Hi, I hope that I am posting this in the correct place; I have a question about grounding all of my system components, Amp, Preamp, Tuner, ECT... It seems as though some of the components have a ground screw on the back and some don't. My question is should everything be grounded together and what should they be grounded to. I have everything plugged a power conditioner which is plugged into a UPS. The conditioner has a grounding post (screw) on the back. Should all of the components be grounded to that? If so should I just wire the ones with a ground screw on the back or do everything? I have also been thinking about replacing the 2 prong power cords with better 3 prong power cords that have the ground plug. All of my components were built 20-30 years ago. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Thanks……
Mark
Thanks……
Mark
Hi and welcome to Diyaudio!
How old really, are those parts of your system which involve separate ground wires? Older amplifiers of the 1970s that were used with vinyl players, required a separate ground wire for the turntable chassis to avoided forming a ground hum loop which could swamp the signal from the very low level at the cartridge. Much changed when digital systems and their higher voltage signal levels arrived, so separate ground wire connections became largely obsolete. I've seen a few tape decks fitted with them and even the occasional graphic equalizer but these were not always useful in getting lowest hum levels. Assuming the UPS chassis connector is mains ground connected, I would wire that to the amplifier ground connector too. You may find that some earth connections will be disastrous for hum, depending on the manufacturers' grounding arrangement. Not every maker wires up everything the a same way as everyone else.
A tuner's rear wire connectors are usually associated with an FM aerial coax cable or flat ribbon connector, not the amplifier ground wire at all. The phono player to amplifier ground wire connection will be essential though, if you want to play vinyl without bad hum and noise.
How old really, are those parts of your system which involve separate ground wires? Older amplifiers of the 1970s that were used with vinyl players, required a separate ground wire for the turntable chassis to avoided forming a ground hum loop which could swamp the signal from the very low level at the cartridge. Much changed when digital systems and their higher voltage signal levels arrived, so separate ground wire connections became largely obsolete. I've seen a few tape decks fitted with them and even the occasional graphic equalizer but these were not always useful in getting lowest hum levels. Assuming the UPS chassis connector is mains ground connected, I would wire that to the amplifier ground connector too. You may find that some earth connections will be disastrous for hum, depending on the manufacturers' grounding arrangement. Not every maker wires up everything the a same way as everyone else.
A tuner's rear wire connectors are usually associated with an FM aerial coax cable or flat ribbon connector, not the amplifier ground wire at all. The phono player to amplifier ground wire connection will be essential though, if you want to play vinyl without bad hum and noise.
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Thanks for the help Ian, I have owned most of my components since the 80's,I cleaned all of my components and behind my rack over the weekend so I took everything apart and I noticed the ground screws on some but not all of the components. I never gave it any thought before now… (dumb)
Components with and without ground.
Teac EQ (Ground)
Denon PRA-1100 (ground)
Denon TU-550 Tuner
Nakamichi CQ3A cassette
Denon DP-1200 Turntable (ground)
Nakamichi PA-7 Amp
Watson Lab 10 Speakers
I will take care of that this weekend… Thanks Again Ian…
Mark
Components with and without ground.
Teac EQ (Ground)
Denon PRA-1100 (ground)
Denon TU-550 Tuner
Nakamichi CQ3A cassette
Denon DP-1200 Turntable (ground)
Nakamichi PA-7 Amp
Watson Lab 10 Speakers
I will take care of that this weekend… Thanks Again Ian…
Mark
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