Do better ingredients make a better Ground Wire?

Hi, No this is a serious(real) post. I wrote a long detailed post yesterday with no humor and it was blocked. I have made the DIY Ground cables that are in my post, and my finding are real about the two different kinds of metals used. This is the TRUTH being told in a light hearted way, so it won't be blocked by the Sith Lords.

Hi, I'm talking about a DIY version of the Audio Prism Ground Control. I own 4 of these with the spade ends. I have two on my speaker negative post, and the other two are on my Classe S-700 power amp's negative post. I just made my own Diy version of the 4 Audio Prism Ground Control spades. I made 4 with solid core silver wire. Each one terminated on a pure copper spade. The DIY solid silver ground spades are faster than the Audio Prism. Have more impact slam, PRAT, details are better fleshed out than the Audio Prism, but the ease and flow is still there, just bolder, brighter, deeper, blacker. Now the silver & palladium mix spades have everything the solid silver have, but have slightly darker tone. Voices come out of blackness that's rich ,full, detailed and smooth. The Palladium & silver spades are very impressive. But the best combo has been the Palladium & Silver on my amp negative post, and the solid silver on my speaker negative post.

Hi, I see some members have sighted there concerns about the potential for this DIY ground control to ruin, destroy, or even blow up your amp. This simply is not my experience at all. I put this out to the Audiogon family to share with those who like to tweak and do cheap DIY projects like myself. And I for one like to hear the good bad and indifferent of opinions. Now as far as the ground cables I made or the ones that Audio Prism sells. Both are very simple in design. I just made mine out of different wire and a different spade. And without the unbleached cotton outer jacket. This is far from mystical and the stuff of legends, but I must admit it is strange how well it works (in my system). So all I did was satisfy my curiosity about "better ingredients" with a very cheap tweak that seems very safe to me, and keeps my wallet out of danger.

Hifihvn, you bring up one of the most if not the most crucial points concerning the DIY ground wire I made. The length. My non laboratory study found that the total length of each cable should be less than 6 inches long. I use two 6 inch long Silver solid core wires in one 8 awg copper spade. So that makes a 3 inch loop in the spade with all 4 ends in the 8 awg copper spade. Total terminated length including the copper spade is 4 inches to 4.5 total length. And I have tried longer loop lengths of 6 inch to 7 inches and the magic (voodoo to some) is gone. Remember a 6 inch loop is 12 inches of cable, and 7 inches loop is 14 inches of cable. I have some that are 2.5 inches loop lenth 5 inch long total cable and they sound better than the 12 or 14 inch cables.

Let me take this time to take myself to task about how easy this design is. I did not do any of the R&D of this product, I have not spent any money bringing it to market. Heck, I don't even know who Audio Prism is or who is behind them, or a name or face. So I shouldn't be stating what is easy, simple, or trickery. So my apologies to those who put in the time, effort, and money to make this happen. I'm just a nobody enjoying the fruits of there labor. Tweak on!!!

Hi, I know I broke Audiophile commandment number 3, "Thou shall never use the word magic in any audio discussions".( insert thunder clap). In spite of that laps on my part, what you gain is a since of realness to over all sound. With just the ground controls on your speakers there is a ease to the music that just comes across as less strained, the bass has more foundation. Dynamics seam sharper but not brighter. Everything just flows better. The Audio Prism Ground Control gave me all the above to a degree. The DIY ones I made (both versions) gave me all the above to a much higher degree ( in my system). I suggest reading some of the reviews and other opinions as well.

Ozzy, both the solid core Silver and the stranded Palladium & Silver wire are both around 14 awg thick. So that's 14 awg x 4 in one 8 awg pure copper spade.

Hi, Almarg. Your hypothises (educated guess) is as good as I have heard. Dissipation of outside noise, Radio waves, EMI-RFI,or even absorption or filtering which is denied in the review as you pointed out is on the table. I just don't know enough about this kind of thing. But I'm with you on the length being a major part. But I do know what I hear. So there is no law of physic conflict between my right and left brain. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Hi, Elescher. Reading your post made me think maybe we all are putting to much into the first part of the name (Ground Control), and not realizing that the function is not to Ground but to Control. I think the secret in the Audio Prism Ground Control is that it controls the preexisting ground you already have in your system. Not creating a new one. Kind of like a reinforcement to your ground, with a fake detour that enough of the audio gremlins take and intern make the music that much cleaner. That my attempt at explaining it, fire away.

Hi, Ozzy. Your post says your loop is 3 feet long. Is this correct? If you meant 3 inches for your loop than we are similar. I use a 8 awg copper spade so I could use my thicker 14 awg silver and Palladium & silver mix cable. But I do have a pair that I made up using canare copper cables which sound pretty good terminated in my Audioquest spades.

The first DIY spades I made use Audioquest CF- spades. These are direct silver plated no nickel between the silver and copper. They accept up to 9 awg wire. I was only able to use one silver or one Palladium cables with these spades. So I had both end of 14 awg cable in a spade. It sounded good, a little thin when used on my speakers and amp. But just on the speakers it was a noticeable step up from the Audio Prism spades, nothing earth shattering, but a nice step up. But when I doubled up on the wire and put all 4 ends in the pure copper 8 awg spades it just wasn't even close. As soon as I put them in the difference in flow, and realism was dramatic. I don't know if it was the doubling of the cable or the pure copper spades, or a combination of both. I would like to try the Xhadow spades. They look promising.

I took my Classe amp S-700 out of my system. And put my modded dual-mono Adcom 555-MK11 in it's place with my DIY Ground controls on the amp negative speaker post just like I did with the Classe S-700. There is an even greater improvement with the Adcom than with the Classe. I have bragged about this Adcom in other posts, but it never sounded better than the Classe, until now! With the DIY Ground Controls the Adcom is visceral, open, wider sound stage, bass now has not just very deep bass, but low bass, mid bass, upper bass. The mid range has more presence to the voices, they just sound live and real. This is laughable how much this already overachieving amp has been improved by this simple tweak.

Hi, Bud. I used the $150.00 dollar set of Audio Prism Ground Control as my reference before I started this post. So I have directly compared them to my DIY version. And in direct head to head match ups with the DIY versions I made, the Audio Prism Ground Controls were a behind the two versions I made(solid Silver - Silver Palladium mix) I would love to compare my DIY to the Audio Prism Reference Ground Control. But they are priced much higher. I do have my eye on the RCA ground control for equipment(preamp). Thanks for the suggestion.

Replacing the direct silver-plated Audioquest CF spade with a pure copper spade made all the difference in the world on both the all silver DIY Ground wire I made, and the Silver & Palladium DIY Ground wire. There was no location where the Audioquest Direct-Silver plated CF spade sounded better than the pure copper spade.I agree that if you never heard the two side by side you would not find fault with the gold plated or silver plated spades. But there is a significant step up in performance in pure silver and pure copper spades over plated spades.

Hi, David. I have not tried any other way of hooking the DIY Ground Controls up except using spades on the outside negative post on my speakers and power amp. Now is a good time for me to restate that I am no way connected to Audio Prism in any way shape or form. I want to thank all those at Audio Prism for doing the research & development, putting the time in and spending the capital to bring there Ground Control to the market. I have just rode there coattails to make my own version of there discovery. So in other words I don't know nothing about nothing. But I am very glad your out there adding to conversation. This is what it is all about improving one's sound.

Hi, Bud. I have the DIY JPS AC In wall cable on both the negative post of both my speakers (spade connections). I also have the DIY JPS AC In wall cable on the negative post of the right and left channel of my power amp( spades). Now back to the speakers, I also have added the Silver-Palladium DIY Ground Control to both speakers negative post using a banana plug. Combining both the JPS wire with the Silver-Palladium wire give me the best of both cables. The JPS wire brings out background sounds betters. Brushes have more shimmer, and the sound stage is wider. The Silver-Palladium is very good with the mid range and has a very solid bottom end. So the sound stage is wider but still in focus. PRAT is very good. The DIY solid silver wire is not as good with the DIY JPS wire. I have even tried PCOCC copper and it seemed a little slow sounding at first listen, maybe needed more time to burn in. TEASER ALERT: I have been working (USING) on a DIY Control wire that can be used on the POSITIVE POSTS of your speakers and power amps. I guess I should have taken the RED pill instead of the BLUE one. (THE Matrix).

Just an update on my DIY Ground Control spades. I have replaced the solid silver DIY Ground Controls spades on both of my speakers with a pair of DIY Ground Control spades made with JPS Power AC In-Wall cables. This is a 10 awg cable used in home wiring to your electrical service panel. It is $18-$20 dollars a foot. I cut a 5" piece, stripped about 1" off both ends. Then twisted the stripped ends together. Then I put the two twisted ends into a Pure copper spade lug (no plating). There was a greater since of spaciousness with the music, but everything was more infocus. But what stood out to me was the noise floor was much lower now with all kinds of musical cues coming out in songs that I knew. Yes I heard them before with the Silver DIY Ground Controls. But now there is a more shimmer in brushes, male and female voice have more throatiness. All this with no edge or harshness, just a flowing ease with full dynamics. I still have the Silver-Palladium mix DIY Ground Controls on my poweramp. I have another set of DIY JPS AC In-Wall Ground Control that I will put on my amp in place of the DIY Silver-Palladium mix Ground Controls. But for now just by replacing the DIY Silver Ground Control spades on my speakers with the DIY JPS AC In-Wall Ground Control spades. There is a very very noticable step up in musical flow and sound across the board. So do better ingredients make a better Ground Wire, once again the answer is yes.