Grounding boxes - The real deal

[DSJR]

Back in the day when AVI designed 'separates' gear, the designer, being a bit of an rf expert, seemed to be able to design his preamps so they were pretty immune to rf issues on the mains, as witnessed in tests of his earlier Kelvin Labs amps as measured by Paul Miller yonks ago.

P.S. I still like what clip-on ferrites do. Very cheap to buy, easy to fit and remove and they do actually have a measurable difference when used. Just one on the master mains cable to a distribution block can be of audible benefit sometimes and adding more makes less and less of a difference I found. I still use these automatically on any supply cable to an smps and on the exit leads of the one or two wall warts we have here.

These 'grounding boxes' are frightningly expensive though and I don't think any proper objective tests are available to back up subjective findings, these latter feelings so easily influenced by external situations. Sometimes, I find it a damned good idea to do what the poster above did and that's to remove ALL of these expensive add-ons and listen again for a while, just to see if these things really do make a difference. Quite often they don't, and older audio peeps like me who've been around the audio block a few times have seen these fads come and go quite often over the last forty years or so since the modern 'Hi End' started - imo and ime.

[Macca]

You just reminded me to get some of those ferrite clips. Have ordered a pack of them, various sizes. Don't think I've got a problem that needs solving but for a tenner got to be worth a try.

[Firebottle]

...If it were actually routing extra RF into the ground plain, then a regular FM antenna attached to the same point should work even better!

....But wouldn’t it be even better if you used quartz crystal components that have electronic leads made onto them? Like seen on clocks and radio transmitters.

....If not, then does that mean that all preamps are fundamentally flawed?

You are somewhat wide of the mark here Russell.
A regular FM antenna is in this context a rather narrow band device, a very wideband solution is needed.

A quartz crystal with leads on is even more narrow band, they are usually made for one very specific frequency.

Nobody is saying any preamp is fundamentally flawed, just that they will likely sound better with all this low level crud removed>

[MikeMusic]

Ferrite chokes make a wonderful difference for almost nothing.
Cheapest upgrade around



Tony brought his grounding box to me.
Belles Pre, Rega Isis CD
The magic worked

Later
TAD CD/Pre/DAC, TAD Power Amp
The magic worked

[Macca]

Ferrite chokes make a wonderful difference for almost nothing.
Cheapest upgrade around

I'm anticipating a difference on a scale running from none whatsoever to barely perceptible. But if there is a wonderful difference I will certainly say so. They should arrive tomorrow with any luck.

[Barry]

I'm anticipating a difference on a scale running from none whatsoever to barely perceptible. But if there is a wonderful difference I will certainly say so. They should arrive tomorrow with any luck.

It will depend on where you fit them, and how clean the mains coming into your house is. Fit them to the source, i.e. on the output of any SMPSs (if you have any). One fitted on the input lead to a mains distribution block (again, if you use one for your system) is a good idea, as this will help remove the 'crud' introduced onto the mains from any neighbours who share the same phase as you and may also use a plethora of SMPSs.

The ferrite clamps are cheap, and if they don't prove to be of much help they won't do any harm either and can be removed.

[DSJR]

To start with, one on any block feeding source components - or especially your vintage CD player.

Forgive any auto suggestion, but the bass is where you could start. If you have a large enough one, try the Krell. May be something, or nothing at all.. back in the day, my ATC 100A's *seemed* to be slightly better in the bass with one ferrite on each mains cable. The TDA1541 CD player with the usual rf/ultrasonic muck these chipset based machines exhibit, also beneffitted (I go one better and use either a Roxburgh 6A mains filter or a similar one Glenn Croft used to make rated at 4A - Ben Duncan in a HFN article suggested a 10x margin for such devices on the gear they're connected to I remember).

Ferrites DO make a measurable change, but obviously, this may not be necessary or even audible. For bigger money if you really want to spend serious dosh on such things, a balanced mains box from Airlink and others, can do some good to the music reproduction depending on where you are - at least it did for me, using the very same box that Macca here rejected as making a small difference, but not necessarily one he liked at the time I recall.

I forgot to say, the original Caiman supply Stan B kindly sent me for the second QED Digit supply (I think on the output chip) has a large ferrite on its mains cable wrapped around a couple of turns and also, an 'S-Booster' on its output, which I felt made a small positive difference. Mark Grant very kindly supplied one with size of the DC plug I wanted.

The differences these things make isn't huge at all and the more you fit, the less change each one makes, although some people like me have fitted them to most mains cables for no real rhyme or reason (more's better, right? )

Martin, if you don't find any difference and want to shift 'em on for a tenner or so, I'll take them...

[Wakefield Turntables]

What happens if you use these grounding boxes with something like a PS audio P10 regenerator? How much can be attributed to the grounding box and how much to the P10?

[MikeMusic]

I'm anticipating a difference on a scale running from none whatsoever to barely perceptible. But if there is a wonderful difference I will certainly say so. They should arrive tomorrow with any luck.

I expected barely perceptible.
Very pleasantly surprised.
Only on non hifi kit like Broadband router, PSU for laptop etc

[MikeMusic]

What happens if you use these grounding boxes with something like a PS audio P10 regenerator? How much can be attributed to the grounding box and how much to the P10?

Dunno
Replaced my P10 with the Audio Magic conditioner