You might want to start off asking if a DIY device is legal in Illinois. Does the state require a UL or CE certification on every device or component not isolated from the mains?
Please define "ground loop protection circuit".
Also, what's legal and what your home insurance is cool with is likely to differ.
Also, what's legal and what your home insurance is cool with is likely to differ.
There is probably some ambiguity here on what is an installed appliance or personal electronics, but think of all the amps, etc. that folks are buying from China.
Perhaps it depends on where you break the ground connection.
Let's say you have a pre-amp here, plugged into wall socket "A" and amp there, plugged into wall socket "B". A stereo RCA line level cable connects the two and form a ground loop. It's easy to "lift" the ground of either A or B socket connected components to break this, but I assume this is what they dont want to have happen, preferring each component to have a solid ground connection capable of conducting umpty amps in case of a circuit fault.
Any solution I can think of has the potential to effect sound quality. The least effecting one - I believe - would be to run a 3 wire extension cord to the preamp - and plug it into the same outlet as the power amp. There will still be a ground loop, but not as big of a loop as when these components are connected into two different wall outlet sockets, "A" and "B".
If you're pretty sure your preamp - DIY or otherwise - isnt going to have a AC line hot to chassis fault, then you can base disconnection of the ground of the preamp on that certainty. In the recent past, we lived with much more dangerous situations (such as AC/DC tube radios) and managed to survive; not burn the house down. Today, I'm sure the law makers and insurance companies would prefer to ban ownership, let alone use of, such devices.
Let's say you have a pre-amp here, plugged into wall socket "A" and amp there, plugged into wall socket "B". A stereo RCA line level cable connects the two and form a ground loop. It's easy to "lift" the ground of either A or B socket connected components to break this, but I assume this is what they dont want to have happen, preferring each component to have a solid ground connection capable of conducting umpty amps in case of a circuit fault.
Any solution I can think of has the potential to effect sound quality. The least effecting one - I believe - would be to run a 3 wire extension cord to the preamp - and plug it into the same outlet as the power amp. There will still be a ground loop, but not as big of a loop as when these components are connected into two different wall outlet sockets, "A" and "B".
If you're pretty sure your preamp - DIY or otherwise - isnt going to have a AC line hot to chassis fault, then you can base disconnection of the ground of the preamp on that certainty. In the recent past, we lived with much more dangerous situations (such as AC/DC tube radios) and managed to survive; not burn the house down. Today, I'm sure the law makers and insurance companies would prefer to ban ownership, let alone use of, such devices.
AFAIK they don't, antique stores still sell space heaters and mixers from the 50's. Maybe someone can find an insurance denial that does not involve modifying your actual house wiring, I can't.