Puritan Audio Labs GroundMaster CITY & RouteMaster grounding system

What’s inside the Box? Is it just a point for connection?

A couple months ago I inserted the GroundMaster CITY into my main system and would like to share my thoughts. I have a PSM156 so this was an inexpensive and easy upgrade.  I wasn’t expecting much but boy was I surprised!  It’s very easy to test - just unplug the cable from the port on the PSM156 and listen.  What I (and my wife who could care less about it) noticed, was an immediate bump in clarity.  The music got slightly louder with increased clarity, tighter bass and better space.  At $250 this is probably the best bang for the dollar upgrade I have ever made.  Considering I have a dedicated circuit, quality PCs and a PSM156, it was hard to believe that there was still that much noise on my lines. 

I was so impressed I immediately ordered the GroundMaster CITY and RouteMaster to ground my signal-based components.  I plugged the RouteMaster cables into my DAC, pre and amp.  The result?  Nothing.  I could not hear any discernible difference.  I tried the RouteMaster with and without the PSM156 connected to the GroundMaster CITY.  There may have been a very slight uptick in SQ when the PSM156 was disconnected from the GroundMaster CITY but it wasn’t consistent.

Maybe I need a more resolving system for the GroundMaster CITY/RouteMaster combo to make a difference?  Or maybe draining the noise from the mains filter takes care of 95% of the problem? There probably isn’t a lot of noise being generated by quality electronics downstream of the mains filter. However, if you don’t have a PSM156 with a convenient port to ground the chassis, maybe the GroundMaster CITY/RouteMaster combo is the next best thing?

I currently have the GroundMaster CITY/RouteMaster combo on my second system but it does not have enough resolution to show a difference.  I will probably be selling the  GroundMaster CITY/RouteMaster combo but will keep the GroundMaster CITY connected to my PSM156  forever.  As a matter of fact if I were to order a PSM156/136 in the future I would just add the GroundMaster CITY to the order up front.

I have the RouteMaster & GroundMaster City combo and love it. I wanted to share something I recently added to it, which has improved things even further.

It’s called the Ground Box Booster, from my friend Krissy Tetrault at Heartsound Audio. It is an unassuming, but weighty, black box with a single 5 way binding post. The contents of the box are proprietary, so I don’t have any info to share about that. It is a passive device, no power cord. You simply wire it into an available port on the RouteMaster (or other similar ground box). At some point I need to get around to trying the Puritan cable that my components are plugged in with, but, for now, I am using wire from some old TARA Labs ICs I had lying around.

Upon adding one to my system, a little more than a month ago, I I heard an increase in clarity, sense of ease, natural detail, and dynamics. Voices and instruments were simply more “real” and emotionally engaging. Shortly after, I wired in another one, these qualities increased even further, and I have been enjoying them ever since.

Disclaimer: Krissy is a friend, and I received these products in exchange for testing them.

Having said that, the Ground Box Booster has been a real game changer in my system, and I don’t anticipate it ever leaving.