Older home & 2 prong outlets, Help No Ground?

Some line conditioners can operate just fine without grounded outlets. Ideally you do want to have a dedicated grounded line but sometimes it's just not possible. I know that most monster units must have 3 prong grounded outlets, however many adcom units (ACE 515) can work without the grounded outlet.

If you consider the cost of a decent system ($2000 to $10,000?) the cost of a cable run is not so bad ($250?) or the cost of a good line conditioner/surge protector ($200 to $500).

If you have armored cable and metal outlet boxes behind the receptacles, then it's relatively easy - just replace the old receptacles with the ones of your choice

What this actually means is that if your wiring runs in solid or corrugated metal conduit, then that conduit is connected to ground back at your fusebox. By replacing the old 2-prong outlets with 3-prong grounding outlets, your ground path is via the metal conduit. Not the ideal situation, but it works because the outlet ground prongs are connected to the outlet mounting strap, which then connects to conduit ground via mounting screw contact.

If you have armored cable and metal outlet boxes behind the receptacles, then it's relatively easy - just replace the old receptacles with the ones of your choice. All boxes are standard, no matter how old.

If you have cloth or rubber covered wires, then a rewiring is in order. Well worth the investment for practical and safety reasons. It is most likely that this house has only a 60-amp fused service; today you need 100 to 200 amps due to air conditioners, microwave ovens, refrigerators and (yes) audio/HT systems.

Surges are not the result of lack of grounding at the outlets. They're mainly caused by power distribution problems (lightning, power line faults, transformers, etc.) - not house wiring. What the ground does is safely route a fault to the earth instead of your body should the wiring inside an appliance comes in contact with the casing. There are more opinions here on how to ground even though national and local codes call for one and only one method - back to the house service panel.

I don't know whether there are safety issues to be truly concerned about, but, honestly, your system may sound better with nothing grounded.

i moved from georgia 7 months ago. i had a house built in 1904. i updated most all of the wireing. i just bought a house in south florida built in 1917. i am getting ready to revamp the wireing in this house as well. bottom line, you must update the wireing . good audio computers as you said, simply cannot survive in that climate.i am going with all dedicated lines to amps preamp etc. i also am putting in 240 lines to run the massive 800 watt triode tube amps. anybody want to hear that setup? i also will have the massive gryphon amps to compare the best tubes and the best ss on earth. i will have an audiophile party when i finish. 561-801-2510