Under £100

Tacima CS947

Great value, this can help your system deliver greater detail, attack and dynamics. For the price, it's a brilliant entry-level purchase.

Reasons to buy

+
Allows greater detail, greater attack and greater dynamics
+
Pretty affordable

Reasons to avoid

-
Squeezes the soundstage somewhat
-
Can impact on treble adversely

Under £200

Olson Sound Fantastic HF6

Capable of helping a system sound more expressive. If your system is worth it, and can afford it, this is a great buy.

Reasons to buy

+
Preserves more of the detail, texture, refinement and dynamism your set-up’s capable of

Reasons to avoid

-
A slightly small-scale listen

Under £500

Russ Andrews X6

No matter what the source material, the X6 will help to ensure your system sounds as explicit as it can be.

Reasons to buy

+
Allows your system to sound wide-open, revealing and convincing

Reasons to avoid

-
Nothing, as long as your system justifies the outlay