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.
