Hello all, My first experience with a high end turntable an Acoustic Signature Triple X has a ground on the plinth as well does the Tonearm have a ground cable attached to the RCA cables. I am getting a pop thru my amp when the needle hits the record even if the amp is muted. Should both the plinth and the Tonearm be grounded to the phonostage? What is the correct way to ground this to eliminate the pop?
How are you attempting to use the grounding wires currently? I suspect this has more to do with the tonearm grounding than the plinth grounding. Typically your tonearm ground wire would attach to the phono pre. I would try only using a tonearm grounding wire first and disregard the plinth connection. By attaching both to the same phono pre post you may be creating a loop...and a pop.
@three.. so presently not using the plinth ground at all. Just the TA1000 tonearm cable ground to the phonostage. Very weird because even with everything muted or even a different input selected on the amp I still hear a pop. Could it be static?
Right. Static. Sometimes just pulling a record out of the sleeve generates enough static the sleeve wants to stick and the record is attracting dust like a magnet. Get a ZeroStat. Meantime go to the store and buy Static Guard or whatever anti-static spray they have. Ordinary laundry spray works fine. I’ve never gotten the pop but use this all the time anyway because even when its not bad enough to pop it turns out there’s still enough to raise the noise level and add a little grain and glare. Spray over speaker cables and interconnects, hear the difference. If yours is bad enough you could try spraying the platter and table before putting a record on. Don’t spray directly over records, spray so it wafts just above and to the side. There’s a bunch of other more long term options (like ZeroStat) but this should get you by for now.
The tonearm is the only thing that should be grounded to the phono stage. If you must ground the plinth, it should be to your building ground (usually the cold water pipe coming in from the municipal water supply, only if it’s metallic) through a dedicated ground lead. If you use a well, the building ground electrode should be a long copper rod driven into the soil close to the foundation - check your local electrical code requirements for more info.
Just wanted to thank everyone who helped my figure out that this was indeed a static buildup at the plinth side of my AS Triple X. I had tried grounding it to the phonostage but it needed to be grounded to my Krell Digital Vanguard negative speaker output. Went back and forth with Krell and they advised on the proper grounding. Super company and very responsive! Thanks Everyone!!
Cartridges are naturally balanced devices. The tonearm is grounded to chassis ground of the turntable which is connected to chassis ground of the phono preamp. The minus terminals of the cartridge should be isolated from chassis ground or in other words chassis ground should not be connected to the negative side of the RCA cables. Having said this audiosaurusrex's symptoms are a bit unusual if the pop is not just the needle hitting the groove. As millercarbon suggests static electricity could do this and it might be worse if the turntable were not grounded. Zerostats are a serious joke as the second you put the stylus back in the groove static electricity is generated rapidly. The best way to discharge a record is by using a grounded sweep arm with conductive bristles and making sure it and your turntable are grounded correctly,
millercarbon, go to Sleeve City and get yourself a grounded sweep arm. The static you sense from pulling the record out of a sleeve was generated during the last play. Nothing like a nonconductive stylus rubbing a nonconductive groove for 20 minutes, a mini Van Der Graaf generator. You have to discharge the record while it is playing!
Mijostyn you are very wrong on all counts. First and foremost, the tonearm requires a signal ground from the phono stage, and if you tie it to the plinth, you have just created a ground loop. Second, the phono stage needs to be grounded to the pre-amp / integrated amp. On an integrated amp, many manufacturers tie the common negative speaker leads to chassis ground. The OP was wise to consult the manufacturer on this, although the same result could probably have been achieved by grounding the phono stage chassis to a chassis screw on the preamp or integrated amp. Third, the Zerostat is a well-proven device to neutralize static buildup. A grounded sweep arm is not necessary, and in most cases it will do no good.
@sleepwalker Yes I did not understand why there was no ground from the phonostage or table to the amp and it made sense to me that the “pop” could have been some sort of static buildup. I just did not to start willy nilly experimenting with connections from the turntable/phonostage to the amp. Krell did caution however do not do not connect ground to red/positive speaker terminals. “Explosion” lol. Either negative speaker terminal is tied to ground chassis. Just glad I resolved it. That pop was annoying!!
Sleep walker. ground has nothing to do with signal in a balanced set up. As you might notice most tonearms come with a separate ground wire not connected to the negative side of the RCA. it is like the shield on a balanced cable. Now some phono amps may have a common ground for signal and chassis. i suggest you stay away from them. Balanced outputs are the best with isolated chassis ground second. The Zerostat can temporarily reduce static which is regenerated as soon as the needle hits the groove. It is not my fault you have no concept of how static electricity is generated. I refer you to any high school science book. Functionally the Zerostat is stupid and a total waste of money. I am deeply sorry if you wasted your money on one. After you used your zerostat the static electricity was immediately regenerated as soon as your stylus hit the groove attracting dust smoke and god knows what else which your stylus promptly ground into the groove. Great way to ruin records. In the meanwhile Sleepwalker I suggest that you switch to digital media it is more fool proof.
Everyone knows that Zerostat is the first step to clean vinyl signal reproduction. If you weren’t drunk, you would realize that the “ground sweep arm” as you refer to, only neutralizes static charge that exists in the groove *before* the stylus, and is thus ineffective at neutralizing static charges caused by the friction of the stylus. Please get your facts straight.
I have a couple Zerostats (I jumped on it right away, and still have my original white one), but prefer the Nagaoka Kilavolt (Model No. 103). It’s easy to use, unlike the idiosyncratic Zerostat (don’t pull it's trigger too rapidly ;-) . Good luck finding one!
I gave up all forms of brushes as a means to clean my LP's just before playing them Zerostats weren't all that effective. after a static charge cost me a $300 turntable motor, I decided something else had to be better. I've since gone to compressed air as a pre/post play dust removal. Now I swear by it. But that's what works for me.
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