Do better ingredients make a better Ground Wire?


We have all heard the slogan "Better ingredients better Pizza". If this is true with Pizza, how about applying this Principal to a DIY Ground wire I pondered. So I set off on a journey to find out if using better ingredients (wire) would make a better ground cable. My finding of course only apply to my system in my listening room using my ears (my wife and my Beagle dog don't count). But they heard the difference as well. To say this was a short trip is an understatement. To say that the two versions I made more than held there own is an even BIGGER understatement. One version uses solid core Silver wire. The other version uses a silver & Palladium mix. I made 4 of each kind, both versions terminated using a pure 8 awg copper spade. Do better ingredients make a better Ground wire. In my system, a very understated YES!!!
jejaudio
Koestner, I run my system balanced from CD Player, Preamp, Amp and the Ground Controls work fantastic!
Ozzy, where do you place them as both leads are hot, only 180 degrees out of phase from each other?

John
Koestner,

I have just been reporting what users have forwarded to me. The one user, with a fully differential system, reported no change at all, neither better or worse. A balanced system is not always fully differential, there can be a ground reference in the system and that is all that is known to be needed for GC's to perform. Obviously, Ozzie is having great success with his balanced system.

To date we have seen two GC's up for sale and none have been returned to us as unusable, other than the fully differential system rejection.

The RCA's do seem to take longer to charge than the spade lug items. I ascribe this to signal level and relative current levels involved, with the RCA's not normally seeing more than 3 or 4 volts peak and only ten's of ma in current.

I have noticed that the louder you play the system, over what you will normally listen to, the quicker the spade lug versions charge. This does not seem to be true with the RCA's though, or at least not in my experience. Again, I think it is related to the signal levels involved as

I would suggest that you try out a pair of standard lugged GC's. If they don't work out for you, return them and please report back in either case. The more different styles of systems that use them, the more data points we have and all information is good information.

Bud
Koestner, My equipment has both balanced and single ended input/output. The RCA Ground Controls are used on the RCA's.
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.