The present paper is a systematic study of small-scale hemispherical charges enhanced with energetic particles. In order to allow for accurate and repeatable results, the experiments are conducted on an instrumentation table specially designed for a clean setup and flexible sensor mounting. The experiments cover the high explosive C-4 enriched with 40 \(\mu \) m aluminium particles in the range from 0 to 40 \(\%\) . Pressure gauges and a high speed video camera are used to document the experiments. Based on results from the pressure gauges shock time of arrival, maximum overpressure, pressure-impulse and positive duration can be determined, whereas the Edgerton retroreflective shadowgraph technique is used to study the detonation process. The resulting images show high quality, and give detailed information about the detonation and initial shock formation and propagation. The main finding is that the addition of energetic particles leads to an increase in the total energy of the high explosives, and consequently the shock deceleration of the outward propagating shock is less pronounced, with a higher shock velocity observed. It is also interesting to observe an increase in pressure-impulse and positive duration of the explosive event, due to the added energetic particles.