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Lowering the

My most recent obsession is with lowering the "noise floor" of my system. I have installed a dedicated 240V 20amp line to an Equitech blanced power transformer into which my two powered subs, tube preamp, CD player and SET power amp are plugged, with good results. I cannot part with my unbalanced gear and I like my unshielded silver interconnects. My question is this: How are the chassis ground and signal grounds within a component connected? What good does it do to "isolate" the chassis grounds of components when they are ultimately all interconnecting via the signal grounds? If all the chassis are grounded to a single point, and the signal ground is connected to the chassis ground, then why does one need the signal ground portion of the interconnect? It seems there really is no way to "isolate" a noisy component from the system. Forgive me, I am a neophyte, I don't "get" grounding. Thanks.
brad_silverman

Showing 1 response by garfish

garfish
1,840 posts
 
Hi Brad; if you haven't already done it, install good quality receptacles. I've used Hubbell Audiophile grade, Acme silver plated, and 20 amp Pass & Seymor Hospital grade with good results, but there are others-- some pretty expensive such as Wattgate.

I would think the PS Audio would be excellent too, but I haven't tried them. A hospital grade outlet is much better constructed and grips the male end of the plug much tighter than a standard hardware grade outlet as found in most houses. Good Luck and Cheers. Craig
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