BEST INTERCONNECT FOR $25 EACH?

terry9

@cleeds

"we can say a "ground loop" is formed whenever two or more grounds are at different potentials"

I don’t think so. From Wiki, "A ground loop is caused by the interconnection of electrical equipment that results in there being multiple paths to ground, so a closed conductive loop is formed."

You don’t seem to understand what a ground loop actually is, and neither do you seem willing to understand it. So it’s no wonder that you’re confused about how to cure or prevent the problem.

The link provided by @tls49 provides a fairly succinct explanation of what a ground loop is.

Have a nice day.

terry9

A star ground is important if ground is used as a circuit element, such as a signal return. A shield attached at one end is not part of the circuit, and cannot form a ground loop, or hum.

This is completely mistaken - a shield attached at only one end most certainly can either form a ground loop and contribute to hum and noise, or help alleviate hum and noise. That's exactly the purpose of using such a shielded cable, but of course it requires proper orientation of the shield to be effective. Remember that the term "ground loop" is really a bit of a misnomer; we can say a "ground loop" is formed whenever two or more grounds are at different potentials.

Also, the term 'source tend' seems ambiguous to me - is it the turntable or the preamp?

It's the preamplifier. What would be the purpose of running all the grounds through the pickup arm and cartridge?

As noted, star grounding is unimportant in this case.

Your connection scheme may work in your system, but I know for sure it wouldn't work in mine. I can't see any value in using an amplifier - as opposed to the preamplifier - as the common ground connection.

terry9

The problem with connecting the shield to the source end is that if a source has no ground connection, you will end up with an ungrounded shield.

Almost all components today have a separate ground. If not, you can always run a wire from the chassis to ground.

If you always ground at the source end, it’s easy to maintain star grounding. That helps avoid noise and hum by keeping all grounds at the same potential.

Many turntables and tonearms are like that, especially vintage ones - think two-prong plugs.

The typical pickup arm/phono cartridge assembly has a separate ground wire - it’s a balanced circuit with a separate ground intended to be connected to the preamplifier. Again, that helps maintain star grounding.

terry9The shield should be connected to the component with the most robust ground, which is often the amplifier.

I'm not sure what you mean by "robust ground." A good ground has low resistance and low impedance and - unless there's something amiss with your electrical wiring - that's easy to achieve. You want to avoid ground loops in an audio system, and the best way to do that is to have all components grounded at a single point. That usually means using the preamp (or integrated amp) as the ground for all components in the system. The goal is to keep all grounds at the same potential.