Grounding

The metal rail is a bad place being on an upper floor of a balcony. I would run it to cold water pipe instead hoping it is an all metal pipe going into the ground

Concrete is poor conductor, especially when it is dry.

Normally the ground on the AC outlet is fine.

If your system needs more than that, take it as an indication that the ground circuits in one or more components in the system are not set up ideally for best results.

cold water pipe in the place i live is plastic and so sewage. one way is to drop ground inside sewage such as drop it in toilet tub, but be careful not to do ya thing when there's thunder or you can loose ya things...
sewage and waste is much better conductor vs. water.

First, I'm not sure what it is that you are referring to that you want to connect to an external earth ground point. Are you talking about grounding the chassis of the equipment, which would normally be grounded anyway via the AC safety ground pin of the power plugs (assuming they are 3-prong plugs)? Or are you talking about connecting the signal grounds/circuit grounds of the system to earth ground?

In either case, though, I agree with Ralph/Atmasphere that if your equipment is properly designed you are unlikely to be accomplishing anything constructive by adding extraneous ground connections. In addition, you would probably be introducing a code violation, and possibly serious safety hazards as well. See the upper part of page 8 of this paper.

Regards,
-- Al

Czarivey
"cold water pipe in the place i live is plastic and so
sewage. one way is to drop ground inside sewage such as drop
it in toilet tub, but be careful not to do ya thing when
there's thunder or you can loose ya things...
sewage and waste is much better conductor vs. water."

What? PLEASE nobody do any of this! Not sure if this is
for real, but don't do it...

What Ralph and Al said is correct.

What a fine bunch of alarmists. Faint heart n'e'r won fair maiden.

Specifically i am using a Denon 395 with a Ground terminal on the rear panel. I am not referring to a power cord.

What i may do is get a 10 Gal dirt filled pot and sink the wire right into it on a tent stake or something.

Thanks for replies....R

The ground terminal on the back of the Denon DRA395 is for a turntable, not a chassis ground. You shouldn't need to ground the unit itself?

That would not be a ground. If you want to test for a true
ground source you will need a multimeter. To get an earth
ground you would need to drive a ground rod about 3 feet into
the ground. Since you are in an apartment the center screw on
the outlet is your only option. BTW, that metal rail you are
using now is useless. You still have to check that the center
screw is grounded,sometimes they are not.

Please don't think I'm for real:-)

Specifically i am using a Denon 395 with a Ground terminal on the rear panel. I am not referring to a power cord.

What i may do is get a 10 Gal dirt filled pot and sink the wire right into it on a tent stake or something.
11-05-14: Roscoe50

The Denon 395 has a two wire power cord and plug. The power wiring inside the unit is doubled insulated and thus the unit does not require an earth ground. An earth ground could actually introduce noise into your audio system.

The earth does not possess some magical mystical power that sucks nasties from our audio systems. That is a myth.

+1 to the latest comments by Mofi and Jim (Jea48), including and especially the second paragraph in Jim's post. The intent of that terminal is to allow connection of the ground wire of a turntable. It is not intended for connection to an earth ground. See the diagram on page 6 of the manual.

Regards,
-- Al

Thanks for replies. If i have this right then, it is not necessary to ground my 395.

"If I have this right then, it is not necessary to ground my 395."

That is correct.

It appears that the only thing i did was ground my porch railing into the Denon. I am going to listen tonight for the first time with it unhooked and see if there is a difference. Of course everything recorded onto DAT or Cassette with it hooked up would have been affected.

It appears that the only thing i did was ground my porch railing into the Denon.
11-07-14: Roscoe50

Actually you may have provided a great path for lightning to fry your audio equipment.

If the apartment building is constructed of poured concrete a lot of steel rebar was used in the construction. If the railing is set in the concrete the railing is indeed earth grounded. That does not mean there is not a difference of potential, voltage, between the railing and the equipment ground of the power feeding your apartment.

Had any of your other equipment used a three wire power cord and plug plugged into a receptacle with an equipment ground there is a good chance you would have experienced a ground loop hum.

http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=119872

I thought of the lightening part today myself.

I will double check but i am pretty sure all my power cord are 2 prong plugged into a hardware store voltage protector that does have the 3 prongs going into the wall socket.

It will take another few days before i can figure out if my equip sounds diff withe the thing pulled off....

Update--- it doesn't seem any different. R