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To buy grounded or not to buy grounded. That is the question.

I recently happened on to a highly recommended web site and looked at power cord options.  There were two basic options: grounded or non-grounded.  Below is the copied info from the non-grounded cord page.

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"Description
Non-grounded cord  (Ungrounded, the ground wire is removed from cord, with G-plug still intaked)

WHY?

Based upon measurements and listening tests; I have recommended to people, to ground only one piece of their interconnected equipment. The interconnects will provide static dissipation through the secondary ground connection & nuetral. They often look at me in extreme terror.😱

Wikipedia agrees…

Wiki; A ground loop is the result of careless or inappropriate design or interconnection of electrical equipment that results in there being multiple paths to ground where this is not required, so a complete loop is formed. In the simplest case, two items of equipment, A and B, are each connected to a wall socket by a 3 conductor cable, containing a protective ground conductor. This becomes a problem when a interconnect cable is connected between A and B, to pass data or audio signals. The shield of the data cable is typically connected to the grounded equipment chassis of both A and B. There is now a ground loop.

How can you benefit from this? Purchase the Grounded cord to hook to your preamp or integrated receiver…All other power cords in the system, such as source equipment, dacs, amplifiers, subwoofers,etc. should all use the non-grounded cord.  This will direct ground your system, removing hum and reduce harmonic distortion from your system. We’ve seen multi thousand dollar power conditioners that do not fix or address this issue. The issues of ground loops are often greater then the dirtiness of the actual AC power!



Need More?

Hot: The black wire is the hot wire, which provides a 120 VAC current source.

Neutral: The white wire is called the neutral wire. It provides the return path for the current provided by the hot wire. The neutral wire is connected to an EARTH GROUND!!!

Ground: The bare wire is called the ground wire. Like the neutral wire, the ground wire is also connected to an earth ground. However, the neutral and ground wires serve two distinct purposes.

The neutral wire forms a part of the live circuit along with the hot wire. In contrast, the ground wire is connected to any metal parts in an appliance such as a microwave oven or coffee pot. This is a safety feature, in case the hot or neutral wires somehow come in contact with metal parts. Connecting the metal parts to earth ground eliminates the shock hazard in the event of a short circuit. (KEY WORD IS SHORT CIRCUIT, Meaning your electronics are broken!)"

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What think ye of this?

Toolbox149

toolbox149

Showing 4 responses by cleeds

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cleeds
6,051 posts
 
jea48
2 wire cord with 3 wire Plug and 3 wire IEC female connector. The female IEC connector would have to be a 3 wire. A 2 wire female IEC connector would not connect to a 3 wire IEC male connector on a piece of equipment designed to be grounded. No hole in the 2 wire connector for the equipment ground blade.
You’re correct, of course - I should have reviewed the OP. There’s no way this could be a UL approved cable.
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cleeds
6,051 posts
 
stereo5
I would bet those ungrounded cords are not U L approved
They're probably UL listed. There's nothing inherently unsafe with a two-prong power cord. It's using it on a device that is designed for a cord with a safety ground that's hazardous.
Should one of them catch fire, would the homeowners insurance cover it?  
It would almost certainly be a covered loss. Carelessness isn't a typical exclusion.
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cleeds
6,051 posts
 
n80
If a ground loop is a problem, where do you hear the hum? In the device itself? Through the speakers?
You'd hear it through the speakers and/or headphones.
even at max volume my speakers are silent when nothing is being played. Does this mean that there are no serious grounding or ground loop issues?
Quite likely, provided your safety grounds are sound.
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cleeds
6,051 posts
 
toolbox149
A ground loop is the result of careless or inappropriate design or interconnection of electrical equipment that results in there being multiple paths to ground where this is not required, so a complete loop is formed.
That is not quite exactly correct. In a typical audio system, multiple paths to ground are often required for safety, with multiple components each enjoying the protection of a safety ground connection. That is only a problem if the grounds are at different electric potentials. Provided the electric potential of each is the same, the "ground loop" will cause no audible problems, such as hum.
Purchase the Grounded cord to hook to your preamp or integrated receiver…All other power cords in the system, such as source equipment, dacs, amplifiers, subwoofers,etc. should all use the non-grounded cord.
That is potentially hazardous, and could result in a component lacking a safety ground to have potentially hazardous current flowing through an interconnect, for which it isn’t designed. It is never wise to defeat a safety ground for anything other than testing purposes.

The solution to a noisy ground loop is not to eliminate a safety ground - that’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The proper remedy is to work to get all grounds at the same electric potential.
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